Article outline: [Working headline]

Replace the blue placeholders with your own words and delete the grey notes as you go. A short news story can skip the dek, the second lede and the quote list.

Publication and section

[Outlet, section or client]

Editor

[Name, email]

Format

[News, feature, profile, explainer, opinion, how-to]

Length

[Assigned word count]

Deadline

[Day, date, time and time zone]

Status

[Reporting / outlined / drafting / filed]

The story in one sentence

[Who is doing what, and why it matters now]

Why now: [the news, date or event that makes this the moment]

See a topic next to a story

Topic: School pianos.

Story: Port Calder's 312 school pianos have one tuner, and he retires in June.

An invented example. If you can't write the story sentence yet, you need more reporting, not more outline.

Headline and dek

  • Working headline: [Five to ten words]

  • Dek: [The line under the headline: what the reader will get]

Structure

Chosen: [The order this article follows]

Not sure? The six common structures

  • Inverted pyramid: the news first, details in order of importance, background last. For news.

  • Scene, nut graf, body, kicker: for features, profiles and trend stories.

  • Chronological: events in order, often after a short summary. For reconstructions.

  • Question by question: the reader's questions in the order they'd ask them. For explainers.

  • Claim, reasons, objection, action: for op-eds, columns and reviews.

  • Numbered: one section per step or item. For how-to and list articles.

Lede

  • Lede A, scene: [A moment the reader can see]

  • Lede B, news: [What happened or what's changing, in one sentence]

Choose after you've drafted the body.

Nut graf

[What the story is about, how big it is and why it matters now, in one paragraph]

Write this before you choose the lede. It's the paragraph most first drafts leave out, and every section below should help prove it.

Sections

One point per row, in order. A row with no evidence is a gap: report it or cut it. The word budgets add up to the assigned length.

#

Point

Evidence

Source

Words

1

[What this section says]

[Scene, fact, number or quote]

[Who or what]

[Words]

2

[What this section says]

[Scene, fact, number or quote]

[Who or what]

[Words]

3

[What this section says]

[Scene, fact, number or quote]

[Who or what]

[Words]

4

[What this section says]

[Scene, fact, number or quote]

[Who or what]

[Words]

5

[What this section says]

[Scene, fact, number or quote]

[Who or what]

[Words]

See a filled-in row

3 · The board cut the second technician's job on April 9 · Vote and budget line · Board minutes, budget page 41 · 250

An invented example.

Quotes worth using

Lines only your sources could have said, word for word, with the date.

  • [Name: the quote, as recorded]

  • [Name: the quote, as recorded]

  • [Name: the quote, as recorded]

Kicker

[The closing scene or line, and how many words it gets]

Sources

Name

Role

Talked on

On the record?

[Full name]

[Title, organization]

[Date]

[Yes / background / not yet]

[Full name]

[Title, organization]

[Date]

[Yes / background / not yet]

[Full name]

[Title, organization]

[Date]

[Yes / background / not yet]

[Full name]

[Title, organization]

[Date]

[Yes / background / not yet]

Data and documents

Fact or number

Where it comes from

Checked on

[The figure or fact]

[Document, page, link or person]

[Date]

[The figure or fact]

[Document, page, link or person]

[Date]

[The figure or fact]

[Document, page, link or person]

[Date]

Open questions

  • [What you still need to find out, and who might know]

  • [What you still need to find out, and who might know]

  • [What you still need to find out, and who might know]

Before you file

  • The story sentence still matches the draft

  • Every name is spelled the way the person spells it, with the right title

  • Every number matches its row in Data and documents

  • Every quote is checked against the recording or the notes

  • Anyone criticized in the piece was asked to respond

  • The length is within the assigned range

  • Open questions are answered, or the draft says what isn't known