VN ki Paathshala: An interview with Guard Aunty (GROUP 5)

.

Read the full interview at VN ki Paathshala:

https://vartikananda.com/interviews/

Interviewers:

Isha

Samridhi

Surbhi

How to Write an Article, Press Release, Research Paper and basics of social media marketing

 How to Write an Article

Introduction: An article is a piece of writing written for a large audience. The main motive behind writing an article is that it should be published in either newspapers or magazines or journals so as to make some difference to the world. It may be the topics of interest of the writer or it may be related to some current issues. The topic can either be serious or not-so-serious; Same goes for its tone and language.

Objectives of Article Writing

An article is written with the following objectives:

●It brings out the topics or the matter of interest in the limelight

●The article provides information on the topics

●It offers suggestions and pieces of advice

●It influences the readers and urges them to think

●The article discusses various stories, persons, locations, rising-issues, and technical developments

The Format of Article Writing

An article must be organized in a proper way so as to draw the attention of the readers. The basic outline for an article writing format is:

●Heading / Title

●A line having the writer’s name

●Body (the main part of the article, 2 – 3 paragraphs)

●Conclusion (Ending paragraph of the article with the opinion or recommendation, anticipation or an appeal)

Key Steps

Think of the topic you want to write the article about. Only after you’ve decided your topic you can go ahead and undertake the further steps in the process one by one:

●Target Audience: Identify the concerning reading group

●Purpose: Find the objective or aim of writing the article

●Collect & Select: Gather as much information as possible. Also, identify the details that are most significant

●Organize: Arrange the information and the facts in a logical way

Once you’ve taken care of all the above steps you move forward to the final step - writing.

●While writing an article, always use proper grammar, spelling, and proper punctuations

●Use vocabulary skill

●Keep the introduction of the topic catching, interesting, and short

●Discuss the opinion and the matter in an organized and descriptive manner

Common Mistakes in the Article Writing Format

Now that you know the steps of article writing and the article writing format, the occurrence of mistakes becomes obvious. Some of the common mistakes are:

●Not using facts or quotes or similar cases

●The language should not be too formal

●The article must be in easy language for better understanding

●The title of the article must be catchy and clearly understandable

●No use of paragraphs

●Expressing personal views is fine but the author must never talk about himself/herself 

Points to Keep in Mind for the Article Writing Format

●The topics of the articles should be unique and relevant

●The article has to get attention

●It has to be interesting

●It has to be easy to read

●The reader is identified

●Find the main goal of writing an article. The goal can be anything from providing information, entertainment, and advice or for comparing, etc.

●The title must be eye-catching, clear, and interesting

●The introduction or the starting paragraph must be highly attentive. Use your vocabulary skills or try to use some interrogative words for the start

●Use clear statements and make assertions

●Avoid repetition and over the top logic and reasons

●Use the style of paragraph writing and write the contents uniquely and unambiguously

●Avoid using the points which interest you only and not for the general public

●Write a good and logical ending

References

●https://www.toppr.com/guides/business-correspondence-and-reporting/article-writing/steps-of-article-writing/

●https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-a-good-article-quickly 

●https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z27cmnb/revision/5 

Edited and Compiled by

Sakshi Suman

Batch of 2023

B.A. (Hons.) Journalism

Lady Shri Ram College for Women

How to Write a Press Release

●A press release is a short, compelling news story written by a public relations professional and sent to targeted members of the media. The goal of a press release is to pique the interest of a journalist or publication. 

●The press release should contain all the essential information (who? what? where? when? how? and most importantly why?) for the journalist to easily produce his own story.

●A press release is a written communication that reports specific but brief information about an event, circumstance, product launch, or other happening. It's typically tied to a business or organization and provided to the media through a variety of means. 

●The goal of writing and issuing a press release is to garner positive press about your company or client. Press releases aren't only used for promoting positive events like product releases or expansion plans. They also can be a PR professional's sharpest weapon when defending a client against bad publicity during a crisis.

●The Major Goals of writing a Press Release : 

➢To notify the media about an event in hopes that they will spread the word.

➢To share something about your business, hoping a reporter will see a story in your press release and write an actual news article about it.

➢To promote your business' appearance on the internet via blogs, websites, and social networks.

●A press release should read like a news story, written in third-person, citing quotes and sources and containing standard press release information.

●The standard press release begins with contact information, most likely the name, phone number and e-mail address of the person who wrote the release. 

