A. Leads Study

     Clip from a recent newspaper five local stories for a study of their leads.

<a onClick="window.open('/olcweb/cgi/pluginpop.cgi?it=jpg::::/sites/dl/free/0073511935/234793/textbook.jpg','popWin', 'width=153,height=164,resizable,scrollbars');" href="#"><img valign="absmiddle" height="16" width="16" border="0" src="/olcweb/styles/shared/linkicons/image.gif"> (1.0K)</a>

1. Classify them as direct or delayed leads. 2. Are they all denotative leads, or is there an interpretative lead among the five? 3. Do any of the five stories back into the lead, or is the lead buried? 4. Make a readability study of the leads from the guides in the textbook.

B. Leads

     Here is the lead to a speech story that appeared in a college newspaper.

     Historian Eric Hobsbawm addressed a crowded audience in a class in Jerome Green Hall yesterday. Hobsbawm, 85, is a professor emeritus at London's Birbeck College, and, as the author of the "long Nineteenth Century" series, is one of the most famous historians of the past century.

     After describing the size of the audience, which "chattered excitedly before Hobsbawm took the stage," the reporter gives the name of the professor who introduced the speaker, the title of his talk and a physical description—"a tall lanky figure who wore a gray suit and large brown glasses."
     In the seventh paragraph we learn that Hobsbawm told the audience that historians "have become central to politics," that the United States embarks on international adventures with the "slogans of religious wars..."
     The story is, as you can see, not well written. The lead is buried, coming in the seventh paragraph. Collect examples of badly written stories and analyze their failings. Write a better lead for one of the stories you've collected.