- Read about and practice writing leads
- Write a “Straight News Story” (informative, factual, objective) about an event (not a person) that happened to you, someone you know, or that you witnessed. It CAN be made-up, but this will be VERY hard to do so I strongly advise against it
- Complete a “Newspaper Story Format” worksheet about this article to prepare
- Make sure this article is in the “inverted pyramid” format
- Make sure your headline and lead are strong!