Tips for writing newspaper and website headlines

1. Writing headlines
For newspapers, websites,
and blog posts

2. The goals and challenges to good
headline writing
• What are the primary goals of
headline writing?
• What are some of the challenges?

3. Keep it simple
• Use the active voice when possible: As with any
good writing, good headlines are driven by
strong, colorful, precise verbs
• That means avoiding forms of the verb “to be”
• BAD: Sanitation workers are out of a job
• STILL BAD: Sanitation workers canned
BETTER: Sanitation workers lose jobs
Sanitation workers get pink slips

4. Capitalize first word only
• Although not a complete sentence, treat a headline
like a sentence by capitalizing the first word only,
along with any proper nouns.
• Use a colon to eliminate “says.” Capitalize first word
after the colon.
• Use a semicolon to separate two thoughts of equal
weight.
Lincoln: War inevitable; victory essential

5. Numbers rule
• Associated Press (AP) style dictates spelling
out numbers below 10. In headlines, however,
you can break this rule.
• 3 die in plane crash
• 2 million fall victim to identity theft each year

6. Fit the space
• Fill each line of the head within two units of
the letter x in lower case. Do not have one line
of a multi-line head shorter than the rest.
• Do not center headlines
• BAD BETTER
• Lincoln-Douglas debate Lincoln, Douglas
at KU’s Dole Center xxx to debate today
at Dole Centerxx

7. Avoid split ends
• For headlines of more than one line, keep subjects and
verbs together
• Do not split infinitives over two lines
• BAD: Kerry knocks tax plan because
• capital gains loophole too big
• BETTER: Kerry opposes tax plan;
cites ‘too big’ loophole
• BAD: Governor wants to
• limit sales tax
• BETTER: Governor seeks
• sales tax limits
•

8. Some examples
Some good headlines
http://web.ku.edu/~edit/headgood.html
Problem Headlines
http://web.ku.edu/~edit/headproblem.html
Examples courtesy of http://web.ku.edu

9. A headline writing exercise
• Let’s share results and see what the real
editors decided to write
• http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/0073
511994/student_view0/brush_up/part_v-
journalistic_practice2/journalistic_practice_02
.html

10. Click Bait
• The goals of a website headline are mainly the same as that of a
newspaper headline:
1. To grab the reader’s attention
2. To tell the reader what the story is about
• Often, however, website headlines are designed to entice the reader to
click on a link.
Thus the term “click bait”
https://www.quicksprout.com/2014/07/03/the-formula-
for-a-perfect-headline/?display=wide

11. Should you “bait” the reader?
PROS:
CONS: