ShmoopTube

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[Coop and Dino singing]

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Anyone who’s ever been in trouble with their parents before should be familiar with the 5Ws and 1H. [Parents lecturing young boy]

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Y'know…

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"Who ate the entire box of chocolate chip cookies?

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What were you thinking when you jumped into the pool from the roof? [Mom shouting at boy in hospital bed]

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Where did you put the remote??

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When did I tell you to be home from school? [Boy walks in through front door and Mom shouts]

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Why would you eat three tubs of ice cream in one sitting?

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And how in the world did you get your head stuck in the railing?"

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But the 5Ws and 1H aren't just good for parenting – they're Reporting 101.

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Newspaper articles can be written to inform, persuade, or entertain – but our focus today

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is on informational writing. [Coop discussing informational writing]

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When a journalist is writing an article in order to educate and inform the reader, they're

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writing “informational writing.”

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Which means that they’ll always start with the same six questions.

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First comes who, as in “Who is the story about?” [Man giving speech outside of Congress]

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Is it a politician? A citizen? Your kooky aunt Mabel?

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Informational articles are often about people and their actions, so knowing who we're talking

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about is pretty important. Next comes what. “What happened in this

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story?”

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Did the politician pass a bill? Did a citizen find something weird in their hamburger? Did [Politician holding a bill and people raise their arms]

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Aunt Mabel add a tenth cat to her collection?

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If a story was a sandwich, “what” would be the meat. You gotta know what happened.

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Next comes where. This one asks where the story takes place.

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Where did the politican's bill get passed? Where did they buy the hamburger with a fake

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eyeball in it? Where the heck is Mabel going to find space for that darn cat? [Cat sat on a bed and Mabel wonders where to find space]

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Where is super important. The reader needs to know if the sinkhole is on the other side

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of the world… or in their backyard. After that comes when. [Man falls into sink hole]

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Whether you're trying to figure out when the bill comes into effect, when the fake eyeball

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could have found its way into the hamburger, or when Mabel found time to buy a new cat [Mabel driving a car]

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between taking care of the nine other cats, people need to know if the story is recent

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or not.

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Who cares if the lottery happened a year ago? We want to know about the one that’s about

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to happen and is about to make us billionaires! Next up is “why?” This one is super important,

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because it's when the writer explains why something is important to the reader.

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Why did the bill get passed and why does it affect everyone? Why did the fake eyeball [A hamburger and a plate of fake eyeballs]

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end up there? And why does Mabel need all of those cats, anyway?

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So those are our five Ws, which leaves us with our 1H, “How.”

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“How” is kind of a catch-all question that allows the writer to cover any other [Coop discussing how]

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important details they might have missed.

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How did any of this happen? How might it happen to you? How in the world isn't there a law

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preventing women named Mabel from owning more than a set number of cats? [Mabel holding a cat and politician holds up a bill]

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How allows the reader to go into detail and explain things further, and we all love details…

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…almost as much as Mabel loves cats.

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So there you have it – the 5Ws and 1H to reporting!

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Now if you'll excuse us, we have some kitty litter to change. What a clawful situation. [Kitty litter in a bathroom and Mabel walks in]

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