FAQs are a good way to introduce students to online news writing and editing for three reasons.
- It gets them thinking about conversational journalism.
- It gets them writing shorter.
- It gets them using links.
The key to good FAQs — of course — is to formulate a good set of questions. A good question is at the start of all good reporting. And to formulate a good set of questions, the FAQ writer needs to have a very good sense of his or her audience. There are a few questions to consider when thinking about writing an FAQ.
- Who is the audience?
- What would they already need to know to get value out of this FAQ?
- What search terms would they use to find this FAQ?
- How would they use the information they find on the FAQ
Consider those questions and see if you can answer them for each of these examples of online FAQs that employ different styles. Continue reading “Online Exercise: Write an FAQ”