Writing Leads p.1 #28

 

Hi, blog!

        I'm going to practice writing some of the leads that we covered in class today. This will help me in creating a great story for my magazine.

Title of Lead: 

Direct Quote

Definition:
        When someone else's words are cited directly in a text, they must be contained in quotation marks to keep the reader from figuring out who said them. Plagiarism also happens if quotation marks are not used. To help readers understand the meaning of these quotes, the speaker's name needs to be included after them. For this, usual phrases like "He said" or "She stated" are often used.

The Factsheet Paragraph: 

        The police in this municipality received a call at 3:45 p.m. yesterday afternoon. A woman shouted at the sergeant who answered the telephone. She said: "My son's been beaten. His teacher whipped him this afternoon, and he's all red where she paddled him. Can teachers do that? That's assault and battery, and I want her arrested." Two police officers were sent to the home. They questioned the boy, who is 9 years old. At his mother's insistence, the police officers also inspected the boy's reported injuries. They reported: "We couldn't tell that the boy had been paddled. His fanny didn't look red to us, but we did notice that his pants legs were wet and muddy. As we talked, it became obvious that he boy was lying. He finally admitted that he had stopped to play on the way home from school, forgot the time and got home late. He told his mother that the teacher had spanked him and kept him after school. His mother was there with us and heard the whole story. She said she'd take of the situation, and we're quite certain that she will, as she was very embarrassed. In fact, we could hear her giving the kid a real paddling as we left—and a hard one."

Created Lead: 

 “My son’s been beaten.”

On the phone, a mother who was concerned shouts. As the mother expresses her anger with the situation, a police officer on the other side listens.

  “His teacher whipped him this afternoon, and he's all red where she paddled him.” The Mother says as she is getting more angry and frustrated. She continues, “Can teachers do that? That's assault and battery, and I want her arrested.”

Thank you for reading!

Cover: Canva