How to write The Question Lead of your article?

Features can begin with questions because they involve the reader in the story, but they should be clear, understandable, and answerable. Give the reader an answer in the article, but not too soon. If you ask a question in paragraph one, and answers it in paragraph two, your reader may not be compelled to read paragraph three.

Hal Bock of the Associated Press uses such a question lead in an article about former athletes who turned to coaching. This article was run on the AP wires approximately in April 1994. (This article also has a solid quotation used as paragraph four.)

On the 10th anniversary of becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar thinks about teaching basic skills to a new generation of basketball players.

“If you had asked me three years ago, I’d have said, ‘Forget it. Are you out of your mind?'” Abdul-Jabbar said.

“Now, it’s not quite like that. There’s a great need for people to teach the game. I don’t think a lot of the young players, especially the front-line players, are learning the fundamentals. That’s something I know very well and could teach very well. So it’s something that I would entertain, given the right offer in the right circumstances.”

Bob Glauber of Newsday uses a question lead to begin an article about recent changes in the NFL. This article was sent on the wires the end of February 1993. After his lead, he uses a question-and-answer format to explain the changes. His lead and his first Q & A were:

Confused by the NFL’s complex new free-agency system? Join the crowd.

Even league executives have been working long hours to make sure they understand the fine points. So cumbersome are the details that the NFL has published a booklet explaining the rules.

With the signing period for restricted and unrestricted free agents set to begin today, here is a guide to the rules:

Any player with at least five years’ experience whose contract has expired is a free agent and can negotiate a new contract with any team. If a salary cap kicks in next year or thereafter, players who have at least four years’ experience and whose contracts have expired will become unrestricted free agents.

John Jackson of the Gannett News Service asks a key question in the lead of an article about the Detroit Pistons. This article was run on the wires November 20, 1993.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich.-Mark Macon and Marcus Liberty, acquired from the Denver Nuggets for Alvin Robertson, arrived in town Friday night and took part in their first practice Saturday. Now just one question remains:

Macon, a shooting guard, and Liberty, a small forward, play positions where the Pistons are deepest, so playing time figures to be a problem.

Ray Buck, writer and columnist for the Houston Post uses a question lead in an article about the midseason success of the 1993 Houston Oilers. His column was run under the headline “Pardee’s steadying hand pulls Oilers through” and was published December 5, 1993.

CAN YOU REMEMBER how the Oilers looked when they were 1-4? And how they look now after a six-pack of victories without a loss?

Now think back to how Jack Pardee looked and sounded and acted at 1-4? During 6-0? Notice anything different?

“The only thing I noticed,” said Phyllis Pardee, Jack’s bride of nearly 36 years, “is that instead of calling me once a day like he always does, he’d call me a couple of times a day when we were losing. Isn’t that cute? I don’t even think Jack realized it.”

Steve Hershey of the Gannett News Service uses questions in his lead about who will win the next Masters Tournament in Augusta. This article was run in April 1994.

AUGUSTA, Ga.-Lets see, whose next? How about Colin Montgomerie or Peter Baker? And it’s only a matter of time before young stars South Africa’s Ernie Els or Sweden’s Joakim Haeggman do it.

We’re talking about winning The Masters, of course. You remember that folksy, Southern tournament Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus used to dominate. It was a fun affair in the ’70s when Tom Watson, Ray Floyd and Fuzzy Zoeller used to win.

That was before the foreigners invaded. It started innocently enough, with Spain’s Seve Ballesteros winning in 1980 and again in ’83. But we should have known. After missing the cut in ’84, he finished 2-4-2 the next three years and in between told all his pals on the European Tour to come on over, it’s easy pickings.

Chris Sheridan of the Associated Press uses a key question to begin an article about a fight during a Miami Heat-Atlanta Hawks game. This article was run on the AP wires May 1, 1994.

The punch in question happened Saturday night in the Miami-Atlanta game. It was a windmill right, and it landed squarely on the jaw of Keith Askins of the Miami Heat. It was thrown by Douglas Edwards of the Atlanta Hawks in the most violent incident in a weekend of flagrant fouls, hip checks, chokes, finger-pointing, trash talk that cast a cloud over the first few days of the postseason.

Askins, Edwards and Grant Long (the choker) were ejected in Saturday night’s three-minute free-for-all that brought players from benches, coaches and even police officers onto the court at the Omni. Miami assistant coach Alvin Gentry broke his hand and finger trying to restrain long.