CBSE Class 9 English Articles Writing Assignment

ARTICLE
An Article is an extended composition which needs great effort, knowledge, creativity and imagination.

Objectives :
● To share one’s ideas on some issue
● To share one’s experience with others
● To discuss some place, person or event
● To argue one’s point of view
● To write for magazines, newspapers / newsletters etc.

Format of an Article :

● Title : Should be eye-catching and should encapsulate the theme of the article. It can be one word or a group of words but not a complete sentence.
● Introduction: The article may open dramatically with a question, quotation, some important anecdote or data to catch the reader’s attention.
● Body: Include all the major statements and their supporting ideas along with arguments, examples and evidence as required.
● Conclusion: Conclude with a suggestion, hope, warning or a call for action.
● Name of the writer: should be mentioned after the title.

Points to Remember:

● Articles are generally descriptive or argumentative
● Descriptive articles generally describe some person, place or thing.
● In argumentative articles, we have to support or oppose ideas strongly.
● All information should be presented in a logical and coherent manner.
● Repetitions should be avoided. They bring monotony.
● A good vocabulary, quotations add to the composition.
● Word-limit is 150 words, which should be strictly adhered to.
● Name of the writer should be given. Designation is needed, if the article is argumentative.
● The first paragraph states the observation and the other paragraphs give supporting data, followed by conclusion in the end. 

Question. Take help from the following clues and write an article on ‘More Ads Than News and Features’ in about 100-120 words.
Answer. More Ads Than News and Features
The world of liberalisation and globalisation has given birth to unsatiable consumerism. ‘Use and Throw’ is the slogan of the times. Things have to be sold. Selling gives money. And money makes the mare go. One good commercial advertisement is worth more than hundreds of salesman. Such is the importance of advertisements in industry, trade, commerce and business. It is no exaggeration that on TV we have more ads than news. After a few minutes a ‘break’ is announced. And then starts a flood of commercial advertisements. You find the Shahanshah of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan selling ‘Binani Cement’. Then comes the ‘Badshah’ telling you to use ‘Fair and Lovely’ for your bright complexion. And our glittering damsels of Bollywood can’t be left behind. Aishwarya sells L’Oreal; Katrina patronises ‘Veet’ and Priyanka and Karina settling for ‘Bajaj Scooty’ and ‘Boro Plus’ respectively. News and features have become secondary. We have more adds than features or events.
TV, cinema, newspapers, magazines are full of advertisements. Ads are trend and style setters. Millions are earned just for a commercial advertisement of a few minutes! If things are to be sold then you can’t avoid patronising commercial advertisements. They are the lifeline of trade, business and the media.

Question. Taking help from the information given below and inventing your own details,write an article on ‘Books-Our Best Companions’ in 100-120 words
Answer. Books—Our Best Companions
Man is a social animal. He can’t live in isolation. Our human friends, relatives and companions can prove unreliable and treacherous. They can harm our interests. However, books are our real companions, friends and guides. They enrich humanity. They are a store house of knowledge. They have educative as well as informative value and importance. Let us live in the company of books. They will never betray or deceive us. We can look towards them for guidance, learning and entertainment. Shakespeare’s dreams have a universal appeal. Homer, Balmiki, Ved Vyas have given us immortal works. ‘The Ramayana’ and ‘The Mahabharat’ are read by millions of people. Keats’ poems are things of beauty that give joy forever. Tagore’s ‘Gitanjali’ transport us to a spiritual world. Prem Chand’s ‘Godan’ unfolds rustic life and its problems.
Books are our best companions. If you are alone, you can take up book of your choice and taste and very soon you become a part of it. Books on travels and adventures are not informative but also quite exciting. The biographies of great men like Lincoln and Gandhi can be a source of inspiration. It is never too late to enter the world of books. The sooner you enter, the better it is.

