Journalistic Writing RevisitedA quick review of various types of leads, basic story structure, and giving readers what they want and need

Imagine that the following are the basic facts in your reporters notebook concerning an upcoming event, and that the school paper you are writing for appears the Friday before the event. Read over the facts, decide what is key for readers, and write the fi rst sentence.

World’s richest man, Bill Gates, is coming to Denver on Tuesday.He’s the keynote speaker at a conference for K-12 teachers called “Educational Technology and the 21st Century”Th e event will involve teachers from all over the Denver metro area, and will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.Th e Pepsi Center has been rented for this event, and there will be hundreds of exhibitors, as well as many speakers.Th e entire Rock Canyon faculty and staff are taking buses from school that day to the Pepsi Center.

Th e fi rst sentence of the story: ___________________________________________________________________________________

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Th e answers to the six journalistic question starters – who, what , where, when, why and how – may serve as the openers of your lead, depending on which answer is most important to readers. Please be aware that there may be multiple answers to these questions in your notebook.

For the above facts on the technology conference, what is/are the who answers? ___________________________________________

Th e “what” is ________________________________________________________________________________________________

Th e “when” is __________________________________, and the “where” is ______________________________________________

Th e “why” of the story might be __________________________________________________________________________________

Is there a “how” of interest? What would it be? ______________________________________________________________________

Gerund PhraseWe can use a variety of grammatical options to begin our leads, providing answers for readers in the best order while adding variety to our writing. For instance, a popular lead involves the “gerund phrase.” Th is begins with a gerund and features action of an interesting detail. A gerund consists of an “–ing” form of a verb used as a noun.

For example: Drinking alcohol, using drugs, having sex and just generally being yucky and rebellious are behavior traits at other high schools, but certainly not at ours’, Principal Ernie Kenerski told parents Friday night. “Drinking,” “using,” and “having” are all gerunds.

From the following facts, write a gerund phrase lead:• Ecology Club set goals for the year at a meeting Tuesday, September 12.• One goal will be to double membership.• Another goal is to clean up a polluted creek.• A third goal is to raise money for Greenpeace.• Ecology Club president Ben Coleman announced the goals

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Conditional ClauseA second grammatical lead choice is the ‘“conditional clause.” Th is begins with “if,” “unless,” or “provided” and expresses speculative interest or condition. For example: If the Colorado Department of Insurance has its way, we will save nearly $500 million on insurance premiums next year. Unless Irving Kenerski passes his competency test, he will be spending the next month in a treatment center.

Name______________________

Causal ClauseA third grammatical lead is the “causal clause.” Th is begins with “because,” “since,” or “because of,” and shows a causal relationship be-tween facts. For example: Because of the recent food fi ghts in the cafeteria, chili will no longer be served as the school has been plagued with complaints that the grease stains are diffi cult to remove from clothing, walls and the ceiling.

From the following facts, write a causal clause lead:• One parent complained that teachers were not dressed appropriately.• Board President Alton Shibley proposes a teacher dress code policy.• Th e policy states that teachers may not wear jeans, T-shirts, and any clothing that depicts drugs, alcohol or violence or that makes a political statement. Th e School Board passed the proposal, 7-2.

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Temporal ClauseA fourth grammatical lead choice is the “temporal clause.” Th is begins with “when,” “while,” “before,” “since” or “as soon as,” and fea-tures the time element. For example: While two out of three students surveyed said they believed the Student Council was ineff ective, only one in four admitted that they had voted in the council election or even knew what the Student Council was supposed to do.

From the following facts, write a temporal clause lead:• Next year, students may not enter the building before 7:30 a.m.• Th ose without passes will be punished.• Punishment will be sunrise study hall.• Vandalism has been a problem before school in bathrooms.

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Concessive ClauseA fi ft h grammatical lead is the “concessive clause.” Th is begins with “though,” “although” or “despite,” and expresses diffi culties over-come or unusual circumstances. For example: Although Rhonda Rah Rah lost both her pom pons and her hairbrush and mirror, and had a really nasty zit in the middle of her forehead, she was still able to lead cheers and meet her friends at the football game.

From the following facts, write a concessive clause lead:• In pre-season polls, district coaches predicted the team would fi nish last in the conference.• Th e varsity basketball team has no returning starters.• Th e team won its season opener 72-60 over top-ten rated Arapahoe HS.• Jimmy Henderson, junior guard, led the team in scoring with 26 points.

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Reading assignment for Tuesday: Take a copy of Sports Illustrated with you and read the pages near the beginning of the magazine called “Scorecard,” and the Rick Reilly column on the last page of the magazine. Bring back your magazine, which you will use on an exercise in class.