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PAPER 2 Text Type - Study Notes

Use this study guide to assist you in studying the different text types that might possibly be in the paper 2

examination. This study guide is applicable until your final year.

Table of Content

Section 1 - Text Types

Diary Entry ................................................................................................................. page 2

Blog ........................................................................................................................... page 3

Article ........................................................................................................................ page 4

Interview ................................................................................................................... page 6

Introduction to debate ............................................................................................. page 8

News Report ............................................................................................................. page 9

Official Report ........................................................................................................... page 10

Review ...................................................................................................................... page 13

Set of Instructions ..................................................................................................... page 15

Written Correspondence .......................................................................................... page 16

Brochure, Leaflet, Flyer, Pamphlet, Advertisement ................................................. page 18

Assessment Criteria .................................................................................................. page 23

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SECTION 1 – Text Types

1. Diary Entry

A diary entry is a section of writing that has been organized by date. The entries within your diary are how you

organize the thoughts, feelings and opinions you are pouring into it. They break up your diary into smaller pieces.

Think of them like chapters of a book.

A diary (also called a journal) is a personal record of events or happenings, as well as thoughts and emotions.

Anyone can write a diary. They are a great way to keep track of things that have happened to you in the past, as

well as to think about your future.

Structure (Format):

1. Date

2. Orientation – that outlines the main issue to be discussed in the entry.

3. Paragraphs – that begin with a topic sentence and provide further details to record what happened on the

day. Events are described in the sequence in which they occurred.

4. Personal reflection.

5. A sign-off.

Look at the following example:

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Remember that the following needs to be shown in a diary entry:

Date each entry in your dairy so that you can follow the events chronologically (in date order).

Write in the first person (I, me, my), as it is a record of your own experiences.

You can use informal language when writing your diary.

Use the past tense for events that have already happened and the present tense for events that are

happening as you write.

Use punctuation such as question and exclamation marks.

Use short, simple sentences.

2. Blog

A blog is a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in

an informal or conversational style.

Many blogs are issue-based, meaning the blogger is trying to provide information to sway people's thinking in a

certain direction. Many political blogs and social issues blogs are written by bloggers who are trying to make a

difference in their own ways. Such blogs bring people together and connect them.

Structure (Format):

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3. Article

An article is a piece of writing included with others in a newspaper, magazine, or other publication.

An article:

• is a piece of writing usually intended for publication in a newspaper, magazine or journal

• is written for a wide audience, so it is essential to attract and retain the readers’ attention

• may include amusing stories, reported speech and descriptions

• can be formal or informal, depending on the target audience

• should be written in an interesting or entertaining manner

• should give opinions and thoughts, as well as facts

• is in a less formal style than a report.

An article can

• describe an experience, event, person or place

• present an opinion or balanced argument

• compare and contrast

• provide information

• offer suggestions

• offer advice

Structure (Format):

1. an eye-catching title which attracts the readers’ attention and suggests the theme of the article. (Think about why

you read a magazine or newspaper article recently - what made you read it?) Articles can also have subheadings

before each paragraph.

2. an introduction which clearly defines the topic to be covered and keeps the reader’s attention.

3. the main body of two to five paragraphs in which the topic is further developed in detail.

4. the conclusion - summarizing the topic or a final opinion, recommendation or comment.

DO NOT use over-personal or over-emotional language or simplistic vocabulary.

DO NOT talk about yourself. You are writing for the general public, not a close circle of friends.

Your opinions are only interesting to other people if you can make them amusing, justify them or explain them.

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Example:

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4. Interview

A meeting of people face-to-face, especially for consultation or to gather information. This can include when looking

for a job, the company will interview you to find out if you are the right person for the job. Or if someone or a

company wants to find out more about what you have to offer – an event or organization etc.

Structure (Format):

1. Begin with a scenario paragraph – this helps give the setting of the interview. Who you are interviewing and

why this is important. What information you hope to get from conducting this interview.

2. After completing the scenario, skip a line and start with the interviewer’s name on the left side of the page

followed by a colon. Then write the words as the interviewer would say them.

3. When writing the words of the interviewee, begin on a new line and write the interviewee’s name followed by

a colon and then the spoken words.

4. Continue in this order to complete the interview.

5. Remember to also have the interviewer to introduce the speaker and have a closing to the interview.

Very important to begin each speaker on a new line.

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Example:

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5. Introduction to debate

A speech is there to gives us information about a certain topic. Be it for the opening of a debate, or for the

congratulation of your sibling.

