Journalism writing=web writing? Who knew--Kilian Ch.1

You may choose to display your text in a column that reaches only halfway across the screen, leaving wide margins on either side or areas of blank space that provide respite for your readers' eyes. While this display may mean that readers will have to scroll down the page to read the full article, shortening the length of the lines makes text more readable. This is why newspapers display text in narrow columns. --Writing for the Web 3.0

During my two years in journalism class while in high school, I learned to adapt my writing style in and out of the newsroom. Before I knew it, all of my writing had more than three body paragraphs. I hate that system. While I acknowledge that it's a good basis for beginner writers, I don't think it's appropriate for every paper, especially in ones that are more in depth.

Take a research paper for example. Who wants to read a research paper anyway? Add two full pages of never-ending text running along a page, and anyone would want to pull their hair out. That's why I always broke up those body paragraphs. Instead of dedicating a single paragraph to a bunch of examples for a general idea, I break up that paragraph so I can dig deeper into those examples and back up my thesis.

Aside from my journalism teacher always encouraging us to break up our paragraphs to add length and make the column look more interesting, my AP English 11 teacher told us the same thing. He reenforced the notion that a full-page paragraph is a turn off for any reader.

So the point I'm trying to make is that I guess I've been writing for web for the past two years and I didn't even realize it. I don't see this as being a huge transition for me. The only part that really concerns me is learning to address all readers.