Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Structure: Features: st 1 section: Summary of the recent event (who? headline what? where? when?) summary of event nd 2 section: Background leading to the event (why? simple / compound sentences how?) direct / reported speech rd 3 section: Return to immediate situation (ie. what adjective strings (two or more adjectives separated is happening presently?) by commas) 4th section: Response(s) of those involved sensational vocab (dramatic or exciting words). 5th section: Look ahead to the near future (ie. predict what will happen next) Remember, newspaper headlines often have the following characteristics: - puns (humorous use of words with more than one meaning) - assonance (repetition of vowel sounds) - alliteration (repetition of consonant sounds) - quotations (famous sayings) - misquotations (changing famous sayings slightly) - hyperbole (exaggeration) Furthermore, headlines are often in the present tense, they omit articles (like a or the) and use a maximum of 6 short words.
Reviews
Structure: Introduction and background Summary of reviewers opinions Summary of the plot Positive aspects Negative aspects Conclusion - summary and recommendations Features: comparatives (+er or more) superlatives (+est or most) opinions expressed in third person (ie. the movie is funny, not I think the movie is funny) parenthetical information (information in brackets() ) summary rhetorical questions (questions that do not require an answer) recommendations
The following things are frequently reviewed in newspapers, magazines & websites: - Films / movies, books, TV shows, products, places (e.g. restaurants), plays, video games.
Magazine articles
Structure: 1st section: Introduce the topic 2nd section: Summarise different views about the topic 3rd section: FOR explain the views for the topic 4th section: AGAINST explain the views against the topic Features: Title, often a question Rhetorical questions Includes complex and compound sentences Sometimes gives anecdotes in first person Longer paragraphs Direct speech and reported speech
5th section: ending. Do not have a conclusion, but summarise the different views. End with a question.
Remember, magazine articles are usually longer and more detailed discussions about a topic. They will not argue for a certain point of view, they will summarise the different views. The author will usually include some personal stories as well as the general discussion.