Headlines, Sub-Heads, and Lists

Assignment 1: Find poor headlines used as hyperlinks and fix them.

Headline: Not so independent after all

Problem: A little unspecific. Even though this was posted right after the Democratic National convention, it assumes the reader knows what “independent” is referring to (in this case, independent voters). The article is talking about the fact that although there are 1.6 million unaffiliated voters in NC, there are really very few who are undecided.

Solution: Few Undecided Voters in NC

Source: The Daily Tar Heel, Sept. 3, 2012

http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2012/09/not-so-independent-after-all

Headline: A first half for the birds

Problem: This headline is just a little too cute and vague. The story was about the UNC football game versus the Louisville Cardinals, but the “birds” reference isn’t specific enough for someone searching for a recap of this specific game.

Solution: UNC Defense Drops the Ball versus Louisville

Source: The Daily Tar Heel, Sept. 18, 2012

http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2012/09/5056969146ad5


Headline: R. Kelly makes Soul Train history, Usher up for 5

Problem: Up for 5 what? I had to read the article to realize that this referred to Usher being nominated for 5 Soul Train Awards. Also the story tells you that R. Kelly’s 2 nominations makes him the most nominated act in award history but doesn’t reveal what the record is/was. After doing a Google search, I found that 21 nominations is the new record set by R. Kelly.

Solution: R. Kelly Makes Soul Train Award History with 21st Nomination

Source: Yahoo News, Sept. 19, 2012
http://news.yahoo.com/r-kelly-makes-soul-train-history-usher-5-141753511.html

Assignment 2: Find an article that would be good for using lists.

Headline: UNC-Chapel Hill rises to 9th in federal R&D expenditures

Source: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5508/74/


Before paragraph:
The new ranking, based on data compiled by the National Science Foundation, was published by The Chronicle of Higher Education, a trade newspaper. The federal government financed 61 percent of the $61.2-billion that universities dedicated to research and development in fiscal 2010, the Chronicle reported.

Among national public universities, Carolina ranked fourth in federal R&D spending behind the universities of Washington (2nd overall at nearly $830 million), Michigan at Ann Arbor (3rd overall at about $748 million), and California at San Diego (7th overall at $580 million). The University of Wisconsin at Madison rounded out the top 10 at $545.18 million.

Private universities in the top 10 were Johns Hopkins (1st, $1.7 billion), University of Pennsylvania (4th, $642 million), University of Pittsburgh, main campus, (5th, $594 million), Stanford University (6th, $593 million), and Columbia University (8th, $572 million). Johns Hopkins’ total included a $1.01 billion award for an Applied Physics Laboratory. Duke was the only other N.C. university in the top 25, placing 13th at $514.08 million.


Rewrite (second and third grafs only):

Among national public universities, UNC ranked fourth in federal R&D spending behind:

• University of Washington (2nd overall at nearly $830 million), 
• Michigan at Ann Arbor (3rd overall at about $748 million), and  
• California at San Diego (7th overall at $580 million). 

The University of Wisconsin at Madison rounded out the top 10 at $545.18 million.

Private universities in the top 10 included:

• Johns Hopkins (1st, $1.7 billion), 
• University of Pennsylvania (4th, $642 million), 
• University of Pittsburgh, main campus, (5th, $594 million), 
• Stanford University (6th, $593 million), and 
• Columbia University (8th, $572 million). 

Johns Hopkins’ total included a $1.01 billion award for an Applied Physics Laboratory. Duke was the only other N.C. university in the top 25, placing 13th at $514.08 million.

Assignment 3: Rewrite your headline for your week 2 writing sample.

Family Roots Run Deep in Goldsboro, NC

Assignment 4: Write three different headlines for story fragment.

Eight words: Knee Injury Not the End for Yankees’ Rivera

Six words: Rivera Promises Return to Yankees’ Lineup

Six for head, eight for subhead: Yankees’ Rivera vows, ‘I’m coming back’: Pitcher says knee injury won’t force his retirement