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May 22, 2017 · Here are three qualities of opening, or lead, paragraphs that win readers' attention: 1. They Are Direct. The Wild West of the internet is no place for meandering. Your lead paragraph should walk down the street with purpose. Its commanding presence should cause others to step aside because your paragraph has somewhere to be.
- Tips For Writing A Lead
- What to Avoid
- Types of Leads
- Examples
The Five W’s and H:Before writing a lead, decide which aspect of the story – who, what, when, where, why, how – is most important. You should emphasize those aspects in your lead. Wait to explain l...Conflict:Good stories have conflict. So do many good leads.Specificity:Though you are essentially summarizing information in most leads, try to be specific as possible. If your lead is too broad, it won’t be informative or interesting.Brevity: Readers want to know why the story matters to them and they won’t wait long for the answer. Leads are often one sentence, sometimes two. Generally, they are 25 to 30 words and should rarel...Flowery language:Many beginning writers make the mistake of overusing adverbs and adjectives in their leads. Concentrate instead on using strong verbs and nouns.Unnecessary words or phrases:Watch out for unintentional redundancy. For example, 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, or very unique. You can’t afford to waste space in a news story, especially in the lead...Formulaic leads:Because a lot of news writing is done on deadline, the temptation to write tired leads is strong. Resist it. Readers want information, but they also want to be entertained. Your lea...It:Most editors frown on leads that begin with the word it because it is not precise and disorients the reader.Summary lead:This is perhaps the most traditional lead in news writing. It is often used for breaking news. A story about a city council vote might use this “just the facts” approach. Straight news leads tend to provide answers to the most important three or four of the Five W’s and H. Historically this type of lead has been used to convey who, wha...
Summary lead: County administrator faces ouster By Tony Cook for The Cincinnati Post, Jan. 14, 2005 Commentary:This lead addresses the traditional who, what and when. If this information had been reported on TV or radio the day before, this lead might not be a good one for the print edition of the newspaper; however, if the reporter had an exclusiv...
- Straight news lead. Just the facts, please, and even better if interesting details and context are packed in. This kind of lead works well for hard news and breaking news.
- Anecdotal lead. This type of lead uses an anecdote to illustrate what the story is about. Here’s a powerful anecdotal lead to a story about Brazil’s murder rate and gun laws by NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro
- Scene-setting lead. Byrd Pinkerton, a 2016 NPR intern, didn’t set foot in this obscure scholarly haven, but you’d never guess it from the way she draws readers into her story
- First-person lead. The first-person lead should be used sparingly. It means you, the writer, are immediately a character in your own story. For purists, this is not a comfortable position.
- Summary Lead. A summary lead is the most common and traditional lead in journalism. It is meant to give a quick summary in as few words as possible and is usually one sentence.
- Single-Item Lead. This lead focuses on just one or two elements of a summary lead. The purpose is to pack a bigger punch than a summary lead.
- Delayed Identification Lead. The "who" is not identified right away in this lead because it isn't deemed as important (for example, a member on the school board punched the president).
- Creative Lead. The purpose of the creative lead is to capture the interest of readers where a summary lead might not.
When you write strong, clear paragraphs, you are guiding your readers through your argument by showing them how your points fit together to support your thesis. The number of paragraphs in your essay should be determined by the number of steps you need to take to build your argument.
Transitions help your readers move between ideas within a paragraph, between paragraphs, or between sections of your argument. When you are deciding how to transition from one idea to the next, your goal should be to help readers see how your ideas are connected—and how those ideas connect to the big picture.
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A strong lead paragraph should ideally answer the key questions of who, what, when, where, why, and how within the first few sentences. In investigative reporting, leads may not only summarize facts but also convey an emotional or compelling angle to draw readers in deeper.
