Headlines:

• Summarize and emphasize the stories’ content in headlines. They should say enough to attract and inform readers, but no more. Headlines should fit their allotted spaces.
• Each item set in body type — news stories, editorials, letters to the editor, briefs-should carry a headline of its own, not merely a label.
• Most newspaper headlines imply complete sentences. Use a verb in the present tense: Boys golf team crushes opposition. This is true even for past actions: Department head resigns.Use colorful active verbs. Do not overuse colons in headlines.
• Only the first word in a headline is capitalized, unless other rules apply (see Capitalization).
• Never divide words in headlines. From the top line to the next, do not separate parts of an infinitive, a noun and its modifiers or article, a preposition and its object, a conjunction for the words it joins, or a participle from its auxiliary. 
• Use subheads below a main headline and within a story to add emphasis and create white space. For a subhead that appears directly below the main headline, use contrasting, smaller type, or italics. This subhead should be about the width of the main headline. When subheads set off main sections in longer stories, use display type of boldface type.
• Use subjects and ACTIVE verbs to make a complete statement of fact.
• Use the conditional tense or infinitive for action that is about to occur: Teacher might apply for department head job; Principal to retire. Do not overuse colons in headlines.
• Write a feature headline for a feature story.

Ledes:

• Establish the tone, focus and direction for a story in a concise opening paragraph called a lede.
• In the lede, set up a structure that will best show how and why whatever has happened or is about to happen is likely to affect readers.
• Reporters should ask themselves: If I were telling the story in ordinary conversation, what single fact would I tell first?  In most instances, who did it, what happened or may happen, why it happened or how it happened would be stressed over when and where it happened.
• One way to begin a story about breaking news is with a lede that summarizes the most important facts in the story and presents these news elements in order of descending importance. These elements are embodied in the five W’s: who, what, when, where, why—and one H: how. Good summary ledes include only the most important W’s and H in a declarative sentence.
• But just as a summary lede would be inappropriate for a story that needs to build to a punchline, beginning at the beginning is certainly a poor choice for breaking news or sports.
• For less timely features and for editorials, writers have much more flexibility. One option is to begin at the beginning and develop a chronological narrative. Others are to start with a problem the rest of the story explains or solves or to begin with an interesting image, or with a short, revealing incident.
• After the opening section, the feature or editorial writer might make use of a summary statement, a thesis statement or a thematic sentence as a bridge to the rest of the story.

• Unless a name is widely known, delay its use until the second or third graf. This practice is called using a blind lead.
• Attribute in the lead anything that is not generally known.
• Set a strict limit on the number of leads in an issue that begin with questions or direct quotations.
• Do not begin with a dictionary definition.

Paragraphs:

• Newspaper paragraphs tend to be much shorter than in other kinds of writing. A paragraph should be no longer than eight printed lines, or 35-50 words. Vary the words that begin successive paragraphs unless your repetition is deliberate.

Letters to the editor:

• An invitation to letter writers exists in the masthead on page 4. The staff reserves the right to edit letters for clarity and brevity.
• Use a standard form for openings and signatures. Give each letter its own headline.

Quotations:

• Be accurate when quoting, and be sure to specify the source of every quotation. Keep speakers’ words in context. If words were said in a joking manner, you should usually say so.
• Use quotations from your sources to support and illustrate your story, choosing newsworthy remarks that express people’s individuality. Otherwise, paraphrase. 

• Place commas and periods inside quotation marks.
• Use said or says. Avoid expressions that unnecessarily color the facts or imply mind reading such as believed, claimed, feels and thinks unless writing for Features.
• Use [sic] in brackets to show you know that material you are quoting contains an error: “There’s a new sharif in town [sic],” the president tweeted.

Use quotation marks:

• To indicate that the words are those of another person.
• At the beginning of each paragraph in a quotation of several paragraphs, and at the end of the last paragraph of the series.
• To express irony.
• To introduce unfamiliar “vocables”
• Use single quotation marks to set off quotations within quotations.

