Writing headlines is just like signing up for Geico auto
insurance. It so easy even a cave man can do it. Writing leads on the other
hand is a more complex task. Today in my basic news writing course we reviewed
how to write a good summary lead. Studies show that after the first 50 words or
less of an article, if the reader does not like what they have read will stop
reading. If you’re unfamiliar with news or broadcast writing, you might still
be wondering what a lead is. It is the first sentence, the second sentence, or
the first paragraph in newspaper or magazine. It is also considered to be the
most important aspect of an article. At first glance writing a lead can appear
to be a simple task but my classmates and I ended up writing headlines with
missing articles, and verbs instead of leads. Here are a few tips to writing a
good lead.
1.
Make sure the lead contains between 18 to 20
words
2.
Make sure it is a complete sentence. (subject,
verb, prepositional phrase etc.)
3.
Include all little words (articles such as “a” “an”
“the”)
4.
Include who, what, why, where, when, and how
5.
Reread it out loud
6.
Include all interesting details
7.
Use strong active verbs
8.
Emphasize the correct magnitude of the story
My one thing this week was better said by my professor, “No
more cave man speak in this class”
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