current events writing assignment

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How to Write a Current Events Summary

Last Updated: February 12, 2023 Fact Checked

Choosing a News Article

Preparing to write, summary section, reflection section, final touches.

This article was co-authored by Richard Perkins . Richard Perkins is a Writing Coach, Academic English Coordinator, and the Founder of PLC Learning Center. With over 24 years of education experience, he gives teachers tools to teach writing to students and works with elementary to university level students to become proficient, confident writers. Richard is a fellow at the National Writing Project. As a teacher leader and consultant at California State University Long Beach's Global Education Project, Mr. Perkins creates and presents teacher workshops that integrate the U.N.'s 17 Sustainable Development Goals in the K-12 curriculum. He holds a BA in Communications and TV from The University of Southern California and an MEd from California State University Dominguez Hills. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 264,247 times.

A current events summary is a short description of an event that has recently happened or is going to happen. Current events summaries are often assigned by junior and senior high school educators for the purpose of teaching research, writing, and editing skills. The following steps will help you create a current events summary that is accurate, informative, and readable.

• Some possible news sources might include your local newspaper or larger newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and others.
• Check with your teacher for suggestions. He may have specific news sources to use.

• Most major newspapers have sections on their websites dedicated to certain topics. For example, the Washington Post has a section dedicated to “Tech.”
• Search online for an article on one of these topics. For example, try searching “healthcare news” to find new information.

• An article that is one to two paragraphs long is probably not going to be lengthy enough.

• Look up any words you don’t know.
• Take notes on the article or highlight passages that you think are important.

• The headline typically indicates the article’s main idea, but the article will likely include more information that is relevant to your summary.
• Choose five main points from the article that you think are important.
• Find some keywords to get the main idea across to the people. [1] X Research source

• Who: This is the person or group involved in the story. For a story on a recent arson case, you might say, “The people involved are four teenage boys who were charged with arson, a police investigation team, and the community that lost its historic baseball stadium.”
• What: This is the event or the action discussed in the story. In an arson case, it might be: “The oldest wooden baseball stadium in the country burned to the ground.”
• When: This is the date and time when the event took place: “The stadium burned down at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, June 29.”
• Where: This is where the event took place: “The baseball stadium was in the middle of the city, surrounded by residences.”
• Why: This is the cause or reason for the event: “The summer has been unusually dry and hot. The stadium had been sitting empty for five years and was not patrolled by security.”
• How: This point explains the ways in which the events took place and the connections between them: “The teenagers walked into the stadium and began playing with lighters and loose debris. Once the fire was set, they ran off.”

• Think about the story’s connection to your community, the nation, or the world, for example.

• When you recounted the article to someone else, you highlighted the most important parts of the article. These things will go in your outline. Now your job is to put them in an order that makes sense.

• Depending on your assignment, this might be three or four sentences, or it might be seven to nine sentences. Check your assignment for your length requirement.

• Even though the reflection is short (usually just a paragraph), you should still aim to make an argument , at least to some degree. Determine the main point that you want to make and think about how you will support that main point.

• Some teachers don’t allow the use of “I” (first person) in these reflections. Check with your teacher to determine if you can write in first person or not.

• Don’t just string together random thoughts about why the news story is important.

• Take a look at your verbs. If you use boring or the same verbs, your audience will get bored. See if you can make efficient choices of great action verbs.
• If you are handwriting your summary, you may need to write it out again as a clean copy after you’ve corrected any errors. For this reason, it may be preferable to type out the summary. Some teachers may require a typed paper.

• If you have a grading rubric for the assignment, review this before turning in the assignment. Make sure you have met all the requirements to ensure a good grade.

• Lee, Morgan. “California Regulators Approve Higher Electricity Rates for Most Residents.” The Los Angeles Times. The Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2015. Web. 4 July 2015.

Community Q&A

• Every teacher’s assignment is going to be a little bit different. Make sure you follow your assignment exactly. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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• ↑ https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/how-to-write-summary-example
• ↑ https://k12.thoughtfullearning.com/minilesson/asking-and-answering-5-ws-and-h-questions
• ↑ http://coe.jmu.edu/learningtoolbox/5w1h.html
• ↑ www.acisd.org/getFile.cfm?serverFileName=3D7039FC7A-D973-59AD-3C95BCBCFDC1039D.pdf
• ↑ http://alt-resource.teams.leedsmet.ac.uk/how-to-write-a-reflection
• ↑ https://owlcation.com/academia/How-to-Write-a-Summary

About This Article

A current events summary is a short review of a recent news story. To write your own, start by finding an interesting story from a reputable source, like a popular newspaper or news website. Read the full article and look up any words or phrases you don’t understand. Then, read the article again and take note of the most important facts, like who was involved, where and when the story took place, why it happened, and how it happened. Use these notes to write your summary. In your first sentence or 2, give a brief summary of what happened. Then, write a few more sentences to give your readers the extra details they need to know. For more tips from our Education co-author, including how to write a reflection on your current events summary, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Teach Current Events With These Free Worksheets From The Week Junior

Article summary worksheets and news accuracy tips for grades 3-8! 🗞️

The Week Junior magazine is a kid-friendly, unbiased current events news source. It’s a safe and trusted partner to help you explain to kids what’s happening in the world while providing fun reading content including puzzles, recipes, crafts, and more. 

The benefits of using current events in the classroom are practically endless. News stories help students better understand their communities, new perspectives, and real-world events. Introducing current events in the classroom can promote critical thinking, empathy, reading skills, global awareness, and so much more. Whether you’re assigning weekly current events summaries or conducting a single lesson, our free current events worksheets for grades 3-8 are the perfect companion.

Inside, you’ll find two options for current event summaries. In addition, our savvy news reader tips and activity will guide students through determining if an article is trustworthy. In a world of so many media outlets, news literacy is a crucial skill!

Get my current events worksheets!

Current Events Summary Worksheets

WeAreTeachers

• When giving current events assignments, give students the option to use one of two article summary worksheets to get started.
• Choose from a graphic organizer–style worksheet or a traditional fill-in worksheet to evaluate an article.

News Accuracy Worksheets

• Begin a lesson on news literacy. Use the list tips to educate students on determining a news article’s accuracy and credibility.
• Then, have students complete the corresponding worksheet to practice what they learned and evaluate a news article on their own.

