In preparation for the midterm Wednesday, here’s a nearly pitch perfect example of news writing for you to read. Alan Finder, longtime New York Times education writer, has constructed a fine, clear piece about the changing landscape of college enrollment.
Now you might not think this is the most sexy topic in the world but read it and you’ll see how tight form and straight ahead language makes the story flow. This is a subject that millions of Americans face. The story demonstrates quite nicely how the nuts and bolts of good story structure can make a relatively esoteric subject very readable.
Finder is a classic newspaper reporter. He gets right to the point and keeps it simple. Notice the inverted pyramid. Strong lede right into a clear nutgraf followed by the lead quote. Then tightly packed grafs with seamless transitions. Notice how for the kicker Finder comes back to his first “character” in the story. He ties it up with a bow. Bingo.
This is a model piece of news writing. Read it and give me some feedback about how you think it works. Give me some examples of the elements of structure that you find in the piece – grafs, language, transitions, etc. Enjoy.