Do not use quotation marks:

• Around a paraphrase.
• Around nicknames.
• In copy made up largely of titles.
• With names of newspapers and other periodicals.
• With the Bible, or such reference materials as encyclopedias.

Kickers:

• This design device attracts attention. In headlines, kickers are small-sized type above the main headline. Wording of the kicker should differ from the wording of the main headline. 
• In cutlines the first word or short phrase may be set off in display type. These few words function as mini headlines for cut lines. Kickers work well with photographs that stand alone.

Style

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Numbers:

• Spell out all numbers less than ten. Write out ordinal numbers (first, second…) through ninth.
• Write out first through ninth when used as street names.
  • ie. Ninth Street is on the left.

• Use numerals for ages: He is 15, the five-year-old boy, the 20-year-old.
• Do not use an apostrophe with plurals: She is in her 40s.

• a.m., p.m.––Write 10 p.m., not 10:00 p.m.
• Noon: do not write 12 o’clock noon or 12 noon. Just write noon.

• Dates:  Do not use on before a date.
• Write March 15. Do not write March 15th. Never use st, nd, rd, th after a numeral in a date.
• Months: capitalize names of months. Abbreviate, except months with six letters or fewer, when used with a date: Thursday, Jan. 15; Friday, July 10.

• Dimensions: use numerals. Write out units: inches, feet, yards, etc.: She is five feet seven inches tall.
• Do not begin a sentence with a numeral. Instead, write it out or rephrase the thought. Years are an exception. It is permissible to begin a headline with numerals. 

• Dollars and cents: Use the $ and numerals except in amounts of more than six figures: The equipment is valued at $418,000. The project cost $1.2 million. Write 50 cents.

• Grade: hyphenate compounds and use numerals: 11th-grade-student. Refer to young people as ‘students’ or ‘children,’ NOT ‘kids.’

• When a numeral is longer than its corresponding word, use the word: 200 million, not 200,000,000.

• Percent: write it out.
• Polls: In writing about polls, summarize the results. Tell how many people were polled and the range, nature and size of the sample. Tell who took the poll and when, how and where the persons took it. Whenever possible, provide the probability error, such as +/- three percent.

• Scores: use numerals, with hyphens between totals: the Cavaliers beat the Spartans 4-2.

Identification:

• Identify people using first and last names with an appositive the first time mentioned, and then reference using last name only. 
• When identifying teachers, only capitalize proper nouns (ex. science teacher, English teacher, history teacher)
• When identifying department chairs or heads, capitalize all words in the title (ex. P.E. Department Chair, Library Chair)

• Academic degrees: use abbreviations when they follow a name—Jean Dubois, M.A., Ph.D.
• Otherwise write out: He received his master’s degree.

• Academic departments: lowercase except for words that are proper nouns or adjectives: science department, English department.

• Appositives: all identified people require an appositive the first time they’re mentioned
  • ie. Maddy Hildreth, senior, said…

• Attribution: Cite sources for all statements a skeptical reader might question. Attributions should be as full and thorough as possible. They should appear early enough so that the reader can evaluate an assertions’ validity and degree of bias.

• Unless two or more speakers are explicit about doing so, do not say they ‘agree’ or ‘disagree’ merely to effect a transition.

• Teachers, faculty, and staff: teachers are part of the faculty, which includes counselors and administrators. The faculty is part of the staff, which includes cafeteria workers, custodians and secretaries.

False Titles: 

• False titles describe a person’s occupation or area of skill without specifying exact professional authority: politician, soprano soloist, J.V. defensive tackle.

• Do not use false titles adjectivally before a person’s name, as in rookie goaltender Jean Farlow. Instead, use the title as an appositive: Jean Farlow, a rookie goaltender, excelled during the game. Never capitalize false titles.

• Sometimes it is desirable to avoid overuse of commas, as with sophomore Mark Jones, English teacher Brenda Foster or soccer coach John Meyer. But with these one or two word expressions from the school press as exceptions, the appositive is usually best.

