1. Telling a story:
Ten young Canadian voters proved the term “crazy Canadians” true, according to an article in the Edmonton Journal entitled “ Politics proves unpalatable, so protesters eat their ballots” found in the Nov. 21, 2000 issue at http://www.edmontonjournal.com/stories1. The author, Mike Sadava, begins his article stating: “An illegal, high-fibre diet of ballots was on the menu Monday at some advance polling stations,” using the introductory technique of telling a story to grab his readers’ attention.
2. Open with a question:
Author Beth Fox for The Democrat-Herald in Albany, Oregon uses the question “Is it true that all you need is love?” to grab her readers’ attention. The question is probably intended to grab attention using a subject that can be interpreted in several different ways. The article entitled “Show love, help others over the holidays” appeared in the Democrat-Herald on Nov. 18, 2000 at http://www.mvonline.com/lifestyles/people/people-01.html.
3. Use an outrageous statement:
“Bush Executes 253 New Mexico Democrats” appeared in The Onion [national], 15 Nov. 2000. The author of this article chose an outrageous statement to begin the article,. stating that “New Mexico’s five electoral votes swung back into the Bush column Monday when George W. Bush executed 253 Las Cruces-area Democrats.” This is obviously an outrageously humorous attempt to grab attention and poke fun at the 2000 election. This article appeared online at http://www.theonion.com.
4. State your main point, your thesis:
“Let me make this short and sweet. The world has gone nuts” writes J.D. Capeheart, a writer for the Arkansas Chronicle. He begins his article titled “Plunging the depths of politics” by stating his main point. Capeheart grabs his readers’ attention in this way, by stating how most American’s probably feel about the 2000 election. The article was online at http://www.ar-chronicle.com/pickone.
5. Use an anecdote:
In Florida, one of the most talked about states in the news recently, an author for the Florida Times-Union [http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories] in Jacksonville, Florida uses an anecdote to begin his article titled “Joke writers find laughter in the midst of election turmoil.” Nick Marino, a staff writer for the Times-Union, begins the article stating, “So maybe this election didn’t go as smoothly as possible. But, on the bright side, it’s left fertile ground for humor.” Using this anecdote, grabs attention because many people may not find humor in the election turmoil.
6. Begin with a descriptive scene:
TALLAHASSEE, FLA (AP)- "Teams of counters in three South Florida counties are painstakingly reviewing more than 1.7 million ballots, but it may only take a small fraction to make a difference," is the introduction used by David Royse, an associated press writer for The Albequerque Journal. He describes this scene to begin his article titled “Democrats not as good at punching out ballots?” (Albequerque Journal, 21 Nov. 2000) in order to make readers aware of the events taking place during this controversial election.
Ruth Henson