●Then comes the headline, arguably the most important four or five words in the whole press release. The headline will be what the journalist reads first. It should be intriguing, newsworthy and unique.

●Below the headline often comes a brief, one-line summary of the press release.  Like the headline, the summary should draw the reader in quickly and motivate them to learn more.

●Since a press release is supposed to look and feel like a story in a newspaper, it's important to include a location and date stamp at the beginning of the first paragraph.

●The rest of the body of the press release should answer all of the questions a journalist might have about the product, service or event that you're announcing. Although a press release is a public relations tool, it should not read as overly promotional.  If it sounds too much like a sales pitch, it will lose credibility in the eyes of the journalist.

●Press releases typically end with a short description of the company or organization that's issuing the release, along with a call to action. The call to action could be to participate in the event being promoted, to take a test drive of the product, or simply to find out more by contacting the author of the press release. 

●Writing an effective press release involves developing a story idea that's unique, timely and newsworthy. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, news is "any new information" or coverage of "current events," so a press release won't pique the interest of journalists unless it contains something truly original or is closely tied to current events.

●The next step is to find the specific journalists and media outlets that would be most interested in the story. Journalists typically work a "beat," covering a certain type of news like politics, cars or food. Determine the news area relevant to your idea and send press releases to the journalists who cover that beat. 

●It's important to remember that journalists are human beings like the rest of us and are more likely to pay attention to a press release from a "friend" than from a complete stranger. That's why public relations professionals cultivate relationships with members of the media. If you're writing press releases, it's smart to contact journalists who cover your industry to determine what stories interest them.

●First, you must come up with a killer headline. Since most press releases are now sent by email, a poorly written subject line will earn an instant delete. Headlines must read like actual newspaper headlines, something informative and newsy, but creative and engaging enough to draw the reader in.

●Press releases shouldn't be more than 300-400 words, and the reader should be able to understand the gist of the story in the first two sentences. Keep the tone and style appropriate for the content. If you're pitching a local TV news station, keep it conversational and the copy short so it can easily be adapted for reading on air. A press release for a newspaper should be meticulously spell-checked, follow Associated Press (AP) style and contain quotes and sources to back up claims.

●Don't forget to include detailed contact information on the press release, including your name, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address and any relevant Web site links. Most of all, a successful press release doesn't just state the facts, but tells a compelling story that journalists will want to share with their readers and viewers.

REFERENCES

➢https://money.howstuffworks.com/business-communications/how-press-releases-work5.htm

➢https://www.thebalancesmb.com/what-is-a-press-release-3515529

Compiled by

Priyanka

Batch of 2023

B.A. (Hons.) Journalism

Lady Shri Ram College for Women

How to Write a Research Paper

What is a Research Paper?

A research paper is a piece of academic writing that provides analysis, interpretation, and argument based on in-depth independent research.

Research papers are similar to academic essays, but they are usually longer and more detailed assignments, designed to assess not only your writing skills but also your skills in scholarly research. Writing a research paper requires you to demonstrate a strong knowledge of your topic, engage with a variety of sources, and make an original contribution to the debate.

This step-by-step guide will take you through the entire writing process, from understanding your assignment to proofreading your final draft.

APA Style Guide Format

The APA style guide, named for the American Psychological Association, is used in behavioral and social science research, including educational and psychological studies. Here are some basic tips for formatting an APA research paper:

⮚Paper should be on 8 ½ x 11-inch white paper, with 1-inch margins on the top, bottom, and sides.

⮚Font is 12’ Times New Roman. 

⮚Lines are double-spaced.

⮚Cover pages are required in APA papers and are Centre-aligned.

⮚Each page needs a left-aligned running header with the title of your study.

⮚Right-align page numbers at the top of each page, including the cover page.

⮚Indent the first word in each paragraph, except in the abstract.

⮚The title itself is not bolded, but individual section headings (for e.g. Background, Methodology) are.

⮚In-text citations of other studies, reports, and articles include the author’s or organization's name, as well as the year of publication.

The Process

1)Understand the Assignment

2)Choose a Research Paper Topic

3)Conduct Preliminary Research

4)Develop a Thesis Statement

5)Create a Research Paper Outline

6)Write the First Draft of the Research Paper

7)Write the Introduction

8)Write a Compelling Body of Text

9)Write the Conclusion

10)Write the Second Draft

11)Edit for Grammar

12)The Revision Process

13)References

1) Understand the Assignment

●Read it carefully, looking for anything confusing you might need to clarify with your professor.

