Science and Technology Writing 101

Science and Technology
Writing 101
By: Prences Jhewen O. Albis
Science and Technology Writing
Focuses on science and

technology.
Connecting scientists with
the public.
Sci-Tech can be written as:
News
Feature
Editorial
Remember:
 Science and technology news is the same as news
writing
 Science and technology news is the same as feature
writing
 Science and technology news is the same as
editorial writing
BUT THE MAIN FOCUS IS ABOUT SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY
Avoid:
 Inaccurate data, statistics, or information
 Arguments with no facts
 Flowery words
 Ambiguous words
 Wordy sentences
 Redundant language
News Writing
 News writing gives the reader information that
will have an impact on them in some way.
 Itusually flows from most important to least
important.
“What is news? It is information only.”

–Walter Cronkite, former CBS News anchor
Structures of News Writing
Headline
Byline
Lead Paragraph
Body (Details)
The Inverted Pyramid
The Inverted Pyramid of

news suggests that news
be told in order of most
interesting or important to
least interesting or
important.
Lead Writing
Most journalists think the news
lead is the most important part of
the news story. It is an art work of
concise information that captures
the gist of a news story in one or
two sentences.
Purposes of Lead
 To summarize the story.
To arouse the interest of
the readers.
Lead Writing 101
 Keep leads short.
 Those with 35 words or less are preferred.
 Leads limited to one or two sentences are preferred.
 Avoid starting leads with "when" or "where" unless the time or place is
unusual.
 Most leads start with "who" or "what.“
 Avoid beginning leads with "there" or "this.“
 In leads about future events, the time, day (date) and place usually go at the
end of the paragraph.
 In leads about past events, the day (date) of the event usually appears before
or after the verb. Sometimes the day (date) comes at the end of the first
sentence or the paragraph if it is a one sentence lead.
 The first five to "what happened" makes a better story than the fact it did.
Body Construction and Organization
The body of the story explains or

clarifies features found in the lead or
add features not found in the lead.
The body of the story provides details
and background
Body Construction and Organization 101
 Keep paragraphs short.
 Those limited to 60 words or less or no longer than 10 typeset lines are preferred.
 Paragraphs limited to one to three sentences are preferred.
 Each paragraph should contain only one idea.
 Remember short paragraphs encourage readers to continue reading.
 Use simple words. Don’t let readers look for dictionary.
 Make sure information introduced or outlined in the lead is covered in the same
order in the body of the story.
 Avoid introducing new information at the end of a story. All aspects of a story
should usually be introduced or outlined in the first few paragraphs.
 Transitions are necessary to show the reader that the writer has a sense of
direction. A word, phrase, sentence or paragraph can move the reader from one
thought to another.
 Add attributions of prominent persons.
 Arrange your details in logical order Before using the acronym of the word or
phrase, elaborate it first on the previous sentences.
 In attribution, use the position of the person (other titles may be omitted)
Note:
When you want to incorporate
information which is not directly
connected to the main story, but is
related, use conjunctive words or
conjunctive phrase such as meanwhile,
in a related development, in this light,
etc.
Transition/Quote Formula
Needed to Avoid
 Editorializing - Keep your opinion out of the story.
 Using first and second person - Keep yourself out of the story. Common error:
“our school”.
 Messy handwriting, poor grammar and spelling.
 Too long paragraphs
 Misspelling names in the story
 Trying to use all of the information
Editing Your News Article
 Eliminate the word "that" whenever possible.
 Eliminate the "be" verb. Write "she will resign" instead of "she will be resigning.
 Write in future tense (will) instead of future progressive tense (will be "ing").
 Avoid the contractions of he'd and they'd. "He'd" can mean both "he had" and "he
would," and "they'd" can mean both "they had" and "they would."
 Always double-check the spelling of names.
 Make sure numbers match the items listed.
 Make sure "only" is placed properly in a sentence. The location of "only" can change the
meaning of a sentence.
 Read the story out loud to catch awkward sentence constructions.
 Write. Rewrite. Revise. Rewrite. Revise. Edit. Revise. Edit. Edit. The first version of a
story is NOT good enough to go into print. Someone once said THERE IS NO GREAT
WRITING, ONLY GREAT REWRITING.
Grammar 101
 When you use a pronoun to refer to a team or a group, the proper pronoun to
use is "its," NOT they. Example: The team wants to improve its record.
 Make sure verbs or other phrases are "parallel" or the same in structure when
they appear in stories or list. (Examples: 1. He likes gardening, fishing and
hunting. 2. The fire killed at least 12 persons, injured 60 more and forced
scores of residents to leap from windows).
 Use THIRD PERSON (she, he, it, its, her, hers, him, his, they, them, their,
theirs) in news stories.
 Use active voice vs. passive voice. The passive voice is formed by using some
form of the verb "be" with the past participle of an action verb: is shot, was
shot, has been shot, had been shot, may be shot, will be shot.
Other Points to Consider
 Avoid using the same word twice in a sentence.
 Count the words in a story's sentences. Sentence length
should vary. Stories become dull when sentences are all
the same length.
 Quotation marks go outside commas (,") and periods (.").
They go inside semicolons (";) and colons (":).
 You can use TRANSITION WORDS to show coherence from
one paragraph to another. Examples: meanwhile, on the
other hand, moreover
Headline Writing
A headline is an abstract sentence.
A headline will determine the angle of the
story
 Usually it is only five to ten words
 It is a complete thought
 Ithas a subject and a verb, and often an
object
Headline Writing 101
Be specific, direct and to the
point.
Write headlines, not titles.
A headline must state a benefit
to the target audience.
Functions of Headline
 To attract readers
To tell the story (in summary)
 Limit your headline to maximum of 10 words Use “,” instead of the word “and”
 Use the present tense of the verb. Use the shortest words possible: Ex: cop-policeman, nab-arrest, up-
increase, down-decrease, vs-against, join-participate
 Use historical present tense if the verb is in the active verb
Wrong: Reyes topped editorial tilt
Correct: Reyes tops editorial tilt
 Avoid helping verb if the verb is in the passive verb
Wrong: Drug pushers are nabbed
Correct: Drug pushers nabbed
 Use infinitive verb for future event:
Wrong: NORSU will enjoy WiFi connectivity
Correct: NORSU to enjoy WiFi connectivity
 Do not use a period at the end of the headline
 Omit the articles ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’
 Use single quotes (‘’) instead of double quotes (“”)
 Provide the source of the quote at the end of the headline. (Ex: Crackdown on errant bus firms–Enrile).
 Do not use a person’s surname unless he/she is prominent, use
common noun instead.
Wrong: Repe wins nat’l painting tilt
Correct: NORSU student wins nat’l painting tilt
 Use specific verb instead of generalities

Wrong: Trader killed
Better: Trader stabbed to death
 Just report facts; do not editorialize

Wrong: Pnoy gives inspiring talk (The word “inspiring’ is an opinion)
For Sample News and Sci-Tech
Articles
Visit The Echo Issue No. 1 Vol. 52, SY
2020-2021 publication
Link:
https://issuu.com/
the.echo.official.publication/docs/
the_echo_52_not_u

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Science and Technology

Focuses on science and

“What is news? It is information only.”

The Inverted Pyramid of

The body of the story explains or

 Use specific verb instead of generalities

 Just report facts; do not editorialize

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