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How to Write a News Article

About Headlines

Headlines are becoming increasingly important in the internet age. Not only do they capture the reader's attention, they serve as source material for search engines. Today a reader is just as likely to come across an article by reading a list of search engine results as by scanning a newspaper page.

Headlines should be clear and specific, telling the reader what the story is about, and be interesting enough to draw them into reading the article.

  • 5-10 words at the most
  • should be accurate and specific
    • City Council to Cut Taxes doesn't mean the same thing as City Council to Cut Budget
  • Use present tense and active verbs, but don't start with a verb
    • Man Skateboards for Homeless
  • Use infinitive form of verb for future actions
    • Convention to Create Jobs
  • Do not use articles - a, an, the
  • Do not use conjunctions like and - you can substitute a comma
    • President Declares Peace, Holiday
  • Should be complete sentences or imply complete sentence
    • Crackdown on Trafficking doesn't tell you who's doing the trafficking and what kind of trafficking
  • Avoid repetition - Headlines summarize; they don't repeat the lede.
    • Rays Win - not Rays Win Final Game of Playoffs
  • Don't use unidentified pronouns
    • They Win Pennant!
  • Avoid clever for clever's sake
    • Rays Flip-Flop On St. Petersburg