Introduction

Writing Headlines -Is the text indicating the nature of the article or news
story below it. It’s a brief summary of what is the article about.

WHAT IS IT’S PURPOSE? A headline’s purpose is to quickly and briefly draw

attention to the story.

Functions of Headlines

1. To tell in capsule form what the story is all about.

2. To grade the news as to importance.

3. To make the page look attractive.

STRUCTURES OF HEADLINES

 Flush Left ‐ Both lines are flushed to the left margin. This is also true
with a one‐line headline. This has to no exact count for the units in
each line. Example: Family planning Seminar held
 Dropline or Step Form ‐ The first line is flushed left while the second
line is indented. It may consist of two or three, and sometimes four
lines of types of the same length, somewhat less than a column in
width , so that the first line is flushed to the left, the second centered ,
and the third flushed to the right.
Example: Local boy scouts
bleed for a cause
 Inverted Pyramid ‐ The self‐explanatory. Each of the three or four lines
in this head is successively shorter than the line above it.
Examples: School launches
kalinisan
drive
 Hanging Indention ‐ The first line is flushed left. This is followed by two
indented parallel lines.
 Examples: Chief editor
bats for more
development news

 Crossline or Barline ‐ A one‐line headline that runs across the column.

The simplest form, it is a single line that runs across the allotted
space. If it runs across the page ‘ it is called a streamer.
Example: Expanded dependents dental plan nears implementation
 Boxed headline ‐ For emphasis or art’s sake, some headlines are
boxed:

 Jump Story Headline - A jump story(a story continued on another

page) has a headline of it’s own. This may be the same as the original
headline or it may be a word, phrase or group of words followed by a
series of dots.  Example: Local students....(from page 2)

DO’s and DONT’s IN WRINTING TRADITIONAL HEADLINES

DO’s :

 Make your headline answer as many W’s as possible.

 The headline should summarize the new story . It should contain
nothing that is not found in the story.
 Positive heads are preferable to negative ones.
Example : School physician allays flu fear is better and shorter than
Flu epidemic not rampant in the city.
  Omit articles like a, an and the and all forms of verb to be (is, are ,
be), unless needed to make the meaning clear
Examples: Reclaimed banks are causes of recurrent flood (are before
causes is not necessary) .
Barack Obama is new president (is is necessary to make the meaning
clearer.)
 Use the strongest word in the first line as possible

PNP nets dope pusher

Duterte fires 5 cops

Tondo amok haunted

CTE backs plow

Senate steps up slay probe

 Use the present tense for past stories and infinitive form for future
stories.
Examples: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo bats national
reconciliation.
Lantern parade to cap X’mas affairs.
 Write numbers in figures or spell it them out depending upon your
needs for your unit counts.
 Use the following headline styles, but be consistent once you have
adopted once
a. All caps CHARACTER, NATIONALISM VITAL COGS IN EDUCATION
b. Cap and lower case Character , Nationalism Vital Cogs in Education
c. Down style Character , nationalism vital cogs in education.

DONT’s Avoid the following kinds of headlines:

a.) Fat Head ‐ the spaces between the letters are so crowded that there
are no more space between , them or that the spaces are so small
that several words read as one. Examples: BSP LAUNCHES DRIVE
b.) Thin Head‐ the spaces between the letters or words or the space
after the words in a line are so wide that the effect is ugly.
Example: B S P L A U N C H E S D R I V E
c.) Label Head ‐ an incomplete headline, like the label of a product.
Example: CHRISTMAS PARTY
d.) Wooden hand‐ a very weak headline that is devoid of meaning,
sometimes due to the absence of a subject or the lack of a verb.
Example: TO HOLD EXCURSION
e.) Mandatory Head ‐ it gives a command because it begins with a
verb.
Example: HOLD DIALOGUE WITH PRINCIPAL
f.) Screaming Head ‐ it is big and bold headline of a short and
unimportant story . A sensational head is another kind of screaming
headline.
 Don’t tell the same thing even though you use a different word. Each
succeeding deck should contribute information.Don’t comment directly
or indirectly. Avoid editorializing even in headlines.
 Unless the subject is implied or has been mentioned in the first deck
,avoid beginning a headline with a verb.
 Don’t end a line with a preposition. Neither should you separate a
preposition from it’s object.
 Do not confuse a hanging preposition with a two ‐word verb that ends
with a preposition.
Example: Wrong: Students vote for SSG officials (“for” is a hanging
preposition) Right: Principal bats for moral values( “bats for” is a two
word verb)
  Don’t break off abbreviations, name, and hyphenated words.
 Avoid repeating principal words regardless of the numer of decks.
 Avoid heads that carry a double meaning.
 Don’t coin abbreviations of your qwn. Use only those that are common
to the readers like PNRC, DepED, DCS.
 Don’t abbreviate days and months unless figures follow as: Mon., Jan.
23

Punctuating Headlines - A few pointers as regards punctuation of

headlines should be observed. As a rule, headlines, just like titles of
editorials, features, and literary articles, should not end in a period.

Other simple rules follow:

 Use a comma in place of conjunction

Self–reliance, discipline up at Baguio confab
 Two related thoughts should be separated with a semicolon . As much
as possible this should be at the end of the line if the headline is a
two-line headline or a running head.
School joins Operasyon Linis;
P.E. – CAT boys drain estero
 The dash may be used for smaller decks, but not for headlines in large
types.
 The single quotation marks, not the double quotation marks are used
in headlines
Cultural development:
‘Linggo ng Wika’ theme

Preparing Headline Schedule (For Letterpress Printing) A headline

schedule is a complete collection of headline types that are particular
newspaper uses. This collection should specify the unit counts for all heads.
Headline writing must be cartloads of special skill. The copy editor who
usually writes the headlines should be able to tell in capsule form – simply,
temptingly, yet understandably – the most complex story with words that fit
the limit of the unit counts. To do this , he must have cartloads of special
words to use for the sake of simplicity, brevity and easy reading. However,
certain newspapers terms used in headlines are not acceptable in formal
writing or usage, nor do they carry their literal meaning as in the case of
idioms.

Headline Vocabulary

 Headline writing muat be cartloads of special skill. The copy editor who
usually write the headlines should be able to tell in capsule form –
simply, temptingly, yet understandably – the most complex story with
words that fir the limit of the unit counts.

 Replace the italicized words with apt head lingo

CONCLUSION:

Writing headlines is not easy if you are used to it, we need first to think
before we give our news letter with a headlines that catches the attention of
the reader. In doing so, we need to follow the rules and we must have a
person who has the ability to check, if we want a better and attractive
headlines .

Reference:

https://prezi.com/vbmcqcgxcq1w/structure-of-headline/

https://www.slideshare.net/jaysalinas2/journalism-writing-headlines
https://www.slideshare.net/MamiruchFernandez/copyreadingheadline-
writing