Lisa Renner
[email protected]
Pre-AP English II, Yearbook, Newspaper
Piedra Vista High School
5700 College Blvd.
Farmington, NM 87402
School Phone: (505)599-8880
Home Phone: (505)564-8331
A Picture is worth about 40 Words: Writing Captions
Purpose:
- Students will learn to write captions for journalistic publication.
Beyond that:
- Students will be aware that captions are an integral part of magazines, books, and newspapers.
- Use of accurate, precise language takes practice.
- Photographs can be a great impetus for writing inspiration.
Materials:
- Five fabulous photos taken by students
- Overhead projector
- Overheads of captions, the good, the bad, and the ugly
- Style sheet
- Opener ideas
Caption Commandments:
The function of a caption is to tell the story of a picture after the details have been forgotten.
The picture should be worth being remembered.
Once the picture has been deemed worthy of captioning, you must answer five very important questions about
the photograph in the first sentence of the caption. Depending upon your knowledge of the subject, this may or
may not require research. You must tell your reader who is in the photo (first and last names), where the photo
was taken, when the photo was taken, what the context of the photo was, and the trickiest of them all, why the
subject was there.
The second sentence should give background information without editorializing.
Checklist for writing captions:
___Do not state the obvious.
___Write in third person.
___Write in the present tense.
___Vary your caption’s leads.
___Avoid redundant language.
___ Check for accuracy, accuracy, accuracy with master list, peers and/or teachers.
___Check the style sheet.
___Have a peer edit your caption.
___ Revise your caption.