How to Write a Report on a Newspaper Article

Writing reports or reviews on newspaper articles is an important practice, mainly because it allows reviewers to discern the accuracy and credibility of a reporter's information. Reporting on a journalist's findings requires critical thinking, and the ability to consider peripheral ideas that could form an article's content. Once an article has been analyzed using a variety of references, the reviewer should have a solid idea of the article's accuracy.

Select a credible and reliable newspaper article. If your article is derived from an online source, ensure the website is not a blog, does not contain typographical errors, and is not laden with advertisements. Be sure that the article is current. As you read and re-read your article, highlight various significant points or write several notes on a separate sheet of notebook paper.

Create a short introduction to begin your report. Your introduction could include background information about the article, a potential problem with the article's content, and your proposed solution. Similar to an essay's thesis, your article's introduction should give a general blueprint for the rest of the report.

Compose a summary of the article. Columbia University suggests that you include the author's main point, purpose, intent and supporting details in your summary. The summary is where you state facts about the article, not your opinion on those facts.

Use your references and facts from the article to form an opinion and to provide critical analysis of the article. The references will help you support your opinion. Thinking critically about an article's content requires you to ask questions about the author's intentions in writing the article and the article's target audience.

Form a conclusion about the article and your findings. Do not restate what you have already mentioned, but carry the article further to express its relevance to a contemporary social issue or a future dilemma. Your conclusion will neatly wrap up your argument, and give the reader other points to consider.