1. Read the following information about hard news articles and leads.
2. Answer the questions: https://goo.gl/forms/fW5AYCFjHlBbDj5Y2

Hard news articles are written so the the reader can stop reading at any time, and still come away with the whole story.  This is very different from an essay, which presumes that the audience will stick around to the end, and can therefore build to a finish.

The Lead: The lead, or the first sentence of the story, is arguably the most important part of the article. Based on the content of that first sentence, a reader will either look deeper into the story, or move on to the next one.

• Read this article, especially paying attention to how the lead, the first sentence, is constructed.

Therefore, how you craft your lead is very important. There are some basic rules one can follow:

• The who, what, when, where, how, why lead.
• Basically, just like it sounds. This lead tries to answer the 5 w’s and one h in one sentence.
• EXAMPLE: A 15-minute operation involving a forklift, 20 firefighters, seven police officers and one scared pig ended a two-hour traffic delay on Interstate 94 Sunday morning.
• How you craft the sentence is also important:
  • Five Ws and an H (or, finding a lead by emphasizing the most important news element first):
    1. WHO: President Clinton will visit Cuba next week at the request of Caricom nations.
    2. WHAT: Lightning struck the upper deck at Wrigley Field last night while the Cubs were playing in San Francisco.
    3. WHEN: Midnight tonight is the deadline for tax returns, but the local post office is ready to accommodate procrastinators.
    4. WHERE: The Emerson and Towanda intersection is officially the most dangerous crossing in Bloomington, according to the Illinois Bureau of Transportation.
    5. WHY: Because she could correctly spell “ostentatious,” Lisa Wheeler will go to the state Spelling Bee finals.
    6. HOW: By hitting his 50th home run last night for the fourth year, Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa etched his name in the baseball record books alongside Babe Ruth and Mark McGwire.