School of the Arts
HALLOWEEN GUIDELINES
Halloween is quickly approaching and the staff at SOTA would like to make this day a safe and fun day for all students, whether they choose to wear a costume or not. It is not expected or required that all students dress in costume.
1) It is expected that Friday October 31, 2014 will be a regular day of instruction.
2) All costumes must be appropriate for the school day.
" Costumes must meet the guidelines of the School District dress code. For example, undergarments may not be worn as outerwear just because it is Halloween. Pajamas are not appropriate and are not permitted. Look in the mirror. If you have any questions about your outfit, don’t wear it!
" Shoes or sneakers must be worn at all times. Slippers or socks are not appropriate for the school building due to safety issues.
3) Masks are not to be worn at all. NO face paint will be allowed.
4) A costume is something that is worn, anything that is carried is not acceptable.
"Please use common sense and good judgment.”
REMEMBER, IF YOUR OUTFIT IS DEEMED INAPPROPRIATE YOU WILL BE ASKED TO CHANGE.
Read the following material very carefully and be prepared for a matching quiz on Friday, October 31. I've underlined the phrases and terms that will definitely show up. These are fundamentals of writing a news story and what you will be applying (and graded upon) for all your actual news writing. I suggest you make yourself a notes page to review this material.
Lead
Writing
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The All-Important First Paragraph
| The opening of a news story is called the lead (pronounced lede). It is usually one paragraph, and is usually only one sentence. The typical lead is called a summary lead or straight summary lead, and it, of course, summarizes the story; in other words, it tells the entire story in miniature as specifically as possible. Your job as a journalist, therefore, is to write a clear, fairly short sentence that reveals all, telling the end result of the story. Someone should be able to read the lead and be informed about what happened without reading the rest of the story.
A news story essentially has two parts, the lead, which gives the gist of the story, and the body, which adds details and expands on information given in the lead. The body is written in inverted pyramid style: short paragraphs in descending order of importance. We'll be analyzing news stories for their inverted pyramid style.
A summary lead should answer two or more of the 5W's and H: who, what, when, where, why and how. Include those that are important to inform the reader. Usually, however, the lead will include, as a minimum, the who, what and when.
In deciding what to include in the lead, ask yourself:
1. What is the first question a reader would ask?
2. What is the first thing you would tell another person about the situation or event? This is often called the news peg; it is the reason for doing the story, that aspect that makes an event or occurrence newsworthy.
Your lead might also focus on what journalists call the whammy, which is the fact or facts that make the story unique.
When writing the lead, you should attempt to feature the feature, which means to put the most important aspect or main point first in the paragraph. Grab the reader's attention with the news immediately, without making him or her read through introductory words to find out what happened. This isn't radio or television news, where the reporter may slide into the heart of the story after an introductory sentence or two, which may be necessary so the listener will not miss important information. The written news story needs no such prompt, and if you slide into the story slowly you'll lose your reader. Newspaper readers expect to be informed about what happened immediately -- no beating around the bush.
Leads should:
1. open with bright, interesting, colorful nouns and verbs
2. be brief (often only 20-30 words) really important; know this.
3.be, for the most part, one sentence in length
4. be crisp and to the point
5. effectively summarize the story
6. "feature the feature"
7. include attribution (the source) if needed for credibility
8. give the title for any person mentioned
9. not include personal pronouns such as "we" and "you" (like you would in an expository essay.
10. not include reporter opinion
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FEATURE THE FEATURE
Depending on what you decide is most important, any
one of the 5W's or H could be featured, which means
it is placed first in the opening sentence.
Take a look at the follow facts:
| Who: | Washington television station |
| What: | withdrew from a project to construct a 1,200-foot television transmitting tower |
| When: | today |
| Where: | in Silver Spring |
| Why: | declining revenues |
| How: | board of directors decided |
The lead might read:
A Washington television station announced its
withdrawal today from a project to construct a 1,200-
foot television transmitting tower in Silver Spring.
Which ever of the 5W's is mentioned first is the
featured lead.
| 1 | When the who is featured, it is called a name lead. The example above is a name lead. It features the Washington television station. (please note that a name lead does not necessary mean a person's name!) |
| 2 | When the what is featured, it is called an event lead.