The Week Junior , an Unbiased Classroom Current Events Resource

The Week Junior magazine is an awesome way to expose 3rd through 8th grade readers to current events through a kid-friendly, unbiased magazine. There’s something for every student, with sections on sports, culture, movies, crafts, recipes, and so much more! Get a free issue of The Week Junior , and watch kids dive into this interactive reading resource.

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The New York Times

The learning network | 50 ways to teach with current events.

50 Ways to Teach With Current Events

Current Events

Teaching ideas based on New York Times content.

• See all in Current Events »
• See all lesson plans »

Updated, July, 2016

How can we make sure that students are informed about what’s going on around the world? That they are armed with the tools to be able to distinguish between opinion and fact; between evidence-based statements and empty rhetoric; between sensationalism and solid journalism? Just like most other things in life, the best way to do all that is through practice.

In honor of National News Engagement Day , here are 50 ideas to help teachers bring current events into the classroom, grouped below by category:

Reading and Writing

Speaking and Listening

Games and Quizzes

Photographs, Illustrations, Videos and Infographics

• Design and Creativity

Making Connections

Building Skills

Some ideas work best as regular routines, others as one-shot activities. Many might be easier to use together with the new K-12 New York Times school subscription , but all of them could be implemented using the free links to Times articles on The Learning Network — or with any other trusted news source.

In our comments section, we hope you’ll share how you teach current events.

1. Read the Paper and Find What Interests You: If we could recommend just one thing teenagers should do with the news, it’s this. Just read and discover what you care about. Every summer we try to promote this with our Summer Reading Contest , and we hope teachers are continuing this student-centered approach now that school has started.

You might invite your students to pick one article each week and write about why they chose it, perhaps using student winners from our summer contest as models. Our Reading Log (PDF) might also help.

Then, set aside time for students to share their picks with a partner, or even with a wider audience through social media.

2. Share Your Opinion: Each school day we publish a new Student Opinion question about an article in The Times. Students can participate in our moderated discussions online, or you can borrow from hundreds of published questions for class discussions or personal writing from 2016 , 2015 , 2014 and beyond .

3. Read About News-Making Teenagers: Every month we publish a collection of all the recent Times articles and multimedia that feature teenagers . Students can use this list to identify someone they admire, learn how other teenagers are taking action or make connections to issues in their own school and community.

4. Find ‘News You Can Use': Use The Times, or any other news source, to find things like movie or video game reviews, recipes , sports scores, health information , and how-to’s on subjects from social media to personal finance that can help improve your life.

5. Ask and Answer Questions: Each day we choose an important or interesting Times story and pose the basic news questions — Who, What, Where, When, Why and How — in our News Q’s feature. Students can first answer the “right there” questions that test reading comprehension, then move on to the deeper critical thinking questions, then write their own “News Q’s” about articles they select.

6. Write an Editorial: Have your students pick an issue that matters to them, whether climate change, gender roles or police brutality, and then write an evidence-based persuasive essay like the editorials The New York Times publishes every day. They can practice all year, but save their best work to submit in our Student Editorial Contest in February. Each year we select 10 winners along with dozens of runners-up and honorable mentions from nearly 5,000 student editorials.

7. Compare News Sources: Different papers, magazines and websites treat the news differently. You might have students compare lead stories or, via the Newseum’s daily gallery, front pages . Or, you might just pick one article about a divisive topic (politics, war, social issues) and see how different news sources have handled the subject.

8. Be a Journalist Yourself: Perhaps the most powerful way to engage with current events is to document them yourself, as a student journalist . Write articles or opinion pieces for your school or community paper about how a national or global issue is playing out in your community. Contribute comments online or letters to the editor reacting to news stories you’ve read. Use social media to document what you witness when news happens near you. Take video of local events and interview participants. Or, suggest ways that you and others your age can take action on an issue you care about. The National News Engagement Day Pinterest board has ideas like this and many more.

9. Hold a Debate: Want your students to be able to develop arguments and support a point of view on current issues? We offer numerous resources to help, including: ideas for different classroom debate formats ; ways to use The Times’ Room for Debate feature in the classroom; and a graphic organizer for gathering evidence on both sides of an argument (PDF).

10. Interview Fellow Students: Ask students to generate a question related to an issue they’re reading about, and then conduct a one-question interview (PDF) with their classmates. The room will be buzzing with students asking and answering questions. For more detailed instructions on this activity, consult our teacher instructions .

11. Brainstorm Solutions to the World’s Problems: Why not put students in the role of policymakers? They can look closely at an issue covered in The Times and brainstorm possible solutions together, using our Problem-Solution handout (PDF) to take notes. Then they can work together to draft a policy proposal, perhaps one that suggests a local solution to the problem, and present it to the class or to the school board or city council.

12. Create a News-Inspired Theatrical Performance: Whether a simple monologue or a full Reader’s Theater event, our series, Drama Strategies to Use With Any Day’s Times, can help you use simple theater exercises to spur discussion and thinking about current events.

13. Hold a Mock Campaign and Election: Looking to teach an upcoming election? Let students take the role of campaign strategists and candidates. Our Election Unit can be adapted for any election to get students researching candidates, studying issues, trying out campaign strategies and holding their own mock election. Or, choose another approach from our 10 ways to teach about Election Day or our list of resources for the 2016 presidential election .

14. Organize a Teach-In, Gallery Walk or Social Action on a Topic: Our country and world face complex issues — war, drug abuse, climate change, poverty — to name a few. Students working in groups can follow a topic in The Times, and then organize a classroom or whole school “teach-in” to inform their peers about topics in the news and decide how to take action. Alternatively, they can create a classroom gallery of photographs, maps, infographics, articles, editorial cartoons, essays, videos and whatever else they can find to immerse others in the topic. Ask yourself and your classmates, what can people our age do to effect change around this issue?

15. See How You Do Compared to Others on Our Weekly News Quiz: Have students test how well they’ve been keeping up with the week’s news with our 10-question current events quiz. The answers provide an explanation along with links to relevant Times articles so students can learn more. Then, in December, students can take our annual year-end news quiz, like this one from 2015 .

16. Play Fantasy Geopolitics: Have students draft teams of countries, similar to how they might draft players in a fantasy sports league, and then accumulate points based on how often those countries appear in The New York Times . Classrooms can track point scores and trade countries using the resources on the Fantasy Geopolitics site, a game created by Eric Nelson, a social studies teacher in Minnesota.

17. Battle Others in Bingo: Encourage students to get to know the newspaper — digital or print — by playing one of our many versions of bingo: Page One Bingo , Science, Health and Technology Bingo , World History Bingo or Geography Bingo (PDF).

