Creating a Lead

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From the course by University of Pennsylvania

English for Journalism

972 ratings

University of Pennsylvania

English for Journalism

972 ratings

Welcome to English for Journalism, a course created by the University of Pennsylvania, and funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Office of English Language Programs. To enroll in this course for free, click on “Enroll now” and then select "Full Course. No certificate." This course is designed for non-native English speakers who are interested in developing the skills needed for a career in modern journalism. In this course, you will explore print and digital media through authentic readings and video lectures, while expanding your vocabulary and increasing your ability to read, research, and develop local and global news stories. Unit 1 will provide an introduction to the history and principles of journalism. In unit 2, you will learn how to research, pitch, and interview. The next unit in the course will focus on the language needed to write newspaper and magazine articles, while unit 4 will cover the basics of broadcasting the news. In the final unit of the course, you will analyze the growth, impact, and challenges of digital news, while completing a reflection assignment that allows you to think about and discuss the recent changes to the field of journalism. Unless otherwise noted, all course materials are available for re-use, repurposing and free distribution under a Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution license. Supplemental reading materials were provided by Newsela, which publishes daily news articles at a level that's just right for each English language learner.

From the lesson

Unit 3: Words in Print

This unit will help you to write briefly and with emphasis, create a lead that makes the audience want to read more, and effectively edit and proofread article drafts. At the end of the unit, you will create a lead and write an article based on that lead.

Print Media: From Topic to Article5:09

Types of Leads4:25

Creating a Lead4:45

Listening: Turning the Page on Homelessness2:11

Unlockable Achievement0:09

Language Focus – SV Agreement with Different Subjects4:16

Meet the Instructors

John Cotton
Manager of Instructional Staff Development
English Language Programs
Eve Litt
Language Specialist
English Language Programs

Hello.

Welcome to this video on Creating the Lead.

In the previous video,

we talked about different types of leads, summary, anecdotal, and contrast.

Since the summary lead is the most common in news stories, in this video, we're

going focus on what to include and what not to include in a summary news lead.

A summary lead is the first paragraph in an article and

it contains the most important information.

This is important especially if the information may affect the readers' lives.

Let's look at an example.

A fire started at 8:14 AM on Friday on the 200 block of South Jessup Street.

Two adults and one child went to Chestnut Hospital shortly after 9:00 AM

when firefighters rescued them from the second floor of that apartment building.

Firefighters put out the flames by 10:12 AM,

but unfortunately residents cannot return to their homes because of the damage.

At this time, firefighters do not know the cause of the fire.

In this example, we can see some of the Do's and

Don'ts of writing a summary news lead.

Let's start with the Do's.

One, give wh- information.

Two, be specific.

And three, be brief.

Let's look at wh- information first.

We can see what happened, a fire, who is involved, residents and

firefighters, where it happened, the 200 block of South Jessup Street,

and when it happened, 8:14 AM on Friday.

Can we tell why the fire started?

No but let's notice that the journalist was transparent about their process for

finding that information.

They said that fire fighters didn't have that information at

the time the news story was published.

Remember, transparency is one of the principles of journalism

we talked about in unit one.

Let's move on to the second Do, being specific.

Being specific means giving exact details.

Notice, the journalist in this lead didn't say that a fire

happened in the city of Philadelphia.

They provided the exact block.

Also notice, the lead includes the exact time, 8:14 AM.

This information informs the reader in case they know someone who is in that area

at that time.

Now, let's talk about the final Do, being brief.

Being brief means being short or using few words.

Notice in our example, the journalist was able to write all of the necessary

information in just 4 sentences.

Now that we know what to include in a summary news lead,

let's talk about what not to include.

Because this is a summary news lead,

we don't want to include any extra details like descriptive words.

A summary news lead should use concrete words that

clearly communicate the important parts of the story.

What if the news lead instead sounded like, the bright orange, yellow and cherry

red flames from the fire interrupted the busy traffic on Friday morning.

Well, it may paint a picture of what it look like.

It doesn't get right to the important information.

A fire started at 8:14 AM on Friday on the 200 block of South Jessup Street.

Starting a summary news lead this way gives the reader

the most important information first.

In addition to descriptive words,

summary news leads should also not include extra words that may repeat information.

For example, what if the lead instead said,

A fire started at 8:14 AM on Friday morning.

Here, because we said AM, we know that it's morning time.

Remember, we want summary news leads to be specific but also brief.

To conclude, when writing a summary news lead, a journalist needs to include wh-

information, specificity, and brevity, and journalist should stay away

from descriptive language and unnecessary words.

Think about this style when writing your news lead for assessment one.

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