Article Summaries 101
Recently, we had a great opportunity to attend a four day fellowship program on Online Journalism put on in joint fashion by the Knight Ridder Digital Media Center and the USC Annenberg School of Communication. One of the speakers, Rachel Nixon, former deputy world editor of BBCNews.com, had some tips for writing article headlines and summaries for online news content. If those tips are good enough for the BBC, they are certainly good enough for us.
1. Use Short and Straightforward Headlines
2. Strive for "snappy" introductory sentences.
3. Article summaries should be no more than four paragraphs.
4. Present only one idea per paragraph.
5. Include both the claim and counterclaim in the summary.
6. Include context and background.
You might think that is a lot of information to cover in four paragraphs, especially when presenting only one idea in each paragraph, but here comes the most important tip.
7. Use simple and unambiguous language.
Topix editors have this fantastic platform with a wire system to make finding relevant stories fast and incredibly easy. The more difficult part, and what sets superstar editors apart from the pack, is the ability to enhance those articles either through adding other content, like photos, quotes from the article itself, or writing great summaries. For those of us, that may not be natural writers, writing article summaries might be a little intimidating. Simplifying the process with these guidelines might ease a little of that pressure. Each summary doesn't need to be seven paragraphs of flowery language and creative writing, it just needs to cover the basics. News, by its very nature, is ever-changing, and the most important function of editing is getting fresh news out there whenever you can.
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Comments (2)
On November 26, 2007 6:53 PM, J. Barrett Wolf said:
Include both the claim and counterclaim in the summary?
Are you joking? Is everything about point/counterpoint? This is the height of phony baloney fake debate about everything - when did all blogging become Faux news?
There is only a 'counterclaim' if there's actually a debate - not fact-free crap by crazy people who disagree.
Cheers.
On January 12, 2008 7:37 PM, Rose said:
I tend to agree with J. Barrett Wolf. This isn't the Wall Street Journal. It's the Internet. Anyone who thinks they are ace reporters here or Walter Cronkites are letting the Topix Editor thing go to their head.
And all forums are not created equal--so different styles and methods of summarizing and choosing news vary accordingly. Some forums are strictly opinion oriented; some are more fact-based; and others are a combination. The rules of "Journalism" which some wannebes may have learned in their first year Journalism classes don't always apply to this format, especially if the editor is also participating in the posting. Even styles of reporting and editing vary in the print media: Newspaper, magazine and book editing are all unique animals with different needs and different readerships. Get a grip: This is the Internet, not Simon&Schuster (oh yeah that's a book publisher, not a 60's folk music duo.)