18. Do a Scavenger Hunt: Send your students searching for answers to our New York Times Scavenger Hunt (PDF) as a way to become more familiar with how a newspaper covers the day’s news.

19. Mix and Match Headlines, Stories and Photos: Cut up articles, headlines and photos into three separate piles and mix them up, then challenge students in groups to see who can correctly match them in the shortest amount of time. When they’re done, they can fill out our related handout (PDF). Our teacher instructions provide more details.

20. Hunt for the Three Branches of Government in the Paper: What articles can you find in a week’s worth of papers about the different branches of the United States government? Record what you find with our Branching Out handout (PDF).

21. Analyze Photographs to Build Visual Literacy Skills: On Mondays we ask students to look closely at an image using the three-question facilitation method created by our partners at Visual Thinking Strategies: What’s going on in this picture? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can you find? Students can participate in the activity by commenting in our weekly “What’s Going On In This Picture?” moderated conversation.

Alternatively, you might prefer to select your own news photos. Slideshows, such as the regular “Pictures of the Day” feature, are always a great place to find compelling images related to current events.

22. Interpret Editorial Cartoons and “Op-Art”: Patrick Chappatte publishes editorial cartoons on topics ranging from ISIS to the Ukraine. You can use the Visual Thinking Strategies facilitation method to ask open-ended questions, letting students make meaning out of the cartoons. Or, have students analyze some of the “Op-Art” on the Opinion pages of The Times. How do these images make an argument? Students can also try their hand at drawing their own editorial cartoons , and then enter them into our annual editorial cartoon contest .

23. Decipher an Infographic: Take an infographic or chart in The Times and have students explain what it shows using sentences. Our handout “A Graph Is Worth a Thousand Words, or At Least 50″ (PDF) can serve as a guide.

24. Create an Infographic: Or, do the opposite, and have students take the data provided in a Times article to create their own graph or chart (PDF). The Reader Ideas “From Article to Infographic: Translating Information About ‘Sneakerheads’” and “Telling Stories With Data” suggest ways to approach this task.

25. Illustrate the News: Students can draw an illustration that captures some aspect of an article. Using our handout “The One-Pager” (PDF), students accompany their illustration with a quote from the article as well as a question for the journalist or someone mentioned in the article.

26. Write a Postcard: Or, maybe having students create a mock postcard to or from a subject in a Times article would work better for your class.

27. Say What’s Unsaid: Another option is assigning students to add speech and thought bubbles (PDF) to a Times photograph to communicate something they learned by reading an article.

28. Create Storyboards: Students can break a story into various scenes that they illustrate (PDF), like a storyboard, and then write a caption or choose a quote from the article that captures the essence of each frame. Our teacher instructions can help with this activity, as can a recent lesson plan on using storyboards to inspire close reading .

Creative Writing and Design

29. Write a Rap or Song: Each December, we ask students to compose a rap about important and memorable events from the past year. Get inspired by the winners from our 2015 contest , and start polishing your rhymes for this year.

30. Make a Timeline: Students can design their own timelines, using photographs, captions and selected quotes, to understand and keep track of complex current events topics. Times models can help since the paper regularly publishes timelines on all kinds of topics, whether Mariano Rivera’s career, the evolution of Facebook or the Ferguson protests

31. Create a Twitter Feed: Or, students can create a fake Twitter feed documenting a news story, paying attention to time stamps and author tone, such as we suggested in this lesson about the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

32. Explore a Particular Community: Find reporting on a community of which you’re a member — whether an ethnic, religious, professional, school or artistic group, or any other — and analyze how it has been reported on. Then use these ideas for finding ways you can help express what, in your experience, makes this group unique. What do you think people need to know about this community and how can you communicate that?

33. Write a Found Poem: Every year we invite students to take any Times article or articles published since 1851 and mix and combine the words and phrases in them into a new piece. Take a look at the work of our winners for inspiration, but the exercise can be done with anything from a science essay to an obituary to an archival article reporting on a famous event from history.

34. Make a News Broadcast: Students can turn an article they read in The Times into an evening news broadcast , with an anchor, on-the-ground reporter and interview subjects.

35. Create an Audio Podcast: Listen to some Times models , then get students to create a podcast (PDF) of a news story instead.

36. Connect the Past to Today: Help students tie what they’re studying in history class to what’s going on in the world today. We regularly do this in both our Text to Text feature as well as our social-studies-focused lesson plans . You might also consider following @nytarchives on Twitter and our own “Throwback Thursday” posts to see echoes of the past in today’s headlines — or, visit Times Machine on your own to view by date or through search terms 129 years of Times journalism as it originally appeared.

37. Pair the News With Literature and Poetry: Encourage students to look for connections between literary themes and current events. Our Poetry Pairings and Text to Text lesson plans can provide inspiration, as can our Classic Literature posts .

38. Think Like a Historian: What events make the history books? How and from whose point of view are they told? Have students research a current events topic, and then write a paper arguing whether this topic will make “history” and how it will be remembered.

39. Connect The Times to Your Own Life: Have students make connections between the articles they read in The New York Times and their own life, other texts and the world around them using our Connecting The New York Times to Your World (PDF) handout.

40. Consider Censorship Through Any Day’s Front Page: What if we didn’t have freedom of the press? Ask students to take the front page of any New York Times and put an X over the stories that might be censored if our government controlled the press. You might use our Censoring the Press (PDF) handout to help.

41. Take Informed Action: When students become more informed about the world, they can get inspired to become civically active and engaged in their communities . Have students brainstorm issues that matter to them, either at the local, national or global level, and then design a plan of action for how they can begin to make the change they hope to see in the world.

42. Determine Reliability of Sources : How do we distinguish good journalism from propaganda or just shoddy reporting? Students can use simple mnemonics, like those developed at the Center for News Literacy , to evaluate the reliability of an article and the sources it relies on. For example, apply the acronym “IMVAIN” (PDF) to an article to surface whether sources (and the information they provide) are Independent, Multiple, Verifiable, Authoritative, Informed and Named. This and many other strategies can be found in our lesson on “fake news vs. real news .

43. Distinguish Fact From Opinion: Even within The Times, students can get confused when navigating between news and opinion. What’s the difference? Use our Skills Practice lesson on distinguishing between the two to help students learn the basics, then go on to our lesson “News and ‘News Analysis’,” to help students learn how to navigate between news reporting and Opinion pieces within news outlets.