Withdrawal from a project to construct a 1,200-foot television tower in Silver Spring was announced today by a Washington television station.
This lead, however, is awkward because it is in passive voice; in other words, the one doing the action (the Washington television station) is at the end of the sentence as the object.Active voice requires that the subject of the sentence act, which means placing it first in the sentence, as in the first first example. We'll talk more about active/passive voice in a later activity. |
3
| When the when is featured, it is called a time lead.
Today a Washington television station announced its withdrawal from a project to construct a 1,200-foot television transmitting tower in Silver Spring.
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4
| When the where is featured, it is called a place lead.
A Silver Spring project to construct a 1,200-foot television transmitting tower was canceled today by a Washington television station.
This, too, is passive rather than active voice. |
5
| When the why is featured it is called a cause lead.
Because of declining revenues, a Washington television station announced its withdrawal today from a project to construct a 1,200-foot television transmitting tower in Silver Spring.
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6
| When how is featured, it is called a manner lead.
After a decision by the board of directors of a Washington television station, a project to construct a 1,200-foot television transmitting tower in Silver Spring has been canceled
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The most used openings for leads are the who and
the what. The least used, in other words the
weakest, are where and when. Rarely are place and
time the most important aspects of the story, although
they are usually included in the lead paragraph.
| Below are examples of leads which feature the various 5W's & H. The words that makup the "W" that is featured are in bold face type. |
Who
Many gay and bisexual teens know plenty
about AIDS and still don't protect themselves
against the disease, two studies
indicate. A railroad worker threw a switch too
soon and sent an Amtrak passenger train
crashing head-on into a parked freight train,
killing two people and injuring 44 others,
investigators said Saturday. (However, even
though this begins with the who, the lead co-features
the why, the cause of the train wreck.)
Reckless drivers who don't seem to be drunk
may well be high on cocaine or marijuana, according to
roadside tests that indicate drugs may rival alcohol as a
hazard on the highway.
What
Jars and cans tumbled off store shelves
and telephone poles swayed when an earthquake that
was a "real good shaker" rumbled through Central California
yesterday.
A pack of wild monkeys terrorized a seaside resort
town south of Tokyo last week, attacking 30 people and
sending eight of them to the hospital with bites. (This also
CO-features the who.)
A would-be victim turned the tables on
a suspected burglar early Sunday, sending him
running from her house with a bullet wound to his chest,
police said. (This also CO-features the who.)
A Soyus spacecraft docked flawlessly with the Mir
space station Saturday, bringing a fresh crew of two
Russian cosmonauts and a Frenchman to the orbiting
outpost -- along with a bottle of French wine.
Why
With more amateurs cutting wood for use
as an alternative to high-priced heating oil, hospitals are
coping with an increasing number of injuries due to chain-
saw accidents, reported the American College of
Surgeons. Two railway technicians who overlooked a
wheel problem may be charged with negligent
manslaughter in Germany's worst rail disaster, a news
magazine reported Saturday. (This also CO-features
the who.)
How
Louisiana-Pacific Corp. plans to sell seven out-of-
state lumber mills and expand production at 17
others in order to boost output by up to 40
percent. (The how in this lead is also the what.) Examples
of when and where leads are not given here because you
should avoid using them. Professionals avoid them, so
examples are hard to find.
We can learn how to feature the feature, and avoid other
mistakes, by looking at examples of poorly written leads.
WHAT NOT TO DO:
Incorrect:
Sen. Robert Brown spoke to the assembled student
body of Oakdale High School at 3 p.m. in the high school
gym.
Who spoke is usually secondary in importance to
what was said. And, the mechanical details -- time,
date and place -- do not necessarily have to be
included in the lead, since the event has already
taken place. They can be worked in later, perhaps
the second or third paragraph.
"Assembled student body" is a burdensome,
unnecessary phrase, and "high school" is used twice
in one paragraph. Avoid repetition.
Incorrect:
At 3 p.m., March 18, in the high school gym, Robert
Brown spoke.
Time and date (the when angle) are almost never
important enough to merit first consideration in the
lead, yet they are often used to kick off a speech
story. The heart of this story is not included in the
lead at all. Note, too, that in this reference the title for
Robert Brown (senator) has been omitted. Titles
should always be included on the first mention of an
individual in the story.
