Caption Writing Guidelines

The caption MUST have ALL of the necessary information (Who, What, When, and Where) included IN THE FIRST SENTENCE.

Here are two examples of correctly written captions:
Example: Shams Al-Badry (12) works on her state capitals worksheet during Brian Goodbrake’s 2nd period AP U.S. History class. Students will have a quiz over state capitals next week.

Example: Social Studies teacher Shaunna Meyer explains the characteristics of introverts to students in her 1st period Theory of Knowledge class. Students will use this information to learn more about themselves and their personalities. 

Notice these elements of correctly-written captions:
-Correct Verb Tense: Exampleruns, studies, discusses, etc. (NO -ing verbs)
, with ALL of the necessary information (Who, What, When, and Where) included IN THE FIRST SENTENCE.

People must be identified
 in the correct style.
Students need to be identified by first and last name and grade.
ExampleBob Smith (10)

Staff members need to be identified by job title and first and last name if they are the subject of the photo.
ExampleScience teacher Steven Ferris.
NOT Mr. Ferris – NEVER use Mr. or Mrs. titles in captions.

In the Second Sentence, refer to the person by LAST NAME ONLY
Example: Ferris will travel to Mexico this summer.

Say SPECIFICALLY, IN DETAIL what the person is doing.
Example: ...studies the capitols of U.S. states for an upcoming test.
Example: … goes over vocabulary about transitive verbs.
NOT: …does an assignment. NOT: … does a worksheet. NOT: … reads a book.

Be sure that you identify classes by the first and last name of the teacher, theperiod, and the SPECIFIC name of the class: (Remember that you can make these up.)
Example..in Sue Johnson’s 5th period American Lit class. NOT: ..in Ms. Johnson’s class. And NOT: ..in Teacher Sue Johnson’s class.  NOT: … in Sue Johnson’s math class.

Captions MUST be TWO SENTENCES LONG, and your second sentence needs to be additional information about the person or the activity. It should be RELEVANT to the photo.
ExampleSmith and his classmates will present their findings to the class next weekNOT: Smith likes cheese.

Be sure for SPORTS PHOTOS that you identify the specific sport, whether it is Varsity, JV, Reserve, or Freshman, who the opponent was,
and where and when the game was played. You must also include a second sentence about the player or the game.
ExampleRonesha Hoagland (11) shoots a free throw against Southeast during the Varsity Girls Basketball game at Lincoln High on Tuesday, Dec. 17th. The Links defeated the Knights 137 to 6.