●Identify the assignment goal, deadline, length specifications, formatting, and submission method.

●Make a bulleted list of the key points, then go back and cross completed items off as you’re writing.

●Carefully consider your timeframe and word limit: be realistic, and plan enough time to research, write and edit.

2)Choose a Research Paper Topic

●You can try free writing, which involves taking a broad topic and writing continuously for two or three minutes to identify absolutely anything relevant that could be interesting.

●You can also gain inspiration from somebody else’s research. The discussion or recommendations sections of research papers often include ideas for other specific topics that require further examination.

●Once you have a broad subject area, narrow it down to choose a topic that interests you, meets the criteria of your assignment, and is possible to research. Aim for ideas that are both original and specific.

3)Conduct Preliminary Research

Note any discussions that seem important to the topic, and try to find an issue that you can focus your paper around. Use a variety of sources, including journals, books and reliable websites, to ensure you do not miss anything. 

Several key things to remember as you research are: 1) skim, 2) find reliable resources, and 3) don’t ignore information. 

●First off, skimming. You don’t have to read in-full everything ever written about your topic. Identify key points and arguments without having to read every word.

●Next, find reliable resources. Take what you have learned from a Google search or a Wikipedia article and dig deeper. Check out the sources on the article, use keywords from your internet search to search an academic database.

●Finally, don’t ignore information. Work to understand all of the different viewpoints and schools of thought on your topic. This can be done by reading a variety of articles, reading a book or article that gives an overview of the topic and incorporates different points of view.

4)Develop a Thesis Statement

●A thesis statement is a statement of your central argument — it establishes the purpose and position of your paper. If you started with a research question, the thesis statement should answer it. It should also show what evidence and reasoning you’ll use to support that answer.

●The thesis statement should be concise, contentious, and coherent. That means it should briefly summarize your argument in a sentence or two; make a claim that requires further evidence or analysis; and make a coherent point that relates to every part of the paper.

●You will probably revise and refine the thesis statement as you do more research, but it can serve as a guide throughout the writing process. Every paragraph should aim to support and develop this central claim.

5)Create a Research Paper Outline

A research paper outline is essentially a list of the key topics, arguments and evidence you want to include, divided into sections with headings so that you know roughly what the paper will look like before you start writing.

6)Write a First Draft of the Research Paper

●Maintain forward momentum — write now, perfect later.

●Pay attention to clear organization and logical ordering of paragraphs and sentences, which will help when you come to the second draft.

●Express your ideas as clearly as possible, so you know what you were trying to say when you come back to the text.

●Structure your Paragraphs: Paragraphs are the basic building blocks of research papers. Each one should focus on a single claim or idea that helps to establish the overall argument or purpose of the paper.

●Cite your Sources: It’s also important to keep track of citations at this stage to avoid accidental plagiarism. Each time you use a source, make sure to take note of where the information came from. 

7)Write the Introduction

The research paper introduction should address three questions: What, why, and how? 

●What: Be specific about the topic of the paper, introduce the background, and define key terms or concepts.

●Why: This is the most important, but also the most difficult, part of the introduction. Try to provide brief answers to the following questions: What new material or insight are you offering? What important issues does your essay help define or answer?

●How: To let the reader know what to expect from the rest of the paper, the introduction should include a “map” of what will be discussed, briefly presenting the key elements of the paper in chronological order.

8)Write a Compelling Body of Text

●The major struggle faced by most writers is how to organize the information presented in the paper, which is one reason an outline is so useful. One way to stay on track is to use your thesis statement and topic sentences. 

●Check:

⮚topic sentences against the thesis statement;

⮚topic sentences against each other, for similarities and logical ordering;

⮚and each sentence against the topic sentence of that paragraph.

●Be aware of paragraphs that seem to cover the same things. If two paragraphs discuss something similar, they must approach that topic in different ways. Aim to create smooth transitions between sentences, paragraphs, and sections.

9)Write the Conclusion

●The research paper conclusion is designed to help your reader out of the paper’s argument, giving them a sense of finality.

●Trace the course of the paper, emphasizing how it all comes together to prove your thesis statement. Give the paper a sense of finality by making sure the reader understands how you’ve settled the issues raised in the introduction.

You should not:

⮚Offer new arguments or essential information.

⮚Take up any more space than necessary.

⮚Begin with stock phrases that signal you are ending the paper (for e.g. “In conclusion”).

