Lead paragraph

"Lede" redirects here. For other uses, see Lede (disambiguation).

For Wikipedia guidelines on lead paragraphs, see Wikipedia:Lead section.

A lead paragraph in literature refers to the opening paragraph of an article, essay, news story or book chapter. Often called just "the lead", it usually occurs together with the headline or title, it precedes the main body of the article, and it gives the reader the main idea of the story.

In the news journalism industry, particularly in the USA, the particular news-style of lead used is sometimes referred to as a lede.^[1] This spelling is no longer labelled as jargon by major US dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster^[2] and American Heritage.^[3]

In journalism, the lead paragraph should not be confused with the standfirst (UK), rider or kicker (US). These terms refer to an introductory or summary line or brief paragraph, located immediately above or below the headline, and typographically distinct from the body of the article.^[4]

Types of leads

Journalistic leads emphasize grabbing the attention of the reader.^[5]

In journalism, the failure to mention the most interesting or attention grabbing elements of a story in the first paragraph is sometimes called "burying the lead."

Leads in essays summarize the outline of the argument and conclusion that follows in the main body of the essay. Encyclopedia leads tend to define the subject matter as well as emphasize the interesting points of the article. Features and general articles in magazines tend to be somewhere between journalistic and encyclopedian in style and often lack a distinct lead paragraph entirely. Leads or introductions in books vary enormously in length, intent and content.

Rules

A key in understanding the lead often seems to lie in the reader’s ability to identify and understand the subject and the main verb. In general, there are three types of sentences found in the lead.

1. The subject and the main verb are found together at or near the beginning of the sentence. This is by far, the most common sentence type.
2. The subject is separated from the main verb by information about the subject, often in the subject, often in the form of a relative clause – the clause that starts with who, which, when, where and whose.
3. The sentence begins with an introductory phrase. In such cases, students must learn to read until they find a comma, after which they will find the main verb.

See also

• Introduction (essay)
• Abstract (summary)
• Opening sentence
• Inverted pyramid
• Article (publishing)
• Essay

References

1. ^ "The Mavens' Word of the Day: lede". Random House. November 28, 2000. http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20001128. 
2. ^ Lede in Merriam-Webster Online.
3. ^ Lede in the American Heritage Dictionary
4. ^ "Standfirst". Double-Tongued Dictionary. http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/dictionary/standfirst/. Retrieved 27 September 2010. 
5. ^ Peha & Lester (2006). Be a Writer: Your Guide to the Writing Life!: Proven Tips and Powerful Techniques to Help Young Writers Get Started. Leverage Factory. p. 125. http://books.google.com/books?id=YFMagLZx2vIC&pg=PA125&dq=lede+newspaper&lr=lang_en&as_brr=3&ei=swajR-7mHI3azATIk7DzCA&sig=01ouafTz7WfhQLt1up7epCRZ1JU.