44. Start With What Students Already Know: Students are often aware of current events on their own, even before topics come up in school. When delving into a subject, start by asking students what they’ve heard or seen, and what questions they already have. Use our K/W/L Chart (PDF) or a concept map to chart what students say and think. And this post , about reading strategies for informational text, has much more.

45. Identify Cause and Effect: Much of journalism involves tracking the ripple effects of big news events or societal trends. Our handout (PDF) can help students get started, as can this Facing History “iceberg” strategy that helps learners think about what’s “under the surface.” Another resource? This Skills Practice lesson .

46. Compare and Contrast: Venn diagrams and T-charts (PDF) are often useful for comparing two topics or issues in the news, and our Text-to-Text handout can help students compare two or more texts, such as an article and a historical document.

47. Read Closely: By using a double-entry journal (PDF), students can become better readers of informational text by noting comments, questions and observations alongside lines or details they select from a text.

48. Support Opinions With Facts: Whether students are writing their own persuasive arguments, or reading those written by other people, they need to understand how authors support opinions with facts. Students can practice by reading Times Opinion pieces and identifying how authors construct arguments using opinions supported by facts (PDF). Then they can develop their own evidence-based counterpoints.

49. Summarize an Article: Having students pull out the basic information of a news story — the five W’s and an H (PDF) can help them better understand a current events topic. Here is a lesson plan with a summary quiz and many ideas for practice.

And Finally…

50. Learn From Our Mistakes: There are several places in the newspaper where you can see corrections and analysis of where The Times has made a misstep. For a weekly critique of grammar, usage and style in The Times, see the After Deadline series. For a list of each day’s corrections, go to the bottom of the Today’s Paper section and click “corrections.” And for a full discussion of issues readers and the public raise around Times coverage, visit the Public Editor column . What can you learn from the mistakes The Times makes, and from how they are addressed publicly?

Let us know in the comment section below how you teach current events in your class, or which ideas from the above list inspired you.

Comments are no longer being accepted.

Great ideas! Thanks for sharing.

I am currently a graduate student working towards a certificate and Masters in Special Education. One of the biggest pushes in our program is to ensure that we are doing the things necessary within the classroom to become a critical transformative multicultural educator. Through my studies and observational experiences, I believe there is no better way to prepare studenst for the real world than connecting them to current events. It can often be comfotable to keep students in a world within the walls of the classroom. Yet, in doing so students only adapt to only being able to staticly think about the environments they are exposed to. Through these amazing and creative ways students can evolve their thought processes and become dynamic learners interest in the how the world around them works. It is through current events that we as educators can empower our students to become advocates for their own lives. Thanks so much for sharing and could not agree more with message.

Here are some more current event brain boosters: //www.educationworld.com/a_special/current_events.shtml

! Use current events as an activator to start each class and sometimes we follow the topic the full school year. Great short videos as well. Thanks for the lesson plans ideas as well.

What's Next

• Free Writing Tools

How to Write a Current Event Essay: Tips, Structure, Topics, Example

Students are often tasked with the responsibility of how to write a current events essay paper. This paper assesses their research, writing, and editing skills. It also helps them keep tabs on the occurrences in the world and draw a relationship between them and their possible effects.

When writing this kind of paper, reflecting on a situation and exercising your critical thinking and creativity is essential. This writing also develops your argumentative and persuasive skills .

What Is a Current Events Essay?

Unlike most papers, a current events essay focuses on clearly and effectively outlining a particular phenomenon, situation, or happening. The event has to be interesting enough to draw most people’s attention and evoke different emotions from them. On rare occasions, this kind of writing could also describe an event that has yet to occur.

This kind of writing requires you to address the phenomenon’s historical context, current state, and potential effects. As a result, your topics will relate to concepts in fields such as technology, politics, medicine and health, sociology, science, international relations, law, and controversial societal issues and standards.

Current Event Paper Format

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How Do You Write a Summary of an Event?

Back to the format of writing current events papers, these steps will help you better approach this kind of essay. They will also help you avoid writer’s block and develop a well-structured essay. Follow these steps on how to write a current events report:

1. Select an Exciting Topic

Your tutor may provide a specific topic or instructions for this essay. On other occasions, they might ask you to select a topic and write an essay about it. The latter might sound easy, even though most students fail at approaching it. Therefore, you must be very careful when choosing a topic for your writing.

Before settling on a topic, go through the tutor’s instructions to establish the constraints of your essay’s topic. Some tutors specify the timeframe of the events they want to write about. Others limit the subject or field they want the writing to be about. Some instructions will also dictate the tone of your paper. For instance, an analytical essay should not have a descriptive tone.

Current Events Essay Topics

How do I make my current event article engaging and interesting? The first step is to choose the right topic. Focus on your notes or news outlets for ideas on what to write about. Ask for insights from your mates or tutor. Alternatively, consult our team for information on what to write about.

Meanwhile, here are examples of current events to write about:

• How can we control inflation?
• Should college be free?
• Should all college debt be forgiven?
• Is the U.S. going to go into recession?
• Was the defunding of police departments a good idea?
• What should be the rules for the repayment of college loans?
• Is the U.S. economy becoming stronger or weaker?
• How important is it to reduce the Federal budget deficit?
• Should the death penalty be outlawed throughout the U.S.?
• Should the United States raise the minimum wage for workers?
• How is COVID-19 changing working in America? Around the world?
• Does it make sense to give U.S. citizenship to all babies born in the United States?
• What is causing the increasingly high cost of healthcare in the United States?
• Does better health care for everyone make a better and stronger economy in the U.S.?
• How should the U.S. respond to cyber hacking by Russia, China, and other countries?

2. Choose a Reputable News Source and Select an Article

What are some good sources for finding current events to write about? You could base your essay on sources like media publications. Some of them include:

• National News
• Sports News
• The Atlantic
• The Economist
• The Guardian
• Investopedia
• TIME Magazine
• The Harvard Business Review
• National Public Radio (NPR)
• The Wall Street Journal
• The Washington Post

Remember, your source should be credible, reliable, and reputable. It should have a history of writing trustworthy news. You could also base your essay on publications on empirical journal articles, government documents, scholarly books, and peer-reviewed articles.

3. Read the Selected Article Keenly and Take Notes

After specifying the article you want to write about, read through it carefully, jotting down important details. If you are unsure about the vocabulary used in the article, look it up and note the contextual meaning of words. Identify the five Ws in the article:

• What happened?
• Where did it happen?
• When did it happen?
• Who was involved?
• Why did it happen?
• How did it happen?

