W4 Journalistic Texts | News | ENGLISH 7 | QUARTER 3 | Week 4 | MATATAG Curriculum

Introduction to Journalistic Text

  • Importance of the lesson: explores journalistic text, diction, writing style, quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing.

Defining Journalistic Text

  • Journalistic Text: Specific type of writing delivering factual information about recent events.

    • Found in news stories or articles, providing details about:

      • Who was involved

      • What happened

      • When and Where it happened

      • Why and How it happened

    • Characteristics: clear, simple, and straight to the point for quick understanding.

Key Characteristics of Journalistic Text

  • Unique focus on the Five W's and H (who, what, when, where, why, how).

  • Aim: ensure readers comprehend important story details without personal opinions.

Exploring the Five W's and H

  • Who: Identifies individuals involved (e.g., the mayor).

  • What: Describes the event or action (e.g., details of a protest).

  • Where: Indicates the location of the occurrence (e.g., where a fire occurred).

  • When: Establishes the time or date (e.g., when a storm hit).

  • Why: Explains reasons or causes (e.g., government policy approval reasons).

  • How: Describes the manner or process (e.g., how firefighters controlled a blaze).

Features of Journalistic Text

  • Timeliness, Relevance, and Accuracy: Provides recent, pertinent, and accurate information. Essential for conveying updates during important events (e.g., storms, elections).

  • Neutral Tone: Journalistic texts present facts without personal feelings or opinions, allowing readers to form their own judgments.

  • Inverted Pyramid Structure: Organizes information with essential facts upfront, followed by supporting details and less critical information.

    • Example: News of a fire should start with where and when it happened, who was involved, and then details about damage.

Diction and Writing Style in Journalism

  • Diction: The choice of words in writing that affects clarity and style.

    • Importance of diction:

      • Establishes tone (serious vs. casual).

      • Enhances clarity and accuracy of the story.

      • Appeals to the target audience by matching language to readership.

    • Example: "Kids are starving" (casual) vs. "Children are experiencing severe malnutrition" (formal).

Writing Style in Journalistic Articles

  • Writing Style: The crafting of articles for clear, effective communication.

    • Key aspects include:

      • Simplicity: Utilize easily understood words.

        • Example: "Heavy rain flooded the neighborhood" vs. "Precipitation levels have escalated significantly."

      • Precision: Deliver exact descriptions.

        • Example: "Over 5,000 people gathered at City Hall" vs. "Many people attended the rally."

      • Brevity: Keep sentences concise.

        • Example: "The committee met Thursday to discuss community proposals." (concise) vs. "The committee members convened a meeting on Thursday..." (verbose).

Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

  • Quoting: Repeating someone’s exact words, enclosed in quotation marks.

    • Importance of proper citation to avoid plagiarism.

  • Paraphrasing: Restating someone else's ideas in your own words while retaining their meaning.

    • Example: Original: "We must work together to help our community." Paraphrase: "We should unite to support our community."

  • Summarizing: Condensing information to focus on the main points, making it significantly shorter.

    • Example: Original: "The game was long and had several breaks..." Summary: "Many teams from across the country participated in the long game."

Differences Among Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

  • Quoting: Uses exact words with quotes.

  • Paraphrasing: Rewords ideas while keeping the same meaning,

  • Summarizing: Condenses to main points, often shorter than the original.

Conclusion

  • Today's lesson reviewed journalistic text, diction, writing style, quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing.

  • Encouragement to improve writing skills and stay tuned for future lessons.

"Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing help us use information properly. When quoting, we use exact words. Paraphrasing helps explain ideas in a new way, and summarizing gives us the main points quickly. These skills are important for learning and respecting others' work."

To paraphrase means to put it in your own words.
Steps to Paraphrasing:

Step 1: Read the text.
Step 2: Cover the text.
Step 3: Explain the ideas aloud using your own words.
You can repeat steps 1-2 before coming back to this step if you need to.
Step 4: Write the main ideas in your own words.
Step 5: Refer back to the original text to make sure you have kept the idea the same but have used different words.

A summary is a short version of a text that includes only the main points. When summarising a text you need to decide which information is important and which is not.
 
What makes a Good Summary?
You can remember this by thinking on SUM!
Short
Uses your own words
Includes only the Main points

 "A journalistic text aims to inform readers using accurate facts presented with simplicity and precision.

Key qualities include:

Simplicity: Avoiding complex words.
Brevity: Keeping sentences short.
Fact: Reporting verifiable information.
Opinion: Adding perspectives only in editorials.
Precision: Using exact and clear information.


Quoting, Paraphrasing, Summarizing: Quoting repeats someone’s exact words, paraphrasing rewrites their ideas, and summarizing condenses the main points."