Read these leads through with your newly-sharpened reporter’s eyes. What is missing? Do these leads identify the subject of the feature to the reader? Do they grab your attention?
•Anoka-Ramsey Community College Soccer Coach Brady Eichhorn-Hicks has drastically turned around the schools' soccer program into one of the most successful men's programs in the region.
• Kathryn Kysar first realized she was a writer in high school.
• When Mary Jacobson left the world of corporate marketing over eight years ago to simply take a position that was close to home, she didn't envision that she would eventually have the ambition to advance her career in the education field.
• Educational success along with athletic success is what every student-athlete strives for, and that's what Anoka-Ramsey is all about. Three years ago, Anoka-Ramsey Community College added an addition to the faculty board, athletic director, Dave Alto.
• How many people can truly say they love their career? Philosophy and Ethics professor Kristen Klamm-Doneen of Roseville, Minn. said, “Honestly, there is not another job that I'd wish to have instead of this one.”
• Jeff Knapp, an instructor at Anoka-Ramsey Community College, has a passion for science and the outdoors. Each year he shares this enthusiasm with students by bringing them on a weeklong camping trip into the wilderness of South Dakota where they can experience classroom material in real life.
• Trying to better the world one person at a time is Christopher Guzik's vision and goal in life.
GENERAL COMMENTS
• You don’t need to capitalize the names of programs or classes. Nor do you need to capitalize bachelor’s or master’s, but be sure to specify that you are referring to a bachelor’s degree.
• Don’t use present tense for words of attribution. Instead use past tense.
X) Said not says.
• Remember to use short paragraphs in news stories. Go through when you’re done writing and break up what you have. The average in a news story is one to three sentences long — not the 4-10 you see in research papers.
• When speaking about the degree someone has, use “earned” instead of “got.”
IT DOESN’T LOOK RIGHT ON PAPER
When we speak, we use slang and we change what we’re saying mid-sentence. We might start talking about a singular entity and then switch to plural. If you write down exactly what someone says, it will look and sound terrible! As a writer, you want to just use quotes that sound good and are grammatically correct. For the others, paraphrase. You don’t want to leave someone sounding uneducated and stupid when they’re not.
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