10)Write the Second Draft

●Check how your vision of the paper lines up with the first draft and, more importantly, that your paper still answers the assignment.

●Identify any assumptions that might require (more substantial) justification, keeping your reader’s perspective foremost in mind. Remove these points if you cannot substantiate them further.

●Be open to rearranging your ideas. Check whether any sections feel out of place and whether your ideas could be better organized.

●If you find that old ideas do not fit as well as you anticipated, you should cut them out or condense them. You might also find that new and well-suited ideas occurred to you during the writing of the first draft — now is the time to make them part of the paper.

11)Edit for Grammar

It is also important to edit for grammar. Check out resources like Grammarly or Strunk and White’s Elements of Style if you’re unsure of what to do with commas, semicolons, or run-on sentences.

12)The Revision Process

⮚Confirm that your paper completes every task specified in your assignment sheet.

⮚Check for logical organization and flow of paragraphs.

⮚Check paragraphs against the introduction and thesis statement.

Check the content of each paragraph, making sure that:

⮚Each sentence helps support the topic sentence.

⮚no unnecessary or irrelevant information is present.

⮚all technical terms your audience might not know are identified.

Next, think about sentence structure, grammatical errors and formatting. Check that you have correctly used transition words and phrases to show the connections between your ideas. Look for typos, cut unnecessary words and check for consistency in aspects such as heading formatting and spellings.

13)References

Give References after the Conclusion: Mention the links to all primary as well as secondary sources of information that helped you in writing the Research Paper. Mention special credits to any and all people that helped you in its making. Cite all your sources at the end of the Research Paper. 

Links to Some Good Samples of Research Papers

http://www.thewritesource.com/apa/apa.pdf 

https://www.myperfectwords.com/blog/research-paper-examples/college-research-paper-example.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273770861_The_Impact_of_Social_Media_on_the_Academic_Development_of_School_Students 

https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/student-annotated.pdf 

https://onedrive.live.com/View.aspx?resid=9E1D26621EA2350E!922&wdEmbedFS=1&authkey=!ACb0W46RTUEyCPk 

https://www.csun.edu/~hbsoc126/soc4/Writing%20Sample%20and%20Refernce%20Guide%20as%201%20file.pdf 

Compiled by

Satakshi Darmwal

Batch of 2023

B.A. (Hons.) Journalism

Lady Shri Ram College for Women, New Delhi

Basics of Social Media Marketing

"Don't use social media to impress people; use it to impact people."

                    - Dave Willis, Author and Speaker

Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms to connect with your audience to build your brand, increase sales, and drive website traffic. This involves publishing great content on your social media profiles, listening to and engaging your followers, analyzing your results, and running social media advertisements.

The major social media platforms (at the moment) are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and Snapchat.

Social Media Marketing Guide Definitions

●Content: Content is whatever you post on social media. It can be a Facebook status update, a video on Instagram, a Tweet, and so on.

●Context: Gary Vaynerchuk said, “Content is king, but context is God.”

For instance, you might have a great joke, but if you place it somewhere inside a 3,000-word blog post, very few people are likely to see it. On Twitter, however, that same joke as a tweet might crush it. So make your content context engaging and interesting.

●Hashtags: By now, one probably knows that hashtags are a very common tool that people use to add meta information on almost all social media channels. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest all use hashtags to let one describe the topic of one's content or mark it as part of current trends.

●Shares: Shares are the currency of the social media world. When people engage and interact with one’s content, that’s good. But when they share it, that is the time to celebrate. A great social media tool to measure shares and the overall impact of content. The more shares, the more people love your content. Shares are the best form of engagement that people can have.

●Engagement: This is a general term referring to how people interact with the content that one produces. It can be a like, a reaction, a comment, or a share. All of these are good, but the shares are where it’s at.

Core Pillars of Social Media Marketing

●Strategy

A sound social media marketing strategy is the backbone of your social media presence. Without a strategy, you’re wasting time, unlikely to achieve your goals, and will most likely struggle to reach your target audience.

●Planning and Publish

Social media is a powerful tool, but you can’t just go out there and start publishing content without a plan behind it.

When you’re planning content make sure that you:

●Know your audience: You need to know the demographic of your audience in order to connect with them.

●Focus on quality: The quality of content is just as important as the quantity.

●Consider your brand: Keeping in line with your brand values is crucial.

●Listening and Engagement

Plan your content and above all, actually engage with your audience. Your feedback might not always be positive; but, if you don’t make changes, neither will the tone of your responses. 

