Nut Graf

Nut graf is an editorial slang term used by editors at newspapers and magazines, as well as copy editors. The term nut graf refers to the paragraph or sentence that summarizes the essence of a story.

In journalism, a nut graf puts the story in context and tells readers why the story matters. Many editors would say the nut graf is the most important section of a story because it tells the readers why they should continue reading the full story.

As a journalist, you would either hear your editor refer to your nut graf or see the word written out on one of your stories after it had been edited. You would not, however, see the term in a proper sentence. For instance, the first few paragraphs might start by introducing a local Chicago tradesman on unemployment insurance because his lack of university credentials do not qualify him for the jobs typically created by the federal grants. In the third or fourth paragraph of the story, the nut graph would be introduced to explain how the story rolls out, why it's important and would include much (but not all) of the information from the lead in order to keep the reader interested to read further.