How to Write a Nut Graf—and Capture Your Readers

You must read this post.

OK, whatever, you can read it if you want. I had to get the lede over with so I could get to …

the nut graf! In my opinion, you see, this little paragraph (this one right here) is one of the most important parts of an article. It’s what keeps your readers reading. It’s what most blog posts are missing. And it’s one simple addition that will improve your composition—be it a newspaper piece; magazine feature; editorial or, yes, blog post—by leaps and bounds.

What Is a Nut Graf?

At The Philadelphia Inquirer, reporters and editors called it the “You may have wondered why we invited you to this party?” section.
—Chip Scanlan, Poynter

It’s like the thesis statement in a term paper.
—Celeste Mitchell, mediabistro.com

While perusing a post, have you ever thought, why am I reading this? And then you don’t find out until near the end what the point of the thing was? That post may be craving a nut graf.

Nut graf is a journalism term. So is a related word, lede. You gotta know it too.

Lede (or lead): The first paragraph (or so) of an article. What draws the reader in.

Nut graf: The paragraph that tells what the story’s about, so people know why to keep reading—and whether they want to. It’s usually the second paragraph. It can, however, be combined with the lede, come a bit later or be longer. (News paragraphs are shorter than book ones—even one or two sentences long.)

Examples of Nut Grafs
… straight from your blogs

• Second paragraph: “Value doctors as listeners to prevent primary care burn out” (KevinMD.com)
• Second paragraph: “Bus stop diagnosis” (Musings of a Dinosaur)
• Third paragraph: “Navy investigates Murtha’s death – CNN’s Elizabeth Cohen reports unhelpful advice” (Saving Money and Surviving the Healthcare Crisis)

Without a nut graf, posts often read like diary entries or pointless compositions. And maybe that’s the, well, point. “If a writer has trouble figuring out what to say in a nut graph,” says journalist Michelle V. Rafter at her blog WordCount, “it could be because they haven’t figured out what the story they’re writing is about.”

Disclaimer

Not every blog post needs a nut graf—some narrative stories or really short posts, for example. But in my opinion, most can improve with them.

Further Reading

Chip Scanlan has a thorough article about nut grafs over at Poynter.

—

Leigh Ann Otte is a professional writer, editor and blogger.

A version of this article was originally published March 2, 2010, on Leigh Ann’s previous blog The Doctor Writer: Helping Medical Professionals Bring Out Their Inner Writer. Read more posts from that blog here.

Images courtesy www.pdclipart.org.