Basic Ledes: Consider Flipping The Lede

With many ledes, we want to emphasize the news over the sourcing; that is, what happened gets priority over who it happened to or who said it.

Let's look at this lede, where the sourcing comes first:

A study led by sociologists at the University of Florida found highly educated women are more likely to end up in a failed marriage compared to women without degrees.

Now, that's a fine lede. Very solid. But I would argue that it can amplify the main point a bit more by what I call flipping the lede; that is, changing the sequence from source-finding to finding-source -- essentially, just moving the start of the lede to the back -- like this:

Highly educated women are more likely to end up in a failed marriage compared to women without degrees, a study led by sociologists at the University of Florida found.

Now, you start right out with the news, and then get to who discovered it. Notice I did not change, remove or add any words; it is exactly what you wrote. Just in a different sequence.

Was it necessary? No. But I think it does improve the lede just a bit more.

Are there times when you should have the sourcing first? Yes, when the source itself is newsworthy, like if President Obama announces something.