When writing a speech, you need to take the following into consideration so you can adapt your speech accordingly.

1. HOW – What style are you going to use? (Serious tone, humorous, encouragement)

2. WHEN – Are you the main speaker (Do you introduce the topic)? What time is this speech taking place – in the

morning, afternoon, evening etc.

3. WHERE – At a school function, competition, wedding, business meeting etc.

4. WHY – what is the purpose of this speech?

5. WHO – Who is the audience? Children, parents, fellow students, judges etc.

6. WHAT – the following needs to be included in the speech:

Show conviction, enthusiasm and self-confidence.

A strong / clever opening will catch the audience’s attention.

Develop your facts / points well.

Use fairly short sentences with supporting ideas/examples.

Structure (Format):

1. Introduction

- Introduce the topic of the speech.

- Address / Greet the audience.

- Make sure that your idea is clearly stated in the introduction to avoid confusion.

2. Body

- The following paragraphs must be giving facts to support the claim that you have made in the introduction

paragraph.

- Include examples to help support these facts.

- In the last paragraph of the body you can state the possibility of why you might disagree with the claim.

Provide facts and an example.

3. Conclusion

- This is where you say that you agree or disagree.

- Summarize your argument.

NOTE: If the question says that you either agree or disagree – this means that you have to only choose one; you

cannot have an agree and possibly disagree.

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Example:

Good morning delegates of the house and chairperson. My name is -------- and along with ------, I represent -----------.

Today our delegation is here to discuss one of the most aggravating issues in the world. It is a great concern to our

people, and we are sure that it is a great concern to the entire world as well – we are here to discuss the HIV virus,

most commonly known as AIDS.

As all of you are aware, ----------- suffers from a tremendous lack of health care, which accelerates the population’s

death rate. The HIV/AIDS is affecting 1.1 million people in the country. This disease is most commonly transmitted by

women that are raped by members of armed groups in eastern -------. Survivors of rape are frequently abandoned by

their families and communities; therefore they are forced to leave their homes and are left in poverty.

Women are three times as likely to be living with HIV/AIDS as young man, and within the next ten years, more than

half of the population will be threatened by it. It will also have a catastrophic future affect on the health of the

country.

Due to its history of so many civil wars, diseases and death rates are always increasing in -----------. The

widespread destruction of homes and hospitals has left children without families and many people with sicknesses

and injuries. Because of the country’s poverty, state health facilities offer no treatment for HIV/AIDS other than

voluntary tests and council.

The HIV/AIDS virus acts as a significant brake on the economic growth and development of the country, since

the people affected are forced to leave their jobs.

The -------- is so devastated and it needs so much more than it already has to become a society where health

and well being is a priority.

For this reason we urge all delegates of the house to vote in favor of our resolution.

Thank you for your attention.

6. News report

A news report is written to report an incident – be it good news or bad news.

Structure (Format):

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Example:

7. Official report

In your studies, you may be asked to report on findings from an experiment you have carried out. For a school

presentation, you may have to summarize and interpret facts or data that you have researched.

Structure (Format):

1. Introduction:

- Background: State why this report is necessary.

- The purpose: Define what is meant to be achieved in this report.

2. Body:

- Answer the following questions = Who? What? When? Why? Where? How?

- State what where the findings of the research done.

3. Conclusion:

- The Conclusion should be as brief as possible. They should be presented in descending order of

importance and should not suggest action. Conclusions should be free from speculation (i.e. ideas for

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which you have presented no evidence), have no new thoughts or references introduced and contain

no further discussion of points raised.

Example:

Animal testing: why the number of procedures is increasing The latest figures on animal tests in the UK show a rise in the number of procedures. We explore the data to see the emerging trends Lisa Evans Tuesday 10 July 2012 17.09 BSTFirst published on Tuesday 10 July 2012 17.09 BST

The total number of animal testing procedures increased in 2011 by 2% on 2010 to just over 3.79 million the Home Office reported today.

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As you can see from the Home Office chart above, the number of procedures has been increasing year on year since 2001. The data released today also shows that genetic tests, mostly on mice, seem to be a large factor in this change.

So what is genetic testing? The organisation Understanding Animal Researchexplain that genetic tests are often switching off part of the genome to see the effects. As for the value of these tests, the Home Office grant permission to test only in projects where there is demonstrable benefit. In the case of the genetic testing the results are collated in projects like the European Mouse Mutant Archive, and the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC) which aim to explain and share the functions of genes in mice.

