The Importance of a Good Lead

While looking through a newspaper, it is easy to overlook the importance of a strong lead.  As a reader, the first sentence of every news article is crucial in deciphering whether or not we continue with the article, although we tend not to realize it.  Only when we are writing a lead do we notice the importance of strategically placing the information to attract the reader and keep the readers attention.  In ideally 18 to 20 words, the writer must try to tell the reader the "five Ws and one H" of the article: who, what, when, where, why and how.  This layout of each article is commonly seen in the structure of an inverted triangle, revealing an overview of the article in the beginning and increasing in detail as the story continues.  The most important thing to remember about a lead is that it needs to be written in full sentences.  Leads are not headlines and need to contain all parts of a proper sentence.