Structure

Question 1

How to write a broadsheet editorial.

Answer 1

• Primary devotion to economics, politics + society (timely news angle); informative purpose.
• Professional manner of addressing topic manifests formal register.
• Use of headlines, headings + subheadings.
• Majority of readership likely to be well educated + of greater social authority.
• Use of passive voice to maintain academic register.
• Less biased; refrain from using persuasion/ manipulating a reader’s view in an extreme,
  sensationalistic manner.
• Cohesive; concise summary offering editor’s opinion.
• A sense of audience.
• Use of rhetorical devices to inform, potentially prompting further thought from reader (agreement/ disagreement)
• Use of quotations; subtle mixing of fact + opinion

Question 2

How to write a tabloid article.

Answer 2

• More of an informal register.
• Includes more eye-catching images- engage a broad audience.
• Focuses on entertainment.
• Catchy headlines: often use puns, alliteration, emotive language.
• Gossip stories: e.g. focus on celebrities, crime, scandals, e.t.c.
• Audience: typically for working class (cheaper + more accessible lang), younger individuals. Left-leaning.
• Example: the Sun, Daily Mail, the Mirror.
* Use of sensationalism to engage readership + preference for ‘diversions’ (eg. sport, scandals
+ popular entertainment) that attract public interest.
* Tone is highly personalised to text producer; reporters are opinionated.
* Absence of objectivity + analytical reasoning.
* Juxtaposition of reality + fantasy to arouse interest in readers (+ potentially mislead them too)
* Use of headlines, headings + subheadings- typically dramatised by lexical choices to give a
sensationalistic angle.
- Exclamatory; puns; alliteration; assonance; cliche; euphemism; expletives; metaphor;
rhyming; slang
- Interlinks closely with visual, graphological features
* Active voice frequently used

Question 3

How to write a student newspaper.

Answer 3

• Typically a younger, more specific audience.
• Often covers topics relevant to school/uni life, student interest, + broader social issues.
• Simple, accessible vocabulary- avoidance of jargon.
• Close manner
• Shared ideology- shared community with audience.

Question 4

How to write a podcast.

Answer 4

• Needs introduction/opening- brief overview of episode, introduction of podcast name, title, + hosts.
• Outro- thank audience/guests, summary of points discussed.
• Audience: specific- choosing to listen to podcast
* Spoken language features typical of spontaneous speech
* Informal register; variation in tone and intonation, possible interruptions
* Framing devices: introductory exchange that may be summarised or referred to in the concluding section. All resultant of edited nature.
* Rhetorical devices: humour, anecdotes, argument or debate, description appealing to senses, varying speeds in delivery to indicate excitement. Used to engage + sustain listener’s attention.
* Dialogue (exchanges between participants)
* Transactional language use
* Question types (interrogative, rhetorical, tag), adjacency pairing + use of questions to dominate / control discussion
* Elliptical phrasing (“a word or phrase implied by context is omitted from a sentence, usually
because it is a repetition of a preceding word or phrase”)
* Subject-specific semantic fields

Question 5

How to write a newspaper column.

Answer 5

• Writer shares personal opinions, insights, or commentary on specific topics.
• Subjective- reflect the writers unique voice + perspective.
• Catchy, though-provoking headline- often with wordplay, puns, or rhetorical questions.
• Persuasive language- use of rhetorical devices
• Anecdotes, irony, sarcasm, emotive language.
• Close manner- regular piece, so recurring audience.

Question 6

How to write a speech to fellow students.

Answer 6

• Close manner
• Conversational tone- colloquial expressions, emotive language, anecdotes + personal stories.

Question 7

How to write a radio script (Radio 4 style).

Answer 7

• Writing in a conversational style, avoiding long complex sentences- comprehensible for listeners.
• Some colloquialisms to converge to audience’s typical discourse.
• Phonetic spelling to ensure that presenter can easily read words that are difficult to pronounce
• Expanding acronyms + explaining meaning.
• Use of cardinal numerals to ease fluency of presenter’s speech
• Potential for jargon of each specific subject matter.
• Presenter controls questioning
• Awareness + potential direct addressal of audience.

Question 8

How to write a blog.

Answer 8

• Introduction- short, snappy.
• Niche audience- have to search for specific blog.
• Personal views
• Recurring audience (e.g. ‘regular readers will know’, ‘welcome back’, e.t.c.)
• A series of entries which conform to a journal or diary like structure + are related by subject
  matter / topics in post. Sometimes organised by date.
• Short in length; structured through short paragraphs → fast moving
• Thematically linked posts, or independent in subject matter + style.
• Include visuals + media- potential to influence language choice.
• Informal register + spoken language features- dependent on context. Blogs linked to newspaper article/ websites likely to adopt mixed register (varying levels of formality)
• Direct address to audience (synthetic personalisation)
• Self-referential nature (‘In my last blog’) + use of personal pronouns (first person)
• Spoken language features:
• Change in tone and register through colloquial language
• Abbreviations
• Acronyms
• Emoticons

Question 9

Explain the difference between an editorial, column, + article.

Answer 9

Editorial:
* An expression of position of the newspaper’s editors / editorial board or publisher on an issue.
* Generally written by the editor or member of the editorial board.
* Tradition to frame editorial using first person plural, we.
Column:
* Written by a columnist, editor or other select individual on a topic of their choosing.
* Expression of one person’s opinion or view +
commonly written in first/ third person singular.
Article:
* Non-fiction writing in a publication, reporting on an event person or topic.
* Attempts to be less biased to broaden readership.

Question 10

How to write a TV documentary.

Answer 10

• Focus on actuality, often in a certain social context, not only serves the purpose of informing, but puts audience in position to form an opinion on subject matter.
• Factual; authenticity promoted + secured by the reliability of proper nouns used (place names, name of producers (+ their job titles)).
• Use of narrative form.
• Informative purpose makes topic accessible + asks audience to draw parallels between
  characters, settings + situations.
• Inter-relationship between images shown + discourse of the narrator, making the voiceover
  more objective and honest.
• Potential for more specialist jargon