Story structures

Starts with a soft lead, focusing on a person, scene or event

Then a focus graph (gives the main topic of a story)

Next, goes supporting points

Development (cause/effect, explanations, points of view)

Ending (conclusion with a quote or anecdote)

Goes from specific to general

Start with a summary lead or a soft lead and backup leads with quotes or facts.

Then itemize the main points until the ending.

Useful when journalists have several points to stress

Divides a story into sections (like book chapters)

Then, separates them by a large dot or capital letter.

You can organize sections of stories by points of view or time frames

Useful for investigations or long features

Way in which news are organized

The most important information goes at the top of the story

Then, supporting points go in descending order of importance

Starts with a summary (Wh-questions)

Reader gets crucial info fast

Way to make reader determine if he is interested in the topic

Soft news

Helpful way to explain issues like budget increase or any controversial proposal

Useful for print and web stories

Can start like the inverted pyramid

Gives the most important info of news in the top a story.

Then contains chronological storytelling for a part or the rest of the story.

Useful in crime or disaster stories

Hard news