Editorializing:

• Do not editorialize, except in an opinion piece — avoid the temptation to use hopefully, or to wish a sports team well.
• Only: use with care to avoid editorializing, as in ‘The ice cream cost only $2.50.’

Main Points:

• Identify people in stories and cutlines.
• Choose the most pertinent identification for the first reference.
• Somewhere in a story include students’ grades and teachers’ departments.
• Never overload identifications: Ellen Chan, senior co-captain first singles player.
• Always verify spelling. Wehrli, Chiang…
• Unless a person prefers a nickname, use the given name.
• Do not abbreviate given names.
• Jr. /Sr.: Do not put a comma between the name and Jr. or Sr.: Paul Farrell Jr.

Grammar

• Active voice: avoid the passive voice unless there is good reason.

• Active Voice: The teachers changed the rule on cheating.
• Passive Voice: The rule on cheating was changed by the teachers.
• Reasons for passive include lack of info (The sign was stolen) or desire to shift focus from subject to object ($800 was raised by the group)

• Use third person, except for words in direct quotations. Avoid you. Reserve our, we and us for editorials. Use I only in first-person opinion articles and similar.

• Agreement: use singulars with singulars, plurals with plurals. Make pronouns and nouns match. Remember that: Everyone, everyone; he/she, his/her; no one, nobody, none are pronouns that are singular. e.g.: Everyone is coming to my party.

• Among/between: use among with more than two; use between with two.

• Base decisions about the use of the definite or indefinite article on whether the individual is well known: Forrest Gump, the shrimp magnate, spoke on careers in aquaculture. Avoid ‘a,’ ‘an,’ ‘the,’ and ‘and’ in most cases.

• Do not use pronouns with slashes—he/she—change the antecedent to a plural and change the verb.

• Parallel structure: use parallel structure to keep your writing brisk and balanced: he likes running, swimming and playing basketball vs he likes running, swimming, and basketball.

• Possessive before gerund: use the possessive form of a noun or pronoun before a gerund (verb form used as a noun): Sam’s losing his match cost the team a victory.

• United States: write it out as a noun. U.S. may be used as an adjective.

• Very, really, actually: avoid these overused adverbs and others like them. Find a more precise way to express an idea.

• ‘Try to;’ never ‘try and.’

• Always use graduate with from as a verb: He will graduate from high school.

Use a period:

• At the end of every declarative sentence.
• After most abbreviations.
• As a decimal point.

Do not use a period:

• After chemical symbols.
• After radio call letters or in network abbreviations.

Pronouns:

• Make pronoun references accurate and clear.
• Make pronouns agree with their antecedents.
• Be accurate with cases. Use the nominative case, not the objective case, for a subject.
• If a pronoun reference is unclear, drop the pronoun and use the noun.

The Apostrophe:

Use an apostrophe:

• singular and plural possessives.
• possessives ending in s: two days’ suspension, Doris’ book.
• joining possessives: Bill and Ron’s story.
• contractions: “Don’t say it’s over between us,” John pleaded.
• omitted letters and numerals: rock ‘n’ roll, ’50s music, the Class of ’99.
• To form the plural with letters of the alphabet: He earned straight B’s, the Oakland A’s.

Do not use the apostrophe:

• With possessive pronouns: hers its, yours.
• When a name without an apostrophe is official.

Commonly confused:

• Advice, advise: Use advice as a noun: I asked for advice. Use advise as a verb: I advise you to wait, she said.

• Adviser: to follow journalistic style use adviser. Do not use advisor.

• All ready: means everyone is prepared. Already means previously: I had already taken the quiz.

• Alumni is a Latin plural denoting a group of males or mixed men and women. A single male is an alumnus, a single female alumna. You can also use the English word graduate(s).

• ‘Different from:’ avoid ‘different than.’

• Lead/led. Lead is the present form of the verb, or the chemical element Pb. Led is the past form of the verb.

• Many/most: Avoid vague terms. Whenever possible, use exact amounts. If you do not know the exact amounts, do some research. Be sure to attribute the information to sources.

• No one, nobody, and none: These words usually mean no single one. They take singular pronouns and verbs.

