Welcome to Lesson Four. This is the heart of the internship: how to write a piece that busy people will actually read.
Watch the lesson above. What is said in it is written out below, for reading and revision.
A good commentary has five parts. Open with something that matters today. State your argument in a single, clear sentence. Support it with three pieces of evidence.
Then give the strongest argument against you, and answer it. And finish with what should be done.
Keep it between seven hundred and nine hundred words. Use short sentences and plain English, with one idea to each paragraph. Write for an intelligent reader who is busy, and who is not an expert.
If you are writing a book review, explain what the book argues, in a few sentences. Then judge how well it makes its case, and what it leaves out.
Finish by saying who ought to read it, and why. A review is your considered judgement, not merely a summary.
Before the next lesson, write your opening paragraph and your one-sentence argument, and plan your three pieces of evidence. In Lesson Five you will turn them into a complete first draft.