Find one sharp angle, hook the reader in the first lines, build each paragraph forward and end on your point.
The article as a writing task
Writing an article is one of the directed-writing tasks on the IGCSE and International GCSE English paper. You get a topic and a readership, such as a school magazine, a local website or a newspaper’s youth page.
You write to interest readers, with a point of view. Unlike a letter, an article is not addressed to one person.
Readers can stop at any moment. Every paragraph must earn the next one.
The task rewards a writer who informs and entertains at the same time, and who holds interest through the whole piece. An article that starts brightly and then becomes a grey list of points loses what the form is for.
Six steps to a lively article
- Find the angle. Do not write about the whole topic. Choose one sharp view of it. “School uniforms” is a subject. “Why the uniform argument misses the real point” is an angle.
- Write a headline that carries the angle. It should show your take, with a little wit or curiosity if possible.
- Hook the reader in the first lines. Use a concrete scene, a bold claim, a question or a small story.
- Build, do not list. Each paragraph should move the idea forward, not repeat it.
- Keep one voice. Choose a lively, personal, semi-formal voice at the start and hold it to the end. If the voice disappears, the article turns into an essay.
- Land the close. End on something that fixes your angle in the reader’s mind. Avoid a weak “so that is my opinion”.
Step one does more work than any device. An article with a real angle almost writes itself, but one with only a topic wanders.
A worked opening
This opening is our own, written for teaching. The angle is that we have forgotten how to be bored.
We Have Forgotten How to Be Bored, and It Is Costing Us
I timed it once. From sitting down at the bus stop to holding my phone took eleven seconds. Eleven.
There was nothing wrong with those seconds. There was a cool morning, a blackbird somewhere and a whole minute of my own thoughts waiting. I traded them, without noticing, for a screen.
We call it staying connected. I have started to wonder what we are disconnecting from.
The opening starts with a concrete, slightly self-mocking moment, not a general claim. It has a clear voice, and it turns at the end towards the real argument. That turn links the hook to the case, and it is where a strong article commits to its angle.
If this is where marks are going missing, a trial hour with an experienced teacher can work on it one-to-one.
Common mistakes
- A flat opening. The first paragraph is slow and general, and it takes the reader’s attention for granted.
- A disappearing voice. The writing becomes a correct but colourless essay.
- A shapeless middle. Paragraphs circle one idea in new words instead of moving forward.
- A topic with no angle. The result is dutiful writing that nobody wants to read.
- A collapsed ending. The writer runs out of time and simply stops.
Examiners reward personality with control. The writer sounds like a real person who has decided something. But the structure, accuracy and balance stay under control.
How to practise
Practise angles first. Take a broad topic and write five different one-line angles, then pick the sharpest. Most weak articles never found an angle.
Next, practise hooks. Write only the first two sentences of an article, for several angles. The opening is the most valuable part and the quickest to draft.
Then write a full article against the clock. Reread it and ask of each paragraph: does it move the angle forward, or repeat it?
Cut or merge repeats. A tight article that climbs beats a long one that circles.
Also read articles as a writer. When a piece holds your attention, ask what it is doing. Where is the angle?
How did the opening grab you? Borrow the techniques, not the words.
Where students usually get stuck
The weak point differs. One student never finds an angle. Another loses the voice halfway.
A third has energy but no shape. In 1-to-1 lessons, our teachers read your articles closely, name the habit and drill the fix. This is part of writing-paper focus teaching in First Language English.
Tuition starts from RM70/hr. Book a paid one-hour trial and bring an article you wrote. The teacher who would continue with you will show you how to make it one a reader wants to finish.
What to read or try next
Study the annotated model response for a directed-writing article, then try the practice tasks. Then read how to write persuasively and how to write description without a plot.