Farther, further: 

• Use farther to refer to distance: He ran two miles farther up the road than John did.
• Use further to refer to degree: He saw further consequences of the staff cuts.

Fewer, less: 

• Use fewer when referring to separate, countable items: I am applying to fewer colleges than he is.
• Use less when referring to a quantity or a total of an uncountable noun: There is less water in the river than at this time last year.

Follow up, follow-up: 

• Use without a hyphen for a verb: She asked him to follow up the story.
• Use with a hyphen for an adjective: He wrote the follow-up story.

Freshman, freshmen: 

• Use freshman as a singular noun: Ed O’Connor, a freshman.
• Use freshman as an adjective: freshman year, freshman trip.
• Use freshmen as a plural noun: The freshmen returned from Bradford Woods.

Full time, full-time (also part time)

• Do not hyphenate as an adverb: he teaches full time.
• Do hyphenate as an adjective: He is a full-time teacher.

Its/it’s

• Its is possessive.
• It’s is the contraction for it is or it has.

Principal, principle:

• As an adjective, principal means main: Blue is the principal color.
• As a noun, principal means the main one: The school principal is your pal.
• A principle is a moral or theoretical tenet: He is a man of strong principles.

That/which: 

• Use that for references to inanimate objects and animals in essential clauses and phrases: School publications that are full of important news enlighten readers.
• Use which for nonessential clauses and phrases: School publications, which are full of important news, enlighten readers.
• Never use that or which for people; use who: The students who run the tech booth…

This:

• Use this as an adjective: This discussion with the administration will prevent confusion.
• Do not use this as a pronoun: This will prevent confusion.

Capitalization:

• Use a minimum of capitalization.

Capitalize:

• Proper nouns.
• Course titles, but not subject areas: U.S. History, history.
• A class with its year of graduation, but not names of classes in the school: The Class of 2004, the junior class, Bob Hennessey, junior.
• Full names of schools, but not academy, college, high school or university by themselves: Brookline High School, the new high school.
• One-of-a-kind events and shortened forms of one-of-kind events: Labor Day, the Series.
• Languages: English, Farsi, Italian, Mandarin.
• States’ names when they stand alone. Abbreviate when state name appears with name of county or municipality.
• School mascots: capitalize Cavaliers, Bulldogs, Hippos…

Do not Capitalize:

• coach.
• seasons.
• words in headlines.

Google Docs 

Organization:

• The paper is put together using Google Drive, with a ‘root’ folder for the newspaper named ‘Untitled Paper.’ Within the root folder are an archive folder and a folder for the current year’s issues, named ‘2019-20 Issues’ (as of 6/10/2019). Each new school year’s issues are numbered serially, #1-#8. In each issue’s folder there will be a sub-folder for each section: News, Features, Opinion, Sports, as well as folders for graphics, named Photographs and Sidebars.

Submit:

• Find the correctly numbered issue folder and open it to locate the section where your article belongs. Drag and drop your article/photo/graphic into the appropriate folder to submit it. Please do NOT email your work to your editor unless you are having some technical issue that prevents submission to the Google Drive.

Edit:

• Editors should rename ‘rough’ articles to indicate their level of editing. Section Eds should rename an article: ‘Girls golf’ becomes ‘Girls golf EDITED.’ Eds-in-Chief should then perform a final edit and indicate that it’s complete by renaming again: ‘Girls golf EDITED CHIEF.’

Layout:

• As publication nears, each section will contain three InDesign page templates for laying out, contained in a folder called InDesign [section name]. Layout people will download the template and the necessary writing and art to their device and use InDesign, Photoshop, and a word processing program to complete a page’s layout locally (that is, on their individual machine). Page templates are named for the month of publication and the page: ‘June 1’ is the front page of the June issue; June 12 is the back page, and so on. When layout is complete and the page is ready to be sent to the print shop, the person who laid it out (or the Layout/Copy Editor who finalized it) should rename it to indicate its state: ‘June 1 FINAL’ will go out to the printer, so it needs to be error-free.