Inverted Pyramid

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A visual example of the Inverted Pyramid.

An inverted pyramid serves as a design standard of news delivery and technical writing. This design should serve as a guideline for students constructing a blog for the first time.

Organization

1. Place the most important information first using The 5 W's.
2. Explanation or supporting details that make the headline and attention grabbing information true
3. General details-these details will be the least likely to be read. In the event that these details are cut, the article should not suffer.

Priority: The 5 W's

According to the Purdue Online Writing Lab, the 5 W's help the author determine the most important information. According to inverted pyramid style, these questions should be answered by the conclusion of the first paragraph.

• Who? Well known names should be in the headline. Others may go in the first paragraph depending on the subject.
• What? Readers visit sites to discover current news or results of occurrences. Essentially the first paragraph or headline should answer the question, "What's happening?"
• When? Time is important to web journalism because news and data are ever changing. A reader should be able to tell the relevance of an article to his search without reading the full entry.
• Where? Location like time helps the reader determine relevance to his life. Someone is California may not necessarily want data or news from a study or an event in Florida.
• Why? After reading a headline, a natural reaction from the site visitor will be "Why?" If this information is available, it is necessary to the beginning of the article. Often times readers surf the web for the "why" of a new law, murder, food recall, etc. Exclusion of this detail will cause a reader to go elsewhere and flag the site as uninformed.

Purpose

The inverted pyramid contributes to scan-ability. Placement of the most essential information at the beginning of an article or entry allows the reader to get what he needs without scrolling. Site visitors read less on the web than in print. Bloggers should implement the inverted pyramid to share need-to-know information quickly and retain frequent visitors. Webwise Wording says, "If they cannot quickly and easily assess your article for points of interest, they are likely to leave your webpage and go search for an alternative that is easier to skim."

References

1. Inverted Pyramid Style Retrieved 2 April 2013.
2. Purdue OWL: Journalism and Journalistic Writing Retrieved 9 April 2013.

See Also

• Foundational Writing Skills
• Scan-ability
• Brevity
• Proofreading