Incorrect:
To further our interest in ecology, Sen. Robert Brown
spoke today in the high school gym.The why angle is usually
not the most important aspect of a story and, therefore, it
seldom works as the take-off point for a news story. Also,
the use of second person (our), unless it's in a direct
quotation, should be avoided in news writing.
Incorrect:
Last Friday, March 18, all of the sophomore, junior
and senior students assembled in the gymnasium. After
Student Body President Gary Winchman led the students in
the flag salute, Vice Principal Barry Jones presented Sen.
Robert Brown, who talked about ecology.
This is filled to the brim with details that don't belong
in a lead. It is basically written in chronological order
rather than focusing on the "feature." It is dull, too
long, and needs severe copy editing. In fact, it needs
complete rewriting. It is also more than one sentence;
most leads can be written as one smooth, flowing
sentence.
Incorrect:
"We must clean up our rivers and streams and get the
internal combustion machine out of the automobile and sit
hard on the Food and Drug Administration to remove
additives from our foods if we are ever going to clean up the
air we breath and make our world a pleasant place to live in
again," stated Robert Brown, senator, to the assembled
student body of Oakdale High School on Friday, March 18,
in the gym at 3 p.m.
The quotation is too long, covers too many subjects
for the lead. In addition, mechanical details such as
date and time, can be worked in later. Since the
event has already happened it is not necessary to tell
threaders the place and exact time in the lead.
"Stated" is a stuffy, greatly over-used word for
attribution. Save it for quoting material from official
documents rather than people.
Correct Example:
Pollution must be stopped and air and water cleaned
up in order to make the world more livable, Sen. Robert
Brown told students at Oakdale High School last Friday.
This lead zeroes in on the main message delivered,
which is what the audience would be interested in,
and it gives the source at the end of the lead rather
than at the beginning. Since Brown's exact words are
not given, no quotation marks are used.
Correct if writing for your school newspaper and
Brown spoke at your school:
Pollution must be stopped and air and water cleaned
up in order to make the world more livable, Sen. Robert
Brown told students last Friday.
It is not necessary to give the name of the high
school, since he spoke at the school and the
newspaper is written for and distributed to the school
community. Notice that this lead summarizes or
paraphrases what the senator said rather than giving
a direct quotation. The story would then elaborate on
what he had to say about these topics, using direct
quotations, indirect quotations and paraphrases.
(But that's a topic for another day.
Practice:
Practice lead #1
Info:
1. RHHS will start having an open campus lunch policy
2. Option is open to all students except freshmen
3. The policy will start <make up a day and month>
4. Mobley: Policy granted because of “phenomenal test
scores” over the past 3 years.
5. Mobley: Lunch periods will be extended by 10 minutes,
giving the students a 45 minute lunch
Practice lead #2
Info:
1. Wal-Mart has just announced that Rock Hill will be
receiving the next Super Wal-Mart in May of 2006.
2. They usually do not build their stores within 75 miles of
each other
3. WM feels that since RH is such a growing community, they
can handle two SuperWMs in one town.
4. Some community members feel that this is a bad idea
because it will hurt local business.
5. They are sending around a petition and will be having a
town meeting on <make up day/month.
Practice lead #3
Info:
1. Mr. Fred George, Saluda Trail principal, has called Ms.
Mobley
2. Told her that he has a student that has been tested to be
a genius.
3. The student has been tested numerous times.
4. The students name is Napoleon Dynamite.
5. ND is supposed to be a 6th grader this year.
6. Because of his genius status, Mr. George would like to
have him move up to the high school early.
7. He would like him to start at RHHS immediately, so that
he “doesn’t waste any time in middle school.
8. He feels that the move will help Napoleon to get into
medical school earlier and better prepared.
Practice lead #4
Info:
1. A survey was released yesterday by the Child Abuse
Prevention Center in Baltimore.
2. The survey shows that three to four children die every
day in the United States from child abuse or neglect.
3. Shows that the number of child abuse cases rose to 2.7
million, from 2.6 million the previous year.
4. More than half of the children who died were under age 1.
5. Seventy-nine percent of the deaths were among children
under age 5.
