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Headlines

​Headlines are the largest textual element in a news article and often the first line a reader sees. Therefore, writing an honest yet catchy headline is extremely important to drawing readers and providing the main idea of your article.

Example: University reinstates soft opening for spring semester

Headlines have their own structure. The guidelines to structure a headline appropriately are numbered below to help you follow examples of the guidelines in action.

Headlines:

  1. denote complete thoughts but don’t end with a period.
  2. have a subject noun and an active verb.
  3. have present tense verbs (no –ing verbs)
  4. follow a sentence case; only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.
  5. when conveying future action, the preposition “to” is added before the verb.

Example of guideline 1, 2 and 3

Harris County1 lowers2 COVID threat level

  1. Subject
  2. Active verb in present tense

Example of guideline 4

University1 kicks off Black History Month2 on South Deck2

  1. First word is capitalized
  2. Proper nouns are capitalized

Example of guideline 5

NASA to announce next Mars exploration

Find more AP Style guidelines specific to headlines:

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Use numerals in headlines even for ordinals. Only spell out numbers in casual uses and formal names. 

  • - University outlines 2 pathways for student academic success 

  • - UHD women’s volleyball team wins 1st championship title 


When referring to monetary figures in the millions and billions, the word million can be replaced by M and the word billion by B. 

  • - Harris County to invest $5M in COVID-19 relief fund 

  • - TxDOT’s $7B project faces controversy​


  • - ‘Watercolor Eyes’ raises awareness on teen dating violence 

  • - UHD president credits ‘brilliant’ strategy for improved retention rates ​


Right  

  1. 1. UHD Bike Club, Sports & Fitness host monthly healthy activities 

  1. 2. Federal judge restores DACA, allows new applicants  

Wrong  

  1. 1. UHD Bike Club and Sports & Fitness host monthly healthy activities 

  1. 2. Federal judge restores DACA and allows new applicants ​


Right 

  1. 1. US breaks record number of COVID cases 

  1. 2. UK house prices rise at fastest pace since 2007 

Wrong 

  1. 1. U.S. breaks record number of COVID cases 

  1. 2. U.K. house prices rise at fastest pace since 2007​


  • - UHD offers weekly GatorCash incentive for on-campus COVID testing 

  • - Harris County drops COVID threat level to ‘significant’ ​


Last updated 3/23/2022 7:40 AM

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