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Summary Leads

Summary Leads. MAC201/THA214 Dr. D. Allen Oti Fulbright Visiting Professor. Lecture Overview. Definition of summary lead Principles of the summary lead The multiple-element summary lead Guidelines for writing a summary lead The basic story structure

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Summary Leads

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  1. Summary Leads MAC201/THA214 Dr. D. Allen Oti Fulbright Visiting Professor

  2. Lecture Overview • Definition of summary lead • Principles of the summary lead • The multiple-element summary lead • Guidelines for writing a summary lead • The basic story structure • Assignment: writing your first news story

  3. Summary Leads • A summary lead is a terse opening paragraph that provides the gist of the story and invites readers inside. • The summary lead should be brief, generally no more than 35 words. • Usually a single sentence, it can be broken into more than one sentence.

  4. Concepts: Principles of Summary Leads • The Inverted Pyramid • The Five Ws and H • The Thought Process Behind the Lead • Multiple-Element Summary Leads

  5. The Inverted Pyramid • Inverted pyramid, the news is stacked in paragraphs in order of descending importance. • The lead summarizes the principal items of a news event. • The second paragraph and each succeeding paragraph contain secondary or supporting details in order of decreasing significance. • All the paragraphs in the story contain newsworthy information, but each paragraph is less vital than the one before it.

  6. The Five Ws + H • A summary lead tells an audience the most important of the six primary elements of an event, the five W’s and H. They are: • Who the event happened to, or who acted on whom • What happened or will happen • Where the action occurred • When it happened • Why the action took place; the reason behind it • How it happened

  7. The Thought Behind the Lead • Several factors can influence how a reporter thinks about a story: • What Has Been Reported in the Past. • How the Reporter Feels about the Subject. • How the Audience Feels about the Subject. • Instruction from an Editor.

  8. The Multiple-Element Summary Lead • Multiple-element or double-barreled leads give equal rating to two or more primary elements in a story and inform the audience immediately that more than one major event is occurring.

  9. Writing a Summary Lead • Use a single sentence of no more than 35 words to summarize an event. • Put the most important primary elements in the lead. • A summary lead should provide key points immediately; it should not keep readers guessing. • A reporter focuses a summary lead by choosing which of the W’s and H to emphasize. If a well-known person or someone who has been in the news is involved in the story, who becomes the focal point of the lead.

  10. Basic Story Structure The Summary Lead (Most important of the 5Ws+H Other Ws+H Most significant quote

  11. Assignment • Meet with your small groups as assigned by the class rep. • Brainstorm story ideas based on your knowledge about current events. • Assign each group member an area to investigate. • Meet with your group to identify the important elements of the story. • Write a hard news story with a summary lead and a minimum of 8 paragraphs.

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