Ideally with the data released today we would like to know, of the different procedures, which are likely to cause suffering to the animals involved.

The Home Office published a report classifying a procedure's severity as mild, moderate, substantial and unclassified. Approximately 3% of projects are banded as unclassified, 36% as mild, 59% as moderate, and 2% as substantial. But unfortunately there is not enough information for us to link these severity standards and the data released today in a meaningful way.

So what do the figures tell us? There was an increases in numbers of procedures for several species as you can see in this chart:

This data shows that over 72,000 more fish were used in procedures last year and over 20,000 more birds. This may be explained by the increased use of zebrafish testing the Understanding Animal Research team suggest.

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Also the number of cat's tested increased by 25% which represents a total of 48 more cats on 2010 figures. There were falls testing for some species, for example rats down 11% (that's just over 33,000 less than in 2010) and just over 1,000 less dogs than in 2010.

The number of procedures by institution is shown below:

It shows that Universities and medical schools are now the biggest animal testers, overtaking commercial organsiations in 2002.

Many thanks to the team at Understanding Animal Research for putting these figures into context. Here's all the data and charts from the 'Scientific Procedures on Living Animals' report today. Let us know what you think of it in the comments.

8. Review

When writing a review, you give your opinion about a product, or service.

Structure (Format):

1. Heading of your review post.

2. Sub-heading

3. Give it a rating wither out of 5 or 10.

4. Introduction:

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- Introduce what the product or service is briefly.

- Answer the following questions: What? Where? When? Who?

5. Body:

- The first paragraph of the body will be discussing all the reasons why you liked the product or service.

- The second paragraph will discuss all the negatives of the product or service.

6. Conclusion:

- This is where you summarize what you said.

- Give your final opinion.

- Here you use the pronoun “I”.

Example:

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9. Set of Instructions

Instructions are steps that tell you how to do something. They must be in order.

Instructions can be given for many reasons.

Structure (Format):

1. Heading

2. Sub-heading.

3. Introduction:

- Briefly explain what the instructions are going to be for.

- State why it is important to follow the instructions.

4. Body:

- Give the steps that the reader must follow.

- These must be in order.

- Give an explanation of why each step is important to follow.

5. Conclusion:

- Give a brief description of what the end result will be for the instructions given.

- Give also a possibility of what might happen if the instructions are not followed.

Example:

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10. Written Correspondence

This refers to writing letters and email.

First – Formal Letter: This is written to a business and therefore needs to be very formal.

Second – Informal letter: This is when you write to a friend or family member.

Structure (Format) Formal Letter:

1. Your heading on the RIGHT side of the page

2. Under your heading have the DATE of the letter.

3. On the next line under the date on the LEFT side of the page the company’s address.

4. Skip a line.

5. Formal Salutation – To whom it may concern / Dear Sir/Madam, etc.

6. Skip a line.

7. Write a one sentence brief reason why you are writing the letter – State the purpose.

8. Body – Write the paragraphs in order to support the purpose of the letter.

9. Conclusion – End off by saying “Yours faithfully,” or “Yours Sincerely,” or “Kind regards,”.

Example:

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Structure (Format) Informal Letter:

1. Your address on the right side of the page and after that the date.

2. Begin on the left side of the page with a more informal salutation – Dear Aunty, / Dear Grandmother etc.

3. First paragraph – refer to a happy past memory briefly.

4. Second and third paragraph – why are you writing this letter, what is the purpose (To tell a story, to inform

them of an event?)

5. Conclusion – end off by saying “Hope to hear from you soon,” or “I will be waiting for your reply,” and “Your

loving…” or “Yours sincerely,” etc.

Note that the informal letter has a more informal language than a formal letter.

Example:

Structure (Format) Email:

1. Have a sender – to who are you sending the email?

2. Sometimes you can have a CC email address as well.

3. There must be a subject line.

4. Then begin the email – Dear / To whom it may concern,

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5. Write the message of the email.

6. Conclusion – sign off with your name

Example:

11. Brochure, Leaflet, Pamphlet, Advertisement

The purpose of these types is to give certain information: Either general information about a topic or advertising a

product or giving information about a certain event.

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BROCHURE / PAMPHLET Structure (Format):

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Example:

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LEAFLET Structure (Format):

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ADVERTISEMENT Structure (Format):

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Example:

12. Assessment Criteria

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