Aice lang textual forms study

Form

is the type of text. Different forms can be identified by their conventions, which can include content, structure, and language. It is worth noting where a text deviates from the standard conventions of its form, as the author will usually have done this for deliberate effect.

COMMERCIAL FORMS

advertisement, brochure, leaflet

Key features: headings, branding (logos, slogans, color schemes), simple and clear text (short paragraphs, single sentences, bullet points), large images

JOURNALISTIC FORMS

They consist of editorial, News story, Article, Investigative journalism and review.

Editorial

presents the official opinion of the publication

detached and formal

written in the third person (but can vary by publication)

News story

describes the news events

varies by publication, but often neutral

many complex sentences to fit in a lot of information

Article

explains the writer's opinions or discusses a topical issue

personal and often chatty; varies according to the personality of the writer

written in the first person

Investigative journalism

gives in-depth information about a topical issue that the journalist has discovered

usually detached and formal; avoids sensationalist and emotional comment

includes statistics, dates and times, images of documents, etc., as evidence

Review

offers an evaluation of a product or collection of products

personal but well-informed

often uses jargon relating to the type of product

Online forms

include blogs and podcast

Blog

Key features: posts on a central topic or set of related topics; like a public diary; chronological with most recent first; written in first-person; uses images, hyperlinks, and tags; audience/followers can comment/interact with posts

Podcast

Key features: audio recording; episodes; one or more hosts; not usually scripted (more like a conversation); can interview guests; likely planned ahead of time and edited afterward; includes jingles, sound effects, turn-taking cues, and directly addressing the audience

Personal forms

This includes letters, diaries, travel writing and biography, autobiography and memoirs

Letters

Key features: one specific person; placement of address; salutation/greeting (Dear ); body/message; closing (Sincerely,____)

Diary

Key features: usually private, meant for just the writer themselves; chronological record of experiences or events

Travel writing

Key features: record of a trip in descriptive writer; can be personal or with a wider audience in mind; includes details about a specific location and its culture

biography, autobiography, memoir

Key features: biography - someone else's life; chronological; third person autobiography - writing about one's own life; chronological; first person memoir - specific experience/event from one's own life; personal thoughts

Formal texts

This includes essays, and scripted speeches

Essays

Key features: formal structure (introduction, body, conclusion); clear evidence and strong sense of logic; use of discourse markers (transitional phrases); thesis or claim statement

Scripted speeches

Key features: acknowledgement of the institution or context in which the speech is given by making appropriate thanks or greetings; rhetorical devices such as repetition; the audience is listening to rather than reading the words

Literary texts

These include narrative writing and descriptive writing

Narrative writing

Key features: presented as prose, poetry or drama; clear sense of action or direction; a deliberate perspective (first or third person point of view); characters experience conflict

Descriptive writing

features: clear physical, sensory detail that aims to draw the audience into the time and place that is being described; figurative language such as metaphor, simile, onomatopoeia, hyperbole - all to create strong imagery