Tag Archives: nutgraf

Nut graph What the heck?

What is a nut graph?


Not too long ago, I received an email from my editor about a newspaper article I wrote.  He referenced the nut graph that needed some work.

Not having a journalism background, I had to do some research on what a nut graph– or nut graf, nutgraph, nutgraf.

According to Wikipedia, in journalism, nut graph is a paragraph, especially in a feature story.  It explains the news value of the story.

It probably came from the term nutshell paragraph. This may be tied to the “in an nutshell” phrase.

Wikipedia says that writing a nut graph is called nutshelling and the writer is called a nutsheller.

Guilty as charged

P.S.  As an aside to some of my witty friends and readers, nut graph does not refer to a family tree–mine or others.