How to write Headlines

How to write

Headlines

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We’ve all written headlines before…

“Hey! I can see it now!” you’ve said to your brother. “ ‘Boy drops dead from too much chocolate’. If you don’t quit eating all those Hershey bars, it’s going to be you.”

Actually, it’s not difficult to write a headline. There’s just a few rules.

• Use downstyle. This means only the first word of the headline and any proper nouns are capitalized.

Principal presents awardto Coach Smith

Headlines are written in present tense.

• By writing a headline in present tense, it makes the story appear as if it just happened.

Miller wins $10 million prize

Not like this:Miller won $10 million prize

Headlines need a subject and a verb.

• Think of a headline as a sentence, but without many of the words.

• A headline such as Homecoming is just a label, it’s not a headline.Instead, write:Homecoming win leads to celebration (subject) (verb) (object)

Keep a prepositional phrase together in a headline.

• Instead of:Dog bites alien ontender spot

Write:Dog bites alienon tender spot

(“on” is a preposition)

Headlines don’t have hyphens.• Make sure when you write out

the headline, the computer doesn’t hyphenate any words. If it does, move the words around.

Smith discovers dino-saur remains in wall

Smith discoversdinosaur remains

A headline doesn’t need a period at the end.

• Headlines are not sentences. However, you may use other forms of punctuation in headlines when needed:

Did you ever think it would happen?

Fort Smith merges two high schools

You don’t need the name of the school or the school initials in a headline.

• The readers already know the name of your school. Instead, use the headline to tell what happened.Not so good: JHS students picket cafeteria

Better: 95% of students picket during lunch

Don’t use a, an or the except in special headlines.

• Good:Governor awards teacher with honorBad:The governor awards teacher with an honor

• It’s okay to use articles (a, an or the) in a headline such as a hammer or a wicket:

The ultimate put-downSeniors name skip day for principal

Only use your opinion in a headline for an editorial.

• News headlines shouldn’t contain any words that let the reader know what you think of the story.Don’t: We’re better than Fort Smith!Better:Team blows away Fort Smith, 42-0

In headlines, use single quote marks.

•Don’t:“Angel Baby” really a

detectiveDo:

‘Angel Baby’ really a detective

A headline should fill at least ¾ of the white space it occupies.

• If a headline is too short for the space, it looks strange.

Don’t:Boy wins meet

Do:Taylor nabs tournament

title

Headlines must cover the entire story.

• Don’t design a page with a headline over part of the story.

• A headline is like a roof of a house: It must cover the whole text.

Tornado!School closed for remainder of this

year

Use a comma in place of ‘and.’

•To save space, use a comma instead of the word ‘and.’

Don’t:Band and choir win awards

Do:Band, choir win awards

Use a semicolon to separate complete thoughts

Don’t:Legislature in session. Future of roads in

doubt

Do:Legislature in session; future of roads in

doubt

Use active verbs; omit forms of the verb to be

Don’t:Smoking is common, survey shows

Do:Survey reveals smoking is

common