Answers to these questions will help develop an angle for your analysis. It will also help build key sections of your essay like the lead sentences, thesis statement, title, claims, and arguments.

Read Also: Can You Plagiarize Yourself and What Are the Consequences?

4. Develop a Thesis Statement and Hook for Your Essay

How do you start an event essay? Using your notes, develop a thesis statement for your essay. Ensure you are creative enough to come up with a unique statement. In the same breath, it should be strong enough to form the basis of your arguments.

For instance, if you are writing about human trafficking during the COVID-19 pandemic, here is an example of a thesis statement and hook statement.

Thesis Statement

It is time for world leaders, law enforcement agencies, and investigative agencies to team up and develop structures and measures to curb human trafficking, especially during natural disasters and pandemics.

A study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic had dire effects on the victims and survivors of human trafficking; there was an increased targeting exploitation of women and children.

5. Choose the Sources You Wish to Use to Support the Thesis

How do I make sure my current event article is accurate and unbiased? Establish the sources you wish to use to determine the scope of your essay. They have to be credible. If your instructions specify the sources for your paper, bear that in mind. When researching, highlight the specific pages with information you will use to support your arguments.

How do I cite my sources in a current event article? The style depends on the instructions specified by your tutor.

READ ALSO: Best Conclusion Generator Top 5 Ones That Work

6. Create an Outline

Your current events essay should follow the five-paragraph essay format:

Introduction

• 3 body paragraphs

The three body paragraphs should include arguments backing up the thesis statement.

How do I write a strong introduction for my current event article? The introduction paragraph should brief the reader on the event’s details by answering the five Ws. Remember not to make it too long; five to six sentences should work.

Body Paragraphs

The details of the first body paragraphs should explain the factors that led to the event and how they influenced it. The second paragraph should highlight the two sides people can take regarding the event and provide adequate reasons for it. The third paragraph should explain the significance of the event and who it will impact.

How do I conclude my current event article effectively? The conclusion should summarize the crucial details of the writing. It should also discuss the possibility of bias in the article, reflect on how bias informs how the article was created and why it was essential to highlight the event’s significance.

What Are Some Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Current Event Article?

These are the most commonly highlighted mistakes students make with this kind of writing:

• Spelling errors
• Pronoun errors
• Using irrelevant images
• •Direct rewriting of original news
• Lack of clarity
• Too much or little details

If you were wondering how to write a current events essay, these details help you write your paper. If you need help, reach out to us.

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How to write a current events essay.

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Current events essays are common assignments given by English professors which means learning to write them is a key to passing and succeeding in English class. Writing an essay may seem like a simple assignment, but when it is due tomorrow, a blank word document and piles of books can seem paralyzing.

This post will cover everything you need to know about how to write a well-organized current events essay including where to find trustworthy help from an online resource like an essay writing service.

Because successful writing depends on how you research and organize an outline to guide your writing, this post will spend a lot of time talking about how to set yourself up for success using research and outlining tools.

We will cover:

• What a current events essay is

How to choose your topic

How to research efficiently.

• How to organize your research
• How to create an outline
• The writing process

Keys to successful proofreading

• Where to find assistance when you need it and how resources such as an essay writing service can help

What is a current events essay?

A current events essay is a written description of a recent situation, issue, or happening. Current events essays area often assigned by English professors as a way to teach students about the research, writing, and editing process.

Current events essays generally:

• Are written in standard essay format
• Include in-text citations and follow a specific citation format
• Summarize a recent or upcoming event known to the public

Sometimes a current events essay assignment will provide specific instructions about what topic to write about. Other times, students will have more flexibility with choosing a topic. Be sure to carefully review your assignment’s rubric and instructions. If you will be choosing your own topic, make note of the following before you narrow down topic choices:

• 1. Do the instructions place any time constraints on your topic? In other words, does your current event have to be something that happened within the last year or can it be something that happened five years ago?
• 2. Does your topic need to relate to a specific industry or genre such as politics, sports, or business?
• 3. Are there any analytical components that are supposed to be addressed by your essay or is it purely descriptive?

After you are clear on these three things, choose a topic you think will be most interesting to write about and easy to research. If you are not sure, try using Google Scholar to do some exploratory searches.

Choose a topic that is easy to find information about. If you are still not sure where to start, consider reaching out to an essay writing service for thought-joggers and topic inspiration. An essay writing service will generally be able to provide an example paper that can be helpful in generating topic ideas.

Tackling the research process can, no doubt, feel a bit intimidating. Here are some basic steps for getting started:

• 1. Know how many sources you will need so that you can allow enough time to research.
• 2. Choose credible sources. This will depend on the instructions you are given. some professors allow business or media articles while others will only want scholarly sources.
• 3. Know exactly what you are looking for before you start your research . Jot down three or four main bullet points of what you will be looking for while you are researching.

Think of these points like a road map. They will guide your reading so you know what passages will be relevant to your paper. Usually, you will be looking for information that relates to the What, Where, When, Who, Why, and How aspects of your topic.

Here is an example:

Election of Donald Trump as President of the United States

• What happened?
• U.S. presidential election
• Where did it happen?
• The United States, specifically Washington D.C.
• When did it happen?
• Who was involved?
• Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, their respective running mates, and electors
• Why did it happen?
• This section may include subjective elements or a discussion with multiple perspectives, unlike the others that are mostly objective facts.
• How did it happen?
• A majority of electoral votes were cast in favor of Donald Trump

The research process can be one of the most challenging and time-consuming parts of essay writing. Some high-quality essay writing services are able to provide assistance identifying and recommending credible sources. Generally, an essay writing service will do this by providing an annotated bibliography .

How to choose sources

Again, be sure to review your assignment’s instructions about what types of sources your professor is letting you use. Wikipedia is almost always not allowed. If you are allowed to use business and media sources, some relevant sites may include:

• The Harvard Business Review
• Investopedia
• TIME magazine

However, if you are asked to only use scholarly, peer-reviewed sources, you will want to use search engines such as Google Scholar, the Cochrane Database, JSTOR, or your school’s library database. Make sure that the sources you choose:

• Are empirical journal articles or
• Are scholarly books or government documents and
• Are peer reviewed

If you are having difficulty determining whether or not a source is scholarly, try reaching out to a professional researcher and editor who works with high quality essay writing service such as Ultius. Ensure the essay writing service you choose only hires professional writers .

