Writing Effective Headlines and captions

1. Writing Effective Headlines and captions

2. What is needed? Potential witness to murder drunk

3. What is needed here? • Dole and Bush dead even in Kansas polls

4. HUH? Pope plans headache

5. REVISE Clinic gives poor free legal advice

6. Is that legal? S. Florida illegal alienscut in half by new law

7. Writing effective headlines: Do’s Do Keep it short: 5-7 words ideal Trim any extra words: a, an, the • Woody High earns high rating from State

8. More do’s Grab reader’s attention Pitts picks Pitt

9. Do’s--Tense • Write in present tense to give readers sense of NOW EX: Wolverines defeat Indians • If historic event, past tense is acceptable Ex: Volcano erupted 50 years ago today • If future tense use infinitive rather than will. EX: Juniors to take PSSA’s in March

10. More Do’s Use lively VERBS (no is, am, are, was, were) Not: Valkois new president Instead: Valkoelected president of senior class

11. Punctuation • USE only comma, quotation mark and semicolon Use comma in place of and White, Kyles win scholarship

12. Punctuation of quotes • Use single quotes • Obama promises ‘No new taxes’

13. Exclamation points • Do not use!!!!!!!!!!!!!

14. Semi colons Rule Example • Use when period would be used in regular writing • Wolverines pass PSSA’s; students get day off

15. Capitalization AVOID ALL CAP HEADLINES • DIFFICULT TO READ—SHAPES ARE LOST WHEN ALL LETTERS ARE CAPITALIZED • INSTEAD: Capitalize only the first word of the headline and any proper nouns

16. Headline styles This is a centered headline

17. Headline styles Flush left

18. Headline styles—the hammer head Hammer head Big on top, small on the bottom • Top line is usually twice as large as the bottom line; • one line should be set in a contrasting style • Used for important stories where primary headline receives most attention.

19. Headline styles—the kicker This is a kicker or overline Main head indented Used when writer wishes to feature a single word or phrase as the main title and add more specific information in the secondary headline. Girls basketball clinches section as Lady Wolverines defeat Penn Hills

20. Headline styles—the wicket The introductory paragraph, which may run several lines long and offer enticing facts—and even quotes leads the reader naturally to the Main title here _______________________ Egyptian military takes over after Egyptians fill the streets of Cairo, cleansing the streets as well as the government as Mubarik steps down

21. Headlines on web newspapers • Use kicker or wicket • Use subheadings between different sections of long articles If a small group of people in every Arab country went out and persevered as we did, then that would be the end of all the regimes,” he said, joking that the next Arab summit might be “a coming-out party” for all the ascendant youth leaders. Bloggers Lead the Way The Egyptian revolt was years in the making. Ahmed Maher, a 30-year-old civil engineer and a leading organizer of the April 6 Youth Movement, first became engaged in a political movement known as Kefaya, or Enough, in about 2005. Mr. Maher and others organized their own brigade, Youth for Change.

22. Caps or no caps? Many newspapers use a down style – that is all letters except proper nouns and the first letter of the first word in lower case. Up style, is when every word except articles and prepositions in caps. NOTE: Paw Prints and WH Update use Down style

23. Captions or cutlines • Check the facts • Be accurate: • Spelling of student, staff names • Position (administrator, etc.) • Marital status

24. Captions or cutlines Avoid the obvious: don’t use words like “as pictured” “is shown,” and “looks on.” Homecoming court poses for photo

25. Captions or cutlines Kimberlee Moore dislikes tomato juice Avoid making judgments

26. Who’s who? Use descriptions when they will help reader identify persons in photos

27. Do’s for writing captions • Use present tense: creates a sense of immediacy • Use commas to set off directions from the captions to the picture: Claudine Zido, upper left, gets in game mode • Allow for longer captions when more information will help the reader understand the story and the situation. • Conversational language works best. Do not use cliches. Write the caption as if you are telling a story. • Use quotes when they work

28. Don’ts for writing captions • Don’t try to be funny if the picture is not • Don’t let cutlines repeat information that is in the head, deck, or pull quote • Don’t assume you know: Ask questions when taking the photo

29. If the picture is historic, or a file photo, indicate the date that it was taken Ex: Mr. Crone (in foreground) marches in 33rd Homecoming Parade (2007)

30. If the picture is borrowed from another site, you must indicate the site (photo courtesy of AP images)