This document provides guidance on writing feature articles. Feature articles aim to humanize subjects and provide color beyond basic news while being factual, entertaining, and appealing to emotions. They begin with an eye-catching lead paragraph to engage readers and follow a structure of introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and conclusion. Writers should get the reader's attention quickly, set the tone, and explain what the story is about. The substance of features includes facts, quotes, descriptions, anecdotes, and analysis, with a conclusion that rewards the reader.

2.  True stories
 Functions
 humanize
 inform
 inspire
 add color
 entertain
 illuminate
factual details

3.  More
expansive and
more personal
than news
 a write up,
mysterious
ingredient in
journalism
called 'human
interest'

4. F – factual not fictitious
E – Entertaining
A – appealing to the emotions
T – timely or not timely
U – unusual
R – reader-oriented
E – explanation, extrapolation – extending or
projecting known info

5. Feature is not:
■Literary article
■Opinion article
■Storytelling
■Fiction Story

8. FEATUR
E

9. FEATURE
FEATURE

11. FEATURE

16. FEATURE

18. FEATURE

20. FEATURE
FEATURE

22. FEATURE
FEATURE

23. FEATURE
FEATURE

31. It begins with an
eye-catching
“showcase” lead.

32. FEATURE
FEATURE

35. FEATURE
FEATURE

37. Get the reader's attention quickly
• Start with a well thought-out first paragraph
touching on some aspect of the person's life
that you are writing about or the event if it
is not a person.
• Have a beginning that draws in readers, a
transition that might repeat it in the middle
and an ending that refers to the beginning.

38. • Must set the tone for what
follows
• Must get the article underway
• Must bridge the rest of the article

39. INTRODUCTION
RISING ACTION

40. • The billboard or so-what
graph
• It tells what the story is all
about

42. INTRODUCTION
RISING ACTION
CLIMAX

44. INTRODUCTION
RISING ACTION
CLIMAX
FALLING
ACTION

47. INTRODUCTION
RISING ACTION
CLIMAX
FALLING
ACTION
CONCLUSION

51. inquisitive
eager to learn
sympathetic towards other people's
feelings
capable of seeing beneath the surface of
ordinary events

52. Following the laws of
Progressive Reader Involvement:
1. Tease me.
2. Tell me what you are up to.
3. Prove it.
4. Help me remember it.

53. Substance of Feature:
 Facts
 Quotes
 Description
 Anecdotes
 Analysis
 Pay off/ Conclusion - reward for reader
persevering until the end

54. ■Must end with a “coda”
reminding the reader how
the article began.
■End stories in memorable
ways. Often it’s a good to use
a quote. This is called a
clincher.