Ledes: Be Economical With Words

Look for opportunities to use fewer words to say the same thing, or to get rid of redundant or unnecessary lingo. Like here:

The Centers for Disease Control conducted a study and found that if a woman is healthy with a good educational background, she is less likely to get divorced.

In that case, why say, conducted a study and found? Isn't that like writing a football game story and saying MSU played a game and won? The won part presumes a game was played, making a general reference to the game unneeded. So, along those lines why not drop conducted a study and, like this?

The Centers for Disease Control found that if a woman is healthy with a good educational background, she is less likely to get divorced.

It says the same thing, but with less wordiness, right?

Let's keep looking at this example. We talk about trying to put the news first, ahead of attribution. Here, you have the attribution first, then the news. So let's try flipping the order like this:

If a woman is healthy with a good educational background, she is less likely to get divorced, the Centers for Disease Control found.

See how "flipping" your lede emphasizes the news over the sourcing? A flip wasn't necessary, and if you were trying to emphasize the source for credibility reasons, then a flip wouldn't be a good idea. But in many cases, a flip is the best approach.