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The lead paragraph:
It is worth spending time writing the lead paragraph.
As we have said, this paragraph sets the structure
of the article (the 5Ws and an H) and guides the reader from idea to
idea. If the lead is well-written the rest of the article will flow
more easily. But this paragraph also sets the style,
the way it will attempt to grab the reader's attention.
There are many different styles of writing a lead paragraph,
here you've got three examples from real articles:
1.- The
question
lead:
Too
Busy for a Work-Life Balance
By FT Correspondent
Did you
know it was Work-Life Balance Week this week? The results of
a survey into the time spent by managers at work has been published
on the work-life balance website. It analyses …
The Financial Times, September 13, 2001
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2.- The description lead:
After
Coordinated Bombs, London Is Stunned, Bloodied and Stoic
By Allan Cowell
Bomb
explosions tore through three London subway trains and a red
double-decker bus in a deadly terror attack today, killing at
least 37 people ...
The New York Times, July 8, 2005
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3.- The quote lead:
Despite
Warnings, 3 Vow to Go Ahead on Human Cloning
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Despite warnings from leading experts that the
experiments in human cloning would inevitably lead to babies
that are deformed, or die soon after birth, a fertility doctor,
a chemist and a scientist-entrepreneur nevertheless vowed today
to press ahead with separate efforts to create the first cloned
human being. "This will be done," said the chemist,
Dr. Brigitte Boisselier.
The New York Times,
August 9, 2001
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As you can see, lead paragraphs are usually written with short,
simple sentences. They are also kept
brief (most newspaper paragraphs do
not contain more than 3 or 4 sentences) and unbiased
(they render facts objectively; this is no place for opinions).
Exercise:
Here you've got two more lead paragraphs. Decide on their strengths
and weaknesses. Justify your answer:
Example 1:
Brave
New World
By FT Correspondent
Human
reproductive cloning is no longer a mad scientist's fantasy.
Prof. Severino Antonioni, an Italian fertility specialist, hopes
to produce a cloned baby, possibly as soon as next year. He
should be stopped. Reproductive cloning is both wrong and medically
dangerous.
The Financial Times, August 6, 2001.
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Example 2:
IT's
Role in US Economic Growth Cast into Doubt
By FT Correspondent
Improved
management at Wal-Mart probably played a bigger role in America's
productivity miracle of the late 1990s than all the expensive
investment in high-speed computers and fibre-optic cable by
business, according to a challenging news analysis of US economic
performance published on Wednesday. McKinsey Global Institute,
research arm of the management consulting group, says the US
did indeed experience a sharp improvement in its underlying
economic performance between 1995 and 2000, but says the change
can be accounted for by growth in just a handful of business
sectors and was not principally the result of the surge in investment
in information technology experienced over the same time.
The Financial Times, October 16, 2001
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