English Essay vs. News Story
English Essay |
News Story |
Usually, the
instructor knows more about the
subject than the student-author. |
Usually, the reporter knows more about the subject than the general reader. |
Essays for Your Instructor
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Journalism for the General Public
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Personal Perspective
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Objective Perspective
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Academic Essay An essay begins with a question, and builds towards a persuasive
answer. It progresses from uncertainty to certainty, by
carefully arranging evidence in order to persuade the reader.
While it is only one possible way to frame an academic
argument, the "five-paragraph essay" is often a significant
influence on the writing habits of college students.
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Inverted Pyramid
A traditional news story begins with a lead (a micro-summary, in one or two sentences), and continues with a hierarchy of details, from most to least important. A news story is not necessarily chronological. Some journalism uses narrative to powerful effect (for instance, describing what happens when a famous musician plays at a busy subway station). But consider a two-hour school board meeting, with an agenda that lists 12 items.
Depending on what matters to your readers, you might lead with item 8,
spend a paragraph each on items 2 and 9, and mention items 4, 11,
3, and 7 in a single sentence. Then you might continue with more details
about item 8, more about 2 and 9, and trail off with even more details
about item 8. A really good reporter might walk up to the officials after the
meeting and ask a question about something that wasn't even on the
agenda.
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Flowery, Roundabout Puffery Your high school teachers probably rewarded you for writing grammatically correct sentences in almost any context. ![]()
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Clarity
Clear writing packs power.
Here, does "since" mean "because" or "after"?
The revision begins begins with the subject and an active verb, a sure-fire way of emphasizing the main idea. Let's consider another example:
This dreary passage avoids grammatical mistakes, but the abstract
subject "reason" and the colorless verb "is" smother the action.
Now the sentence opens clearly with the clear, concrete subject "tax reforms" and the active
verb "failed." We've already trimmed some deadwood; now let's work on parallel structure,
moving things around to emphasize the two things the mayor underestimated:
Now, we'll further tweak the sentence, highlighting the relationship between the two reasons.
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