Use the above criteria as a filter when choosing sources to read. Next, choose the sources you will read based on how relevant they are to your topic. Use the title or meta-description to inform you, skim the first couple paragraphs, or read the abstract if one is available.

Look for the most relevant passages

Follow these simple steps to stay organized while you are reading your research:

• 1. Pause and refresh. Remember that handy bullet point list you created in step #3? (You can also use a What, Where, When, Who, Why, and How list instead of bullets). That list is going to be your reading road map. Take a moment to review it. What information will you want to be looking for while you read?
• 2. Read with clear intention. Begin skimming and reading your documents with these bullet points in mind. When you get to a section that tells you something you will need to know, read it more thoroughly.
• 3. Use organizing tools. Use a highlighter tool or copy-paste excerpts to a separate document for later reference. Do not forget to include a citation if you copy-paste, so that you know where each excerpt came from. If highlighting, consider using a different color highlighter for each of the What, Where, When, Who, Why, and How subtopics.

Organize your research

Here are three basic methods of organizing your research:

• 1. If you are a visual learner , use a different color highlighter or text for research that relates to each of your What, Where, When, Who, Why, and How subtopics. Then you will know exactly what passages to use for each part of the outline you will create next.
• 2. If you like to compartmentalize, open a different Word document for each What, Where, When, Who, Why, and How subtopic. Copy-paste the most relevant research excerpts onto each document. Include citations.
• 3. Combine methods 1 and 2 above for compartmentalized color-coded research. That way, if you move research around in your outline, you will still know what aspect or subtopic each item relates to most.

Create your outline

A current events essay outline will follow this general format:

• Introduction

The body section will include additional subheadings. An easy way to start outlining these subheadings is to make them correspond to the What, Where, When, Who, Why, and How subtopics. For example, if writing a current events essay on the recent election of Trump, an outline might look like this:

• 1. Introduction. (1 page)
• a. A brief description of Donald Trump and Presidential elections. ( What )(0.5 pages)
• b. The political context leading up to and surround the 2016 election. ( Where and When )(0.5 pages)
• i. Candidates. (0.5 pages)
• ii. Senate. (0.5 pages)
• iii. House. (0.5 pages)
• iv. Campaign initiatives. (0.5 pages)
• v. State electors and public voters. (0.5 pages)
• d. Polarized political views and primary political issues surrounding the election. ( Why )(0.5 pages)
• i. Why Trump one the election over Hillary. (0.5 pages)
• ii. Conspiracy speculations and opposing opinions (0.5 pages)
• 3. Conclusion. Re-summarize the introduction and make note of any key takeaways. (1 page)

Notice the page count notes next to each subheading. Making note of page length per subtopic will also help you to write more efficiently and be sure to hit your assignment’s requirements.

Plug your research into your outline

Once you organize your research and create your outline, fitting the two together is like putting together a simple puzzle. Simply select the most important passages of research based on your organized subtopic documents or color-coded notes and place them under the outline heading each passage relates to. Also:

• Be sure to include the citations after each. Do not worry if your citations are not perfectly formatted; you can go back and correct them later. (An essay writing service can also help you correctly format your citations ).
• Do not try to paraphrase information yet. You will write everything in your own words later. Right now, the idea is simply to create a writing map for yourself so that you do not feel lost or stuck once you begin writing. Also, make notes to yourself on your outline. Jot down writing prompt ideas using keywords or simple phrases.

Remember, this process can be challenging the first couple times you try it. That is completely ok. It takes practice. Creating an outline or understanding what research passages relate to what subtopics are things a high-quality essay writing service can help with. But, be sure to find an essay writing service that can create customized research outlines rather than just providing example papers.

Once you are ready to write, begin by following these steps. Remember, your outline is your road map.

• 1. Copy-paste your outline to a new document. Save an original version of your outline in case you need to reference it. You will do your writing in the new version.
• 2. Start writing. As you write, follow your prompts, research, and subheadings. Erase the outline’s subheadings and prompt information as you write about it. Analyze and implement your research as you go, using the notes you wrote to yourself.
• 3. Keep your writing rough. Avoid the temptation to edit as you write. Just keep writing!
• 4. Start by writing a summary introduction about the entire current event. Keep your summary brief, about one paragraph. This will be the introduction. Do not worry about getting it perfect; you can revise it later. The goal is simply to write an overview.
• 5. Write the body of your essay following your outline. Use connecting phrases between paragraphs that explain how thoughts and ideas are related.
• Finally, write your conclusion. Your conclusion will be a re-cap of the entire essay. It will be similar to the introduction, but will re-state important points the research demonstrated.

Writer’s block can be a stressful obstacle for many students. If you are finding it difficult to get the words to flow, consider reading an example essay—which a professional essay writing service can provide —to inspire your writing.

Now it is time to go back and edit. During the proofreading process, try these 3 steps:

• 1. Edit your essay for flow and sentence structure. Fix any awkward phrasing or elements that don’t make sense.
• 2. Next, proofread your essay again for spelling and grammar errors.
• 3. Finally, ensure all your sources are cited correctly. If you are not sure how to follow a specific citation format, ask your professor for help or reach out to an essay writing service for examples of how a particular citation style should look.

Ask for help when you need it

Asking for help is completely ok, and actually recommended . When we have help, we often learn more productively and retain information better.

Despite the many types of essay writing services available online today, high quality essay writing services can be an excellent source of help. Instead of choosing just any paper writing service, the key is to choose the best essay writing service to fit your needs.

Here are some tips for choosing a high quality essay writing service to help with your current events essay:

• Read reviews.
• Ask for examples of the essay writing service’s writing and editing to make sure the quality is up to par.
• Make sure the service provides outlining, researching, and editing services in addition to writing.
• Steer clear of free services (they sometimes plagiarize content)!
• Make sure the essay writing service allows you to message your writer directly.

Follow the steps we covered in this post and choose a reliable essay writing service , and you will be on the road to writing an A+ current events essay.

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How to Do a Current Event

Last Updated: January 31, 2021 References

This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff . Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. This article has been viewed 14,894 times.

For many classes in grade school, the task of preparing a current event is a common one. Some assignments ask you to simply hand in a written response, while others want you to give an oral presentation with visual aids. Whatever the parameters of your assignment, paying attention to what an article says and how it makes you feel are important for coming up with a proper response.