●Analytics

The success of any social media marketing campaign depends on analytics for tracking and collecting data. Without this information, you can’t: 

●understand user behavior

●refine your strategy

●find which platform works best for your brand

●discover the best times to post

●analyze your competitors

●Advertising

The three main types of social media advertising are:

●Organic: Content that picks up views naturally and you don’t pay for.

●Paid: Content that an organization sponsors and therefore costs money to post.

●Earned: Content that has been given freely in the form of shares, likes, and comments

Different Types of Social Media Marketing

Aside from the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, social media marketing takes many different forms, such as:

●content marketing/content creating

●advertising/sponsorship

●influencer marketing

●social media management/community management

●paid media

●building your following

●contributing to forums

●Reviews

1. Facebook: Facebook is the biggest social media platform. It offers marketers some of the robust most data and the most precisely targeted ads. Facebook Ads walks you through the process, so even the newest social media marketers may be able to succeed on the platform.

2. Instagram: Instagram is and was always about pictures, and its video function is pretty popular too. Out of all of the big networks, Instagram has the highest engagement rate. You can also release short or long-form videos and share Instagram stories. Both formats do well for brands. Tools like In Video can help you create and edit professional videos that increase engagement and reach more people.

3. YouTube: This social network has changed the way we consume video since it has made it easy (streaming is super fast) and free, and it gives us a way to express our opinions instantly (thanks to comments).Almost 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every single day.

Pro tip: Use other social media channels to drive your followers to YouTube by giving excerpts, snippets, and previews of your videos. The little, bite-sized teasers will spark curiosity and make people want to see the whole thing.

4. LinkedIn: LinkedIn’s growth never exploded as much as Facebook’s, but they’ve been around for 18 years and have grown to over 774+ million members. On LinkedIn, it’s all about being professional. The casual writing style that’s used on some blogs doesn’t work as well on LinkedIn. People are there for one thing only: business.

5. Reddit: Reddit’s slogan claims that they are the “front page of the Internet,” and they aren’t very far off. With 1.5 billion visits from May 2019 to May 2020, Reddit might just live up to its description.

6. Snapchat: Snapchat has 293 million daily active users. While the majority of those are women (about 61 percent), men on the platform have one thing in common: they’re young. In fact, 69 percent of teens use Snapchat.

7. Pinterest: Pinterest is the number one social media platform for marketers who want to target women. 60 percent of their monthly active users are female. You can think of Pinterest as a giant digital scrapbook. Due to the nature of the pinboards, Pinterest is also one of the only platforms where images look best when you display them vertically. Keep in mind that your pics need special formatting to look good on Pinterest.

8. Quora: Quora is unique from other social media platforms as it’s strictly based on the questions and answers. Now, you might think “People ask questions and get answers on Facebook and Twitter all the time. 

Why use Quora?”

Two reasons:

1.The answers on other sites are sometimes not answers at all, personal stories, and, far too often, just plain mean.

2.People on Quora can establish authority without having to explain their qualifications over and over.

For instance, on Facebook, someone in a cat group may ask how to fix a mistake they made while cutting their own hair. While some folks may give kind, helpful responses, chances are they’ll also get a lot of rude answers about their “poor decision-making skills.”

Tips to Grow and Engage your Audience on Social Media

●creating a social media strategy with a concrete goal in mind know why you are posting on social media and what you want to achieve by doing so

●choosing the right social media channels for your company or industry

●experimenting with different content types such as live video or GIFs

●keeping track of current trends in your industry and adapting your marketing strategy accordingly, but don’t copy what other companies are doing; great advertising campaigns integrate something new!

●holding contests and inviting user-generated content

●sharing useful content, starting conversations and writing actionable content to inspire people to click through, read more, or even download your free brochure or mobile app.

Links To Some Important Videos:

●Social Media Marketing In 5 Minutes | What Is Social Media Marketing? [For Beginners]: 

https://youtu.be/I2pwcAVonKI

●How to Start Social Media Marketing (4 ESSENTIAL Tips for Beginners):

https://youtu.be/-tdFvJLw2UQ

●What Is Social Media Marketing? (And Why Does It Matter?!):

https://youtu.be/489yr8CnyTw

References:

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-quotes

https://neilpatel.com/what-is-social-media-marketing/

Compiled and Edited by

Priyanshi Bhardwaj

Batch of 2023

B.A. (Hons.) Journalism

Lady Shri Ram College for Women, New Delhi