ENG-4113: English to Inform
Course Notes:
All texts have an audience and a purpose – all messages are created for somebody, and for some reason.
This is pretty straightforward for simple messages like texts, emails, invitations, etc. Imagine you want to send a group email to invite your friends to your party. The “audience” for this message is your group of friends (that’s who the message is for) and the “purpose” of the message is to invite them to your party (the reason you wrote the email).
With more complex texts like biographies, movies, advertisements, or newspaper reports, we can also talk about the social function of texts.
Social function means the purpose it serves for society. For example, a biography tells us the story of a person’s life, a Hollywood blockbuster is created to entertain us, an ad tries to persuade us to buy a product or service, and a news report informs us of important events.
So, a text might have as its social function to narrate a story, to entertain, to persuade, or to inform.
Fact v. Opinion
(Objective vs. Subjective)
Connotation (and denotation)
Denotation is the dictionary definition of a word. Denotation is neutral.
Connotation is the meaning, feeling, or emotion behind the word. Connotation can be positive or negative.
Bias
Method of Organization
Implicit vs. Explicit
Explicit – fully revealed, clearly expressed; obvious
Implicit – not expressly said; not obvious; hinted at; understood without saying or showing.
News Report about "Implicit Bias Training" at Starbucks:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/starbucks-canada-closure-training-1.4648623
In this news report, the Starbucks employee didn’t EXPLICITLY show racism – she didn’t SAY she was calling the police because the two men were Black.
Instead, the racism was IMPLICIT – her ACTIONS (not her words) showed that she felt differently about Black people. She never called the police when she saw white customers doing the same thing.
What IS the news?
5Ws + How:
Necessary background information:
Anecdotes
Sources and Credibility:
News Article Layout:
(Communication conventions)
Course Notes:
All texts have an audience and a purpose – all messages are created for somebody, and for some reason.
This is pretty straightforward for simple messages like texts, emails, invitations, etc. Imagine you want to send a group email to invite your friends to your party. The “audience” for this message is your group of friends (that’s who the message is for) and the “purpose” of the message is to invite them to your party (the reason you wrote the email).
With more complex texts like biographies, movies, advertisements, or newspaper reports, we can also talk about the social function of texts.
Social function means the purpose it serves for society. For example, a biography tells us the story of a person’s life, a Hollywood blockbuster is created to entertain us, an ad tries to persuade us to buy a product or service, and a news report informs us of important events.
So, a text might have as its social function to narrate a story, to entertain, to persuade, or to inform.
Fact v. Opinion
(Objective vs. Subjective)
Connotation (and denotation)
Denotation is the dictionary definition of a word. Denotation is neutral.
Connotation is the meaning, feeling, or emotion behind the word. Connotation can be positive or negative.
Bias
Method of Organization
Implicit vs. Explicit
Explicit – fully revealed, clearly expressed; obvious
Implicit – not expressly said; not obvious; hinted at; understood without saying or showing.
News Report about "Implicit Bias Training" at Starbucks:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/starbucks-canada-closure-training-1.4648623
In this news report, the Starbucks employee didn’t EXPLICITLY show racism – she didn’t SAY she was calling the police because the two men were Black.
Instead, the racism was IMPLICIT – her ACTIONS (not her words) showed that she felt differently about Black people. She never called the police when she saw white customers doing the same thing.
What IS the news?
5Ws + How:
Necessary background information:
Anecdotes
Sources and Credibility:
News Article Layout:
(Communication conventions)