Question. A spate of rapes and murders of helpless young women in Delhi has shocked the conscience of the nation. Taking help from the information given below and inventing your own details, write an article on ‘Crime Against Women in Delhi’ in about 100-120 words.
Answer. Crime Against Women in Delhi
Delhi has earned the dubious distinction of being the crime capital of India. Life has become quite uncertain and unsafe in Delhi. The capital of India has become a grazing ground for kidnappers, rapists and murderers of women. The recent gang-rape of a young girl Damini in South Delhi has shocked the conscience of whole nation. All the tall claims of Delhi Police to provide security to women have been proved totally hollow and false. The whole nation rose in protest. There were loud demands for the death penalty to the rapists and the fast track courts for the speedy trial of rape cases. The police and the politicians were criticised for their insensitivity and inaction towards women. Everyday we find news of crimes against women in the columns of newspapers or on TV channels.
Young ladies can’t venture to go out alone after the sun sets in. Why has Delhi earned this notoriety? Of late, Delhi has developed a culture that has given birth to a class of criminals. The consumer culture equates a woman to a commodity. The war against criminals must be fought on two fronts. First, the Delhi Police must ensure safety to women by regular patrolling at night and nabbing criminals at the earliest. On the cultural front, a widespread movement should be launched to help women in their fight against crimes and criminals.

Question. Write an article in about 100-20 words on ‘Corruption in Public Places and Institutions in India’.
Answer.  Corruption in Public Places and Institutions in India
India got independence from foreign exploitation and colonial masters in 1947. Little did people think that the burden of the dark skinned masters would be more cumbersome and shattering than that the white rulers. Within decades, corruption and nepotism started polluting minds and morals of our leaders, politicians, bureaucrats and institutions. The Bofors scandal brought the downfall of Rajiv Gandhi’s government. The charges were that the government charged commissions in the Bofors gun-deal. No political party has remained above board in the eyes of the people. Even the President of the BJP, Sh. Bangaru Laxman had to resign after caught taking bribes on the camera in a sting operation. The UPA II Government was rocked by a series of scams and scandals. It started with the commonwealth games in Delhi. Crores of unaccounted money went in to the pockets of the organisers and officials. Not only was the public money misappropriated but India’s image had a serious dent in the outside world. The arrests of Raja and Kalmadi exposed the ugly face of our politicians and the deep decay of our institutions. Unfortunately, no one, right from the Prime Mnister to an ordinary clerk, seems above board and free from suspicion. The opposition and other political parties are not far behind. The Yedurappa government was ousted as it disgraced and drowned itself in the mire of corruption.
Series of scams and scandals gave birth to many public protests and outbursts in the form of Anna Hazare’s movement for the Jan Lokpal. The common masses are the worst sufferers. They have to bribe the corrupt officials in the offices, politicians in power and policemen in uniforms. Things must change or the anger of common masses knows or cares neither time nor direction.

Question. Write an article in about 100-120 words on ‘Combating the Menace of Drugs’.
Answer. Combating the Menace of DrugsDrug addiction is a problem that has been increasing menacingly among our society today. Drug addictions have ruined thousands of families in India. Addiction can trap anyone. Drug addiction ruins the victims physically,mentally and spiritually. It causes problems in the family and contributes to delinquent tendencies in society. Drug abuse leads to crimes and criminal behaviour. It affects the law and order situation affecting the moral health of the society. The abuse of narcotics has caused a widespread concern to all the civilized countries of the world. It is a curse for a developing country like India. Poverty, unemployment and lack of opportunities have caused a deep sense of resentment, anger and depression among the youths of the country. High aspirations, expanding ambitions and unsatiating consumerism have only worsened the situation. Broken families, loss of moral values and lack of proper guidance force the youths of today to resort to immoral and escapist practices of drug addiction. The young people fall an easy prey to drugs. They lose their discretion, conscience, self-control and will power. They indulge in anti-social activities and soon become outcastes in the society. It is shocking that more than 80 per cent heroine addicts in India are in the age group of 12-25 years. This abuse is more pronounced in cities but even our villages are not completely free from this menace. Mostly disillusioned youths alienated from their families and parental love take to drugs in deep frustration. The drug trade flourishes in our slums, hotels, night clubs and bars. An all-out war must be launched against the menace of drugs. The government must root out the centres and dens of this trade giving exemplary punishments to the guilty. Voluntary organizations, social networks and educational institutions must enlighten young men and women against the menace of drugs. We can’t afford to lose any more time: ‘No’ to drugs must start from today and from just now.

