Article Writing Tips

I must forewarn, that I have NO journalism training or experience. This is just what I came up with from some internet research. This is not a required format. I am just providing tips for those who are not quite sure where to start. If you do have some training, experience or ideas/tips you think I should have included; please comment below.

During the Event

• Try to attend as much of the event as possible. If you can’t cover it all, whether you have time restrictions or maybe you are participating in the event; consider teaming up with someone who can cover what you’ll be missing.
• Take a note pad or a recording device so you can jot down notes throughout.
• Consider a camera and/or video camera to capture some of the action. These are great additions to any article.
• If you’re not taking pictures or video, look for those who are and ask them if they’ll team up with you in providing some pictures/video. Get their contact information and where they are posting the pictures/videos.
• Take note of the weather conditions, course (RallyCross) or road conditions (Road/TSD Rally), and/or any other conditions that may affect the outcome of the event. How did the conditions change throughout the event?
• Take note of the attendance (low or strong turnout, below or above average, etc.)
• Take notes about the cars in attendance. Did any really cool cars show up?
• Talk to people throughout the event (competitors, organizers, people watching, etc.) to get their thoughts. Get some quotes from various people in attendance.
• Take play-by-play notes throughout the event. Is anyone really standing out (just killing the competition)? Don’t forget the disappoints of the events (“the agony of defeat”). Did someone debead a tire (RallyCross), go off course (Road/TSD Rally) or have a mechanical failure (DNF)?
• Any real close competition developing, lead swaps, etc.
• Try to get some pictures of the awards ceremony.
• Get some quotes from the winners (and maybe some of the people who had a hard day).
• Try to get the names of the top three finishers in each class.
• If you can’t get the full results at the event; try to get them later, but in time to use in your article.

After the Event

• Organize all the information you collected at the event in some type of usable fashion.
• Double check your facts.
• If you are collaborating with other people, get in touch with them to see who is responsible for what.
• Get your supporting pictures and videos together.

Writing the Article

• The Headline should be an abbreviated sentence summarizing the outcome of the event.
• The Lead paragraph needs to grab the readers attention and put them into the action. It should set the scene, introduce the top performers and possibly include a quote.
• The Nut of a sports article is the paragraph that summarizes story and has the important information that was not included in the lead paragraph. More importantly, if the reader were to stop at the end of this paragraph; they would know the outcome. Admittedly, this seems like it will be a challenge for RallyCross and Road/TSD Rallies that have multiple classes. You may want to lean towards overall results here, instead of trying to cram all the classes in this paragraph. The class details can be discussed later in the article.
• The Information portion of the article supplies all the details of the event in a logical order. It is the who, what, when, where, why and how of the article. In other words, this is the meat of the article.
• The Conclusion lets the reader know in an interesting way, the outcome of the details in the preceding information portion of the article.
• I would also mention your next event and get a head’s up on promoting it, while people are excited from reading about this event.
• Include pictures and videos. Let’s face it, this may be all people look at besides the Lead and Nut. Plus it just makes your article more appealing.
• Have someone proof read your article. Or come back several hours later and proof read it yourself. Another option is to send it in and one of our editors will look it over.
• When you’re crafting your tale, consider your audience.
• Give other’s credit for what you have used of theirs in your article.

With that in mind, much of the above information for this article was adapted to cover various rally events, from the Word file below. I can not remember where I found it, but it is a compilation of information on writing sports stories. Some of the information is credited to the author.

If you want more information, look through this word file: Journalism – How to Write a Sports Story.

- Dave