Choosing the Right Article

• If you know you’re going to give an oral presentation on a news article, you might want to choose a news article that is more likely to capture the attention of your listeners.
• Not all current events are written down in articles. Make sure your assignment doesn’t include internet video news reports as an option. If so, look on TV news channel websites for a news report video.

• If you want to clip a printed article, find a local paper. You can ask your family members if they receive a newspaper, go to the local library and make a copy, or purchase a newspaper from a local grocery store.
• The easiest location to find news articles is online. You can do an internet search to find the website for a newspaper and then print it out.

• The most reliable news websites are the websites that belong to printed newspapers, like thenewyorktimes.com or the website of your local paper. These website URLs end with “.com,” but if you know a website is rub by a reputable newspaper, it is reliable.
• Try clicking on an author’s name to find their biography (often called a “bio”). If there is no author, you should consider not using this source. Most reliable newspaper articles have author names listed. [1] X Research source
• Look below the article to see if there are any links to where the author got their information from. If there aren’t any, you might consider moving on.

• Look at the dateline of the article to find the date. A dateline is a line just beneath the title of an article that includes the article’s date. The author’s name is usually right above it.

• Look for articles in newspapers that extend past the front page. Look for the phrase “continues on page…” at the bottom of an article.
• On the internet, make sure that you have to scroll down the screen in order to read the whole article. This indicates that the article has some length.
• If you are asked to find a video news report, make sure the report is several minutes long rather than just a few seconds.

Analyzing the Event

• Look at your assignment to see what your teacher wants you to do.
• If you can choose what kind of report to come up with, decide which one you would like to do. Keep in mind that with all three, there is some writing required.

• If an article has quotation marks, this means the writer is quoting someone. Try to imagine the person as they are saying the quote.
• Look around the article for description words like “young” or “busy” to help you picture scenes described in an article.

• A paraphrase helps you understand what you have read so that you can create an accurate response.
• For example, if the article says, "Construction on Interstate 65 will continue through next year," you could write, "This article said that construction on the local highway won't be over for a long time."

• Ask yourself, “Who is this article about?” and list each individual or group on your paper.
• “What is this article about?”
• “When does the event this article talks about take place?”
• “Where does the event in this article take place?”
• ”Why does this event take place? What are the motivations of the people involved?”
• ”How did the event in the article happen?”

• You should include the tone in your current events report.
• To assist you in determining what the tone is, ask yourself how you feel when you read the article.

• Also think about if the author trying to persuade you to agree with their perspective.
• Write down your answers to these questions to help you decide what your opinion about the article is.
• Take this time to answer any other questions your assignment directly asks you to address.

Writing Your Response

• Make sure the summary paragraph is either one paragraph or one third the length of the article, whenever is longer.
• For example, you could begin your summary with, "This article covers the release of a new invention that will one day change the way we purify water."

• This reflection section should also include your feelings about it.
• For example, did the article make you angry? Happy? Confused? Explain what parts of the article made you feel this way.
• You could write, "This article made me feel happy because it reported something redeeming about people in another country."

• For example, the summary paragraph should list things from the article in the same order that the article listed them.

Giving an Oral Presentation

• Use a program like PowerPoint or Prezi to organize your visual aids.
• Introduce yourself and your article in a slide before showing a summary slide.
• Use images that match the ideas on each slide.
• Find out if you can use note cards so that you don’t forget your ideas during your presentation. If so, write down what you want to say in the presentation on note cards.
• For example, you could open with, "Hello! My name is Susie Brown and today I want to share my response to a current event with you."
• You could end with, "Thank you for listening to my presentation today."

• Make sure your presentation is not too short or too long. Look at your assignment for rules about how long the presentation should be.

• If you have an oral presentation, practicing it several times before you go to class will be the most helpful.
• Be prepared to be asked questions about your article in case your teacher wants the class to have a discussion.

Expert Q&A

• The approaches suggested here might not be how your class does it, or your teacher's approach may be different. Always make sure to check with your teacher or the assignment before beginning work. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.ivcc.edu/stylebooks/stylebook6.aspx?id=14724
• ↑ https://www.aacc.edu/tutoring/file/skimming.pdf
• ↑ http://www.edutopia.org/blog/brain-movies-visualize-reading-comprehension-donna-wilson
• ↑ http://coe.jmu.edu/learningtoolbox/5w1h.html
• ↑ http://depts.gpc.edu/~gpcltc/handouts/communications/recognizingtone.pdf
• ↑ http://busyteacher.org/13498-current-events-presentation.html

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Current Events Templates

Customize current events templates.

If you're assigning this to your students, copy the worksheet to your account and save. When creating an assignment, just select it as a template!

Engaging Students with Current Events Worksheets: Fostering Critical Thinking and Global Awareness

Real world current events serve as a powerful educational tool, as students learn tangible examples and relatable context to explore societal topics and understand their relevance in the broader world. Studying a current event and completing a current events assignment keeps students informed and is essential for their development as engaged and informed citizens. One effective tool for achieving this goal is the use of free current events worksheets. These worksheets provide a structured approach to help children learn and stay updated on the latest news, while also promoting critical thinking and global awareness.

When students engage with these handouts, they not only learn about what is happening in the world, but also develop essential analytical skills and learn about possible bias and what's going on in their city, country, and the world in the present day. By examining news articles and answering questions related to the content, children are encouraged to think critically about the information presented. They learn different ways to assess the credibility and reliability of news sources, ensuring they become discerning consumers of information. Through these activities, students gain media literacy skills and become better equipped to navigate the vast amount of news available to them.

What is a Current Events Worksheet?

It serves as a valuable resource for teachers and students alike. It offers a structured format that includes essential components such as a summary of the news article, questions to assess comprehension, and opportunities for reflection. Teachers can provide a blank sheet for kids to fill in with information from news articles they find, or they can use pre-selected articles and provide a sheet with answers. By using these worksheets, teachers can guide the class in analyzing news articles effectively and guide classroom discussions on important topics.

Implementing current events lessons in the classroom provides an interactive and engaging way for kids to learn about the world around them. By discussing current events and sharing their perspectives, they develop a deeper understanding of real-world issues and their impact on society. With these and other resources, teachers can facilitate classroom debates, encourage collaborative activities, and encourage students to express their opinions on the news articles they explore together.

