BLUF

Purpose

Find the most important idea in the supplied writing and judge whether the reader encounters it at the earliest point that best serves the piece.

Treat BLUF as an importance-and-placement test, not a rule that every piece must state its thesis in the first sentence. Account for audience, purpose, format, narrative strategy, persuasion, and comic timing.

Read ../../references/context-contract.md and load the relevant project, publication, assignment, audience, and format context before judging placement.

Preserve the writer's ownership of the thesis. Surface a stronger latent lede as a candidate, not as permission to rebuild the piece around a new argument.

Establish The Scope

Identify: