Google the St. Luke’s Sentinel and you will find a website filled with lighthearted, fun, informative, and provocative articles; any kind of read is available. But what do the staff writers have to do to get an article published?
The first step is to come up with an idea. On the first day of every season, the writers fill out a document with potential ideas and their corresponding genres. The Sentinel is split up into six different sections: On Campus, Arts, Sports, Science and Technology, Odds & Ends, and Voices.
However, the writers are not limited to the ideas on the document. In fact, this article was not in the original document. It was just an idea I came up with while thinking of a potential article.
Writers are free to write about whatever they want, as long as it remains appropriate and school friendly. Before writing, the author must run their idea by the teacher facilitators, Jennifer Sproule and Hannah King.
Once the writer has an idea, the next step is to come up with the type of article they want to write.
There are many different kinds of articles, including a behind the scenes article, a feature, an editorial, a review, a news article, an opinion, and a column. This article falls under the ‘behind the scenes’ category.
After figuring out the type of article the writer wants to publish, the next step is to come up with an angle. An angle is the perspective that the article is from. It is important to consider who the intended audience is, or what the point of the article is.
Angles also help to determine the structure of an article. For example, a writer might take an angle about a local sports team’s practices, so they may find it best to interview the captains and the coaches about practices. Yet, interviews aren’t always necessary. The writer could take a different angle, talking about local high school sports and their similarities to national teams.
After the writer has determined their idea and angle, they must determine next steps. If the article contains an interview, the writer must draft a series of questions and meet with their interviewee. After the interview, the writer tends to transcribe the conversation. If the article does not have an interview, the writer may focus on research or simply an opinion.
The next step is for the writer to actually write the article.
Once the writer feels they have finished, the article moves to the next phase: editing. Depending on the genre of article, either Calum Regan ‘24 – On Campus Editor – or Brody Ebright ‘25 – Communications Editor – will edit the article. However, if the article does not fall into that genre, either Sproule or King will edit the article.
After revisions, the article is looked over one more time by either Sproule or King.
Once the writer has finalized their article, they must come up with a catchy headline and include a photo for the article cover. The photo must be horizontal and free to use.
The article is finally ready to be published. Sproule or King uploads it to the website, and the article is released to the public.
Now that you know the steps to writing a Sentinel article, consider joining the team and our efforts to publish more articles.
