Leads for Nonfiction writing

Strategies for LEADS• Start with POWERFUL IMAGERY/SENSORY LANGUAGE

The perfectly thrown football, moving at a high rate of speed, makes a ripping sound as it leaves the hand, something between a woosh and a mortar launch.

The morning of September 11, 2001 dawned bright and clear in New York City. There had been a steady soggy rain the night before, but the sunrise that Tuesday brought a brilliant blue sky without a cloud in sight.

Leads• Start with something CHALLENGING OR SHOCKING to the

reader.

• The human head is of the same approximate size and weight as a roaster chicken. I have never before had the occasion to make the comparison, because never before today have I seen a human head in a roasting pan.

Did you know that 7 out of 10 students have cheated at least once in the past year?

Leads• Start with a POWERFUL SAYS OR QUOTE.• “I was tired of being picked on…I wanted them to

really, really protect me, and I wanted to be feared.” –Elena, age 13.

• A dictionary contains a definition of friendship somewhere in the F’s between the words “fear” and “Friday.”

• “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.” -FDR

LEADS• Start with an ANECDOTE• The most lucky/unlucky moment in the life of Phineas Gage

is only a minute or two away. It’s almost four thirty in the afternoon on September 13, 1848.

• I stood there strong, silent, unmoving as the kids continued to pick on me and call me names. Deep down I know something needed to change and if they weren’t then I needed to. I no longer wanted to be a victim.

Body ParagraphsAll elaboration contributes to or develops central ideaFull and purposeful, with details, facts, statistics, illustrations, examples and/or anecdotes within sentences and paragraph

StrongCareful logic and orderSkilled/sophisticated lead and closureAppropriate, purposeful, and fluid transitions

Thesis statement:Cheating has become a common almost acceptable practice among students due to teacher persuasion and peer pressure and this problem needs to be stopped.

• Incredibly, teachers may even be encouraging their students to cheat! Last year at a school in Detroit, teachers allegedly provided their students with answers to statewide standard tests. Students at the school told investigators that they were promised pizza and money if they cheated on the test as told. Similar allegations at several schools in San Diego county have prompted investigations. A student at a local high school says she sees students cheating on almost every test, and the teachers don’t do anything about it.

Let’s take a look at the “Friendship essay”