Characteristics and language used in popular media articles

The aim of a popular media article is often to translate complex research into everyday language in order to make it accessible to non-academic readers. Your choice of language needs to reflect that. As long as your content is still accurate, feel free to use familiar and colloquial language that reflects a conversational style.

Some key characteristics of popular media articles include:

  • exploring a topic of current importance and interest
  • telling a story following narrative conventions (eg. plot, problem, solution)
  • combining facts and opinions
  • presenting a perspective on the topic
  • writing in conversational, easy to read paragraphs and sentences
  • including catchy elements such as an attention-grabbing title or image.

Popular media article frequently use:

  • direct audience address - pronouns such as I, we, you encourage your audient to engage with you
  • short sentences and paragraphs; avoid long sentences with multiple clauses
  • simple everyday expressions and vocabulary (e.g. rather than use “obviate the need”, try “prevent the need”)
  • contractions such as it’s, we’re, and they’re.

How to write a popular media article in 3 steps

Step 1: Research

Remember, your article still needs to be based on accurate and up-to-date research. Take some time to do some research. Like researching for academic assessments such as essays and reports, you will need to find a number of articles on your chosen topic. It might be worthwhile to seek out authors with different perspectives and opinions on your chosen topic. This will help you figure out your own position, and take an original approach in your own article.

When you’re reading and taking notes, keep the following questions in mind:

  • How are the results/ideas I am reading about relevant to society/the general public? Why would people care?
  • What do the findings imply?
  • What are the practical implications of what has been discovered?

Step 2: Plan what to communicate

Remember that for a popular media article, you won’t need to explain everything in detail. Focus on the key idea or result that you want to communicate and work backwards from there.

The following are useful guiding questions to plan the content of your article:

  • What is the main point you want to make?
  • What sort of background information is needed for your audience to understand your main point?

You might like to use a mind map or other outlining tool for brainstorming.

Step 3: Structure the content of your article

The structure of popular media articles usually consists of the following main elements:

  • Headline
  • Introduction/hook
  • Body sections
  • Closing