To make these more effective, it's important to choose a variety of news articles that cover diverse topics and perspectives. This ensures children are exposed to different viewpoints and fosters empathy and understanding in preparation for life as they get older. Educators can also integrate multimedia elements such as videos, infographics, links, and newspaper clips to enhance the learning experience and cater to different learning styles. Another great idea it to let kids choose their own article relating to a current event in the world today.

Components of Effective Current Events Worksheets

To maximize the benefits of a current event handout, be sure to include components that provide a structured format for learners to engage with news articles. This can include sections for recording the title and date of the news article, allowing students to keep track of the articles they have explored. Additionally, including a section for students to write a summary of the article helps them condense information and identify the main points. To promote critical thinking, the handout can also include questions to answer that encourage students to analyze the main idea, supporting details, and different perspectives presented in the article.

Implementing Current Events Worksheets in the Classroom

These lessons offer a valuable opportunity for kids to delve into real-world issues, fostering critical thinking, empathy, and a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness between their lives and the events shaping the world. A current events activity provides a dynamic and hands-on approach to learning, as students actively explore and analyze real-world issues through engaging exercises and interactive tasks. Teachers can provide a selection of templates with different topics and difficulty levels, allowing students to choose worksheets that align with their interests and grade level. It's important to provide resources and materials such as a variety of news articles, websites, and other relevant sources to support students in completing the worksheets. To illustrate the relevance of current events in the classroom, educators can provide students with a compelling example of current events news articles during their discussion.

Examples of Current Events Worksheets and Activities

A current events report sheet serves as a valuable tool for all grades to structure their research, gather relevant information, and craft a well-organized report on the news article they have analyzed, fostering effective communication and critical thinking skills.

Engaging in classroom discussions allows the class to exchange perspectives, broaden their understanding, and develop critical thinking skills by critically analyzing and debating various aspects of the news articles. By discussing recent events, students not only gain a deeper understanding of the world around them but also sharpen their communication skills as they articulate their thoughts, listen to others' viewpoints, and engage in respectful debates on pressing global issues.

To make these worksheets engaging and interactive, use activities like comparing articles from different sources, creating presentations or podcasts, and conducting in-depth research. These activities promote analysis, communication skills, critical thinking, and a deeper understanding of global issues.

Worksheet Making Tips

• Find a News Article: Look for a relevant and age-appropriate news article from a reliable news source or consider allowing students to choose their own articles within certain guidelines.
• Determine the Focus: Decide on the main issues or themes you want to explore through the assignment.
• Provide Resources: Gather additional resources such as articles, videos, or websites that can supplement the students' understanding of the topic.
• Create a Template: Design a format that includes sections for reading the article, answering questions, summarizing key points, and reflecting on the moral or ethical questions it raises.
• Prepare the Worksheet: Write clear and concise questions that prompt critical thinking and analysis of the news article. Answer questions as they arise.
• Engage Class in Reading and Research: Encourage students to read the news article carefully and use additional resources to gain a broader understanding of the topic.
• Complete the Worksheet: Have kids fill out the worksheet, answering the questions and summarizing the main points of the article in their own words.
• Make Use of Available Resources: Explore the curriculum corner or utilize educational websites on the internet, newspapers, or community resources to find additional articles and materials for future current events worksheets.

Even More Storyboard That Resources and Free Printables

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How to Make a Current Events Worksheet

Choose one of the premade templates.

We have lots of templates to choose from. Take a look at our example for inspiration!

Click on “Copy Template”

Once you do this, you will be directed to the storyboard creator.

Give Your Worksheet a Name!

Be sure to call it something related to the topic so that you can easily find it in the future.

Edit Your Worksheet

This is where you will include directions, specific images, and make any aesthetic changes that you would like. The options are endless!

Click "Save and Exit"

When you are finished, click this button in the lower right hand corner to exit your storyboard.

From here you can print, download as a PDF, attach it to an assignment and use it digitally, and more!

Happy Creating!

Frequently Asked Questions About Current Events

Why is it important to keep students informed about current events.

Keeping kids informed about current events helps them understand the world they live in, fosters critical thinking, and encourages active citizenship. It promotes global awareness, empathy, and the ability to make informed decisions. Teachers can provide engaging and age-appropriate current events for kids worksheets to spark children's curiosity about the world and encourage their active involvement in understanding global issues.

How do current events worksheets promote critical thinking?

They require learners to analyze news articles, identify bias, evaluate sources, and discern between facts and opinions. These activities challenge students to think critically, consider multiple perspectives, and develop their own informed opinions. Students can assess their understanding and compare their interpretations by discussing the current events worksheet answers during classroom conversations.

How can current events worksheets enhance media literacy skills?

They play a crucial role in enhancing media literacy skills by providing students with opportunities to evaluate news sources, analyze media elements, fact-check information, recognize bias, and critically analyze news articles. By engaging with real-world current events through these worksheets, children can bridge the gap between classroom learning and the complexities of the world.

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Global Newspaper Assignment and Research Worksheet

Published: May 28, 2024 Contributor: Christi Siver License: CC BY NC SA 4.0 license – Allows revisions and additions but forbids commercial use.

While 2024 may seem unique in the number of countries holding elections, International Relations faculty know there is no end to international events to fill an introductory course. Our students, however, come to us with a variety of background knowledge and interest levels in global politics. Students also are accustomed to finding news on social media, including Twitter/X, Instagram, and TikTok. These curated sources often reinforce their existing views and can be particularly limited in terms of perspectives. This Global Newspaper Assignment helps students use library resources to find non-U.S. sources on a topic and identify their various perspectives. In my experience, this relatively simple assignment helps students both identify their own perspective and those of other countries.

In this resource, I provide the Global Newspaper Assignment and Research Worksheet. I include a list of sample topics from Spring 2024, my grading rubric and a follow up reflection question I ask students at the end of the semester.

• Global Newspaper Assignment - Instructor Manual Link opens in a new tab.
• Global Newspaper Assignment Link opens in a new tab.
• Global Newspaper Assignment Rubric Link opens in a new tab.
• Global Newspaper Topic List Link opens in a new tab.
• Global Newspaper Research Worksheet Link opens in a new tab.
• Semester Reflection Paper Prompt Link opens in a new tab.
• De-Centering the U.S. in the Global Politics Classroom Resource Collection Link opens in a new tab.
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Resource Type

• Discussion questions
• Information Literacy
• Writing assignment

Course Topic

• Comparative Politics
• Global Politics
• International Relations
• Research skills and information literacy

Course Level

• Introductory

Course Type

Peer reviewed.

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