The document provides examples and descriptions of 8 different types of leads that can be used in journalism: 1) Summary, 2) Descriptive, 3) Astonishing, 4) Staccato, 5) Question, 6) Direct Quotation, 7) Parody, and 8) Contrast. It emphasizes that a lead should be 15-35 words and grab the reader's attention to make them want to read more. It also includes examples of leads for each type and discusses evaluating lead types.

1. leads

2. A LEAD
Is the first paragraph of your story
Is only 15-35 words, usually
Grabs the reader’s attention (hook)
Most readers ONLY read the lead and
first quote-make them want to read
more!!!

3. Leads
Before we go any farther…
•Never, ever, under penalty of death, start with:
•a date. “On September 23, the boys soccer
team…
•School name “Liberty North’s basketball team
played in the Jewell tournament”
•I will hurt you. Mark my words.

4. For most purposes in
journalism, there are 8
TYPES OF LEADS

5. 1: Summary
LeadMost journalistically sound
Condenses the main point of the story
into the first paragraph
5 Ws and H
Example:
– A core of experienced seniors, a new
league schedule and a home field
advantage led the varsity baseball team to
its best finish ever. The team finished with
a 17-3 record and claimed league and
sectional crowns.

6. 2: A Descriptive
LeadPaints a picture in the reader’s mind
with word pictures
Shows, not tells
Captures moment verbally
Example
– There was little talk, only the sound of
cleats on the locker room floor as the
players gathered around the list the
freshman baseball coach had taped to the
window of his office.

7. 3: An Astonishing
Lead
Springs unexpected images or facts
onto the reader to grab their interest
Usually consists of a short, snappy
sentence.
Example:
– The soccer team ran 12,436 miles in one
season. Their theme, “run for the goal”
pushed them to train which led to a top
conference finish.

8. 4. A Staccato Lead
Uses a series of short phrases or
single words
Example:
– Zack and Kelly. Monica and Rachel.
Elaine and Jerry. Sound familiar? Then
consider yourself a re-run junkie.

9. 5. Question Lead
My least favorite of all…
Begins with a question or series of
questions
Set off as a separate paragraph
Answer is really where the story begins
Another “easy out”
– Example: What do a rose and candybar,
Muzak, a waste management firm and
300 Japanese-made basketballs have in
common?

10. 6. Direct Quotation
Lead
Consists of a person’s actual words
Is usually an “easy out”
Can only be used when a quote is truly
memorable
What’s said has to be more striking
than the person who made the
statement
– Example: “Our sport is other sports’
punishment.”

11. 7. Parody lead
A favorite among students
Play on words of songs, poems or
expressions
To work best, it must be easily
recognized
– Example: Take me out to the ballgame,
take me out in the rain. Slipping and
sliding and falling in mud at the cold ball
game.

12. 8. Contrast Lead
Points out opposites or extremes
Despite the fact that cartoons, movies
and comics portray the beginning of
school as the return to a type of prison
life, there is ample proof that many
students return to their books with a
thankful, “It’s great to be back!”

13. What type of lead?
•Imagine being separated from your parents by thousand
of miles and hearing that a massive earthquake just hit
where they are living. For senior Vanessa Salvant, this
nightmare became all too real when a magnitude 7.0
earthquake struck near Port-au-Prince on January 12.
•Every spring, a team of determined, driven women take
the field to the dismay of their opponents. Under stadium
lights, they work together as a team to continue a legacy
of success the Lady Viking soccer team is famous for.
•As a self-proclaimed 10-year-artist, John Mayer is well
known for his rugged looks and his way with lyrics.

14. What type of lead?•Days like Monday can happen to even the most talented high
school pole vaulters: senior Christen Brown struggled with her
approach, struggled with her take offs, and well, simply, she
struggled with pole vaulting.
•A cold night in January might not seem like the perfect time to
have a campfire, but TREE club showed otherwise at Spring
Shores Marine in late January.
•Mary had a little camera, and everywhere that Mary went, the
camera was sure to go. Mary Richards’ perseverance in
carrying her camera on every trip with her anthropologist
husband has resulted in the publication of her first book, a
collection of photographs of natives in seldom-visited areas of
South America.

15. What type of lead?
•President Kennedy was slain by an assassin’s bullet
today in a burst of gunfire in downtown Dallas
•St. John’s Church survived the 1868 fire that destroyed
most of Bloomington, and it weathered firebombs thrown
in anger during the sixties. But it crumbled last night
under the weight of snow from yesterday’s freak storm
•“When a man bites another human being’s ear, he
should be banned from boxing for life,” Evander Holyfield
said, pressing a handkerchief against the side of his
bloodied head.

16. Lead practice
•Look at your interview notes from yesterday
•Write a 2-3 sentence lead for a story about the
person you were interviewing. You can use any of
the types of leads.
•Post to the Padlet page—link is on my blog—by
•Disregard that last bullet point, don’t work at all
today ________

17. Lead Review
• Is only 15-35 words, usually
• Grabs the reader’s attention (hook)
• Most readers ONLY read the lead and first
quote-make them want to read more!!!
• Is NOT the headline
• By tomorrow, finalize your lead about your
partner on my padlet page.
• Good leads from yesterday…

18. Good job…
•Shiloh Robinson:
•News lead with person’s name: Dexter
McCluster doesn’t remember much about the
moment he turned Arrowhead Stadium so loud it
reached the threshold of pain for most human
beings. Kansas City Star

19. Good job…
•Paul Sherwood…
•Sad: The number of children visiting the
emergency room for sports-related traumatic
brain injuries (TBI) has skyrocketed, new
research suggests.

20. Good job…
•Kelsey Runge
•Henderson Alvarez pitched a no-hitter today. He
didn't get to jump into his catcher's arms like
most pitchers do in that situation. Instead, he had
to wait until his teammates scored an unlikely run
in the bottom of the ninth to give the Marlins a 1-
0 victory against Detroit. USA Today

21. Good job…
•Olivia Atkinson
•The parents of elementary school students in 19
states -- including Arkansas, Illinois, California
and Massachusetts -- are receiving letters
regarding something that really isn't a school's
business: their children's weight. CNN

22. Good job…
•Hailey Wasser
•Thousands of Kansas City-area federal workers
watched with nervousness and frustration
Monday as Congress and the White House
contemplated another hit to their bank accounts.

23. Good job…
•Jayce Standing
•All lanes of westbound Interstate 435 in southern
Kansas City have reopened after a crash closed
two lanes for most of Monday morning’s rush
hour. -Kansas City Star

24. Good job…
•Brooke Culpepper
Describes something: Milwaukee police say a
naked burglar tried to break into a veterinary clinic
to steal drugs but got stuck in the air vents for
almost 12 hours. - KC Star