conventions of writing a speech

