WD Glossary: Nutgraph
Write like a pro by learning the lingo. Next up, we master the art of a story's 'why' or brief summary, which follows the lede. Let's get crackin'.
Word Doc’s Glossary series reveals the meaning behind some tricks and terms of the trade, with examples of how best to execute them. While most professional writers will agree that writing rules are meant to be broken—that’s the whole point of developing your voice and style—a little guidance goes a long way. By the end of this post, you’ll be able to speak about your efforts as if you went to J-School. (That’d be Journalism School, friends. See? We haven’t even begun today’s lesson yet, and you’re learning already.) Let’s get word doc-umenting.
THE DEFINITION
A “nutgraph” or “nutgraf” is the “TL;DR” of an article or essay. (“TL;DR” = Too Long Didn’t Read, for those unaware of the acronym.) It follows the lede and more concisely explains the point of the forthcoming story, aka the “why.” Once you’ve hooked the reader with your opening, it’s time to let them know what they’re in for. This means cobbling together a succinct (para) ”graph“ that says, “This is what the story you’re about to read will entail,” and then you go on to support it with a narrative full of quotes or opinions, and arguments.
Journalists like order and structure, what can I say?
BD—Before Digital—when editors didn’t have to worry about SEO (Search Engine Optimization = technology to increase an article’s visibility and ranking) because of newsstands and subscriptions, they were able to be more clever with their headlines, which, in turn, meant they needed to be super clear with their nutgraph once they grabbed the reader with their lede.
Today, however, SEO titles for online writing tend to be long, and often spell out (in plain, boring terms) what you will find in the article itself, almost making the nutgraph redundant.
Still, it’s worth cracking a good nutgraph to maintain order and appease those of us taught otherwise or who work/worked at legacy publications. A nutgraph also assists readers who have zero attention spans to read further than the first few paragraphs of an article anyway. (To wit, after reading the nutgraph, you should be able to share or boast about some newfound knowledge without continuing. I’m not saying to do this. Just telling it like it sadly is!)
Typically, in newspaper articles, a nutgraph appears rather quickly. But longer feature articles or essays with anecdotal or descriptive ledes often take their time getting to the nutgraph. In which case, many of the examples below may seem out of context without what came prior, so I recommend reading the full articles:
Some Examples:
The neighborhood has, in recent years, transformed into a fabulous theme park for young women of some privilege to live out their Sex and the City fantasies, posting and spending their mid-20s away. They all seem to keep impressive workout routines (“Hot this and hot that,” McKeon said), have no shortage of girlfriends, and juggle busy heterosexual dating schedules. (The boys they consort with tend to be of the fratty variety.) They work in finance, marketing, publicity, tech—often with active social-media accounts on their side. They have seemingly endless disposable income. They are, by all conventional standards, beautiful. Occasionally, they are brunettes. Whatever their political beliefs, their lives seem fairly apolitical; as one 27-year-old lawyer on a walk with her best friend, both wearing identiical puffer jackets, succintly put their collective interests to me one day in April, “Brunches, coffees, dinners, drinks with your girlfriends—that type of energy.” (They may be more political than they appear: “You can have a Cartier Love bracelet and still care abaout immigrant rights,” said one person who lives in the neighborhood.” — Brock Colyar for The Cut
I‘d planned this trip with the hope of reconnecting—first as mother and daughter but also as a form of DIY reminiscence therapy, in which dementia patients take a walk down memory lane to spark joy and find comfort in their recollections. I’d chosen Vikings’s two week “British Isles Explorer” voyage from Bergen, Norway to London, because I thought my mom would appreciate the itinerary‘s Beatles-themed tour of Liverpool. — Ashlea Halpern for AFAR
There’s no shortage of online marketplaces for used clothing, but Poshmark, eBay, the Real Real, and Vestiaire Collective are nowhere near as user-friendly and frictionless as Vinted. It takes less than 45 seconds to list an item, and there’s no need to wrestle with a box or a mailing label. (Amazon sells Vinted-branded mailing bags in bulk for around $6.) — Ashley Baker for Airmail
The challenge for the touring actor is creating a consistent work-life balance in an environment that is erratic and ever-changing—finding a grounding sense of familiarity while also experiencing joyous spontaneity. Often, food is the best tool to achieve both. — Grayson Samuels for TASTE
If my own memory serves me correctly, I cannot recall a single restaurant I’ve ever been to that had a clock, from the Mexican place my family and I frequented nearly once a week when I was a kid to any of my favorite spots these days in the city, fancy or otherwise. So what do we chalk this up to? Mere coincidence? A sinister conspiracy? The byproduct of intelligent design whose genius simply eludes us? — James Jung for
For decades, visitors to the 114-mile-long île, which sits west of the Italian peninsula and north of Sardinia, have docked their yachts in the marinas and partied at the flashy beach resorts. But not us. For one week in June, Jared and I woke up early each morning, pulled on Smartwool socks, and ate hearty breakfasts of cured meats and crumbly brocciu cheese. We cycled on winding roads, hiked up granite mountains, and slid down waterfalls — and at the end of the trip, we finally rested our weary bodies by the beach. — Me for T&L
Pretty much everyone eats salt, every day, and it’s different now. Yet even kosher salt’s most fervent converts may not entirely understand how it’s different. — Ellen Cushing for The Atlantic (gift link)
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