33 The Touch Test
Making sure the pieces fit together
Nicole Kraft
“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.”
Margaret Atwood
As we have mentioned, the nut graph is the touchstone for every other paragraph in the body. If you have a strong nut graph that is supported by the body, you will find evidence of that nut in every single paragraph you read in the article.
To test this theory, close your eyes and stick out your index finger.
Now put it down on a random paragraph in your article. Do you see evidence of the nut graph? Do it a few more times. Still seeing the nut graph?
If you see evidence of the nut everywhere you touch, great! You have a strong nut graph and body.
If you see it in most places but not all, you may need to edit, refine or delete those paragraphs.
If you rarely find it but all your paragraphs seem tied to each other, you may need to change the nut graph.
If your paragraphs are not connected and you can’t find your nut graph, it’s time to take a long, hard look at your article.
Alumni Example
Here is a story from the Ohio State Alumni Magazine about the Security and Intelligence major offered through the Department of International Studies. They were revisiting the major, established in 2015, because of the renewed look at national security after the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15, 2013.
Here is the lede and nut graph:
Lede: In the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, thousands of Americans sought to heal themselves and serve their wounded nation by joining the military and intelligence branches that protect the home shores.
At Ohio State, one such seed of patriotism grew, by 2005, into the Security and Intelligence major offered through the Department of International Studies. Its goal: to create and educate the next generation of security-minded citizens within the framework of a liberal arts education.
Nut graph: Eight years later, America is once again bruised from violence at the Boston Marathon — but it is far from broken. And the Security and Intelligence major is still going strong, with expanding offerings to confront the ever-changing ways our national and individual security may be compromised.
The major concepts in the nut graph relate to:
- America being impacted by terrorism
- The major itself
- Why it’s offered and what students might gain from it.
Here are the remaining 12 paragraphs from the body. Do they all relate back to those ideas? Try the finger test.
- “After 9/11, it became apparent there was a demand among students for this kind of course work — based on patriotism — to help the country and to get a job,” said International Studies Director Anthony Mughan. “The challenge was creating a major that had high academic integrity and at the same time stronger vocational content than a lot of social science majors.”
- The program Mughan and his team developed focuses on understanding the components of terrorism, which he defined as “violence against citizens for political e