Jointly Reported by
Victoria Hwang Jr1S (6)
Lai Siang Ching Sr2ComC
On the 29th of May 2021, the Kuen Cheng High School Newsletter Club arranged a talk featuring Mr Cheah Jing Cheng, also known as JC. The talk was organised to increase the interest of writing articles among students.
The emcees from the Newsletter Club, Fong Chloe and Celine Khong Sin Hui started the talk by advising all attendees to mute their microphones during the talk. Afterwards, JC introduced himself as a DJ who has previously appeared on a few television channels, such as TV2 and NTV7. He then began his talk on the intricacies of writing an article.
JC mentioned that there are multiple reasons to write an article. The main point of writing an article is to report the truth and to inform both students and teachers on current events. Besides that, articles also serve the purpose of supervising society. There are a few key elements to writing an article, namely questions, words, images and charts. These are the important points that build an article.
Following that, JC showed the attendees the basic contents of a news report. JC brought up an old article and pointed out several notable reasons why it was eye-catching to civilians. He said the best way to attract people to read your article is to make your article simple and clear, yet outstanding. He then gave some useful tips to make your article stand out, such as keeping your article short yet powerful, vivid and easy to understand, and to insist on authenticity.
JC proceeded to show the attendees a pyramid of writing principles. Firstly, you have to mention the main content of the article. After that, an explanation paragraph is required to back up the main content, followed by supplementary content and other related events.
There are also three ways of writing an article: the narrative style, the descriptive style, and the argumentative writing style.
The narrative style utilises narratives, abstracts, and generalisations to objectively tell facts. This is especially useful for announcements or manuscripts where the intention is to report facts in an understandable way. JC stresses the importance of explaining or translating information without personal observations or analysis.
JC then talked about the descriptive writing style which is often used for on-site reports, reports on statement releases, and interview pieces. Unlike narrative writing, reporters are allowed to add personal observations.
Then, JC talked about the argumentative writing style, which involves gathering the arguments and opinions of all parties involved in a certain topic. Balance of weight given to each party’s argument is crucial and must be done carefully to achieve the principles of fairness and objectivity.
JC then moved onto the next segment where he explained how words should be used in article writing. Wording should be easy to understand and straightforward, and using direct quotations may help with additional clarity. Avoid bombastic words as simple terms help convey the message more easily. Proper language should also be used in lieu of regional slang. All of this helps with keeping articles easy to understand.
In conclusion, the audience have learned a lot from today’s lecture. Thanks to the lecturer, JC for giving such a wonderful speech and to all the committee members that held this event.