Question. You are Rama/Rajni. You are dismayed at the fact that no proper counselling or guidance is provided to students in schools and colleges. Write an article on ‘Career Guidance and Counselling for students’ for publication in a local magazine in about 100-120 words.
Answer. 
Career Guidance and Counselling for Students
There were times in India when schools and colleges used to factories for manufacturing clerks or ‘babus’ for the offices of our colonial rulers. Career guidance and counselling for students had no place in the Macaulayian set up. Now we are living in a highly competitive world. Without any proper guidance or counselling, students remained confused and directionless. Hence, the need for proper counselling and guidance for students to choose their future career and destiny.
It won’t be out of place to suggest a proper counselling and guidance to students at a reasonably early level. At the high school level, a team of professionals and experts must interact with the students. After judging their aptitudes, inclinations and skills, they must guide them about their prospective careers. They can counsel them which vocational courses or disciplines of learning suit their temperaments, aptitudes and skills. It would help the students to chalk out their future line of action. It can save him from unnecessary confusion, uncertainty and ambiguity. All students are not cut out for engineering, medical or management disciplines. There may be others who may be counselled and guided to choose humanities, arts or law. Well, the ultimate choice will definitely be the students and their parents. There must be a permanent counselling and guidance cell in every school and other higher institutions of learning. It is quite workable and pragmatic plan. Only the concerned authorities need to have the will power and means to implement it.

SAMPLE :

COMMERCIALISATION OF EDUCATION

By- Pranab

It is really very sad that education has now been fully commercialized. It has no more the colouring of social service as it was in the past. Today, schools are run on the lines of an industry and purely on profit and loss basis.

Schools charge high fees, so high that even middle class families find it hard to afford them. Strangely, these schools have invented different heads of fees that have hair thin differences. In a way they fleece the parents of the wards who study in their institute. Then as far as facilities are concerned, they are never up to the mark. For instance, new extra- curricular activities like horse riding, swimming etc, are there and students are charged highly for them. But if these are there, they are not there up to the mark. These schools, in fact, present a very impressive media hype that innocent parents think of them having a Cambridge kind of educational level. But realities are contrary. So these schools are the exploiting institutions.

The most harmful effect that these schools create is promoting inequality among the society. Two groups are created by them which is disastrous for mutual harmony and don’t harmonise human relationships. The government must understand the damage that this sort of commercialization of education is dishing out to the country. The moral fabric of our society is in peril.

PRACTICE QUESTIONS:

1) Your friend Sahil is almost addicted to computer and this habit of his has started affecting his health, especially his eyesight. His parents are also worried at this addiction of Sahil. Write an article on ‘ The proper use of computers by the students’ basing your ideas on Sahil in about 100- 120 words.

2) Read the following extract from an article in a magazine and then using your own ideas as well, write an article for your school magazine on the Delights and Usefulness of Walking in about 100- 120 words.

Walking has its own delights. Sadly in India walking is associated with deprivation and poverty. “If you have a car , why walk”? asked the professor, reviving up his Fiat for the few meters from his house to the college building. Pavements and pedestrians get second class treatment

ARTICLE
An article presents information on variety of themes in a long and sustained piece of writing. It involves a high degree of creativity, a wide vocabulary, a thorough knowledge of the subject, and a lot of organizational abilities.

GUIDELINES and FORMAT

1. Heading/title
· Should be eye catching,
· Should encapsulate the central theme Byline-by whom the article is written

2. Introduction
· State what the article is about
· Catch attention
· Arouse interest
· Limit and control what you plan to discuss in your article

3. Developing cause-effect relationship
· Use facts to support your claims
· Give examples to support your views
· Present arguments in a coherent, logical and convincing manner

4. Comparison and contrast
· Give views contrary to yours
· Argue as to why your views are better

5. Conclusion
· Summing up___consolidation of ideas.
· Offering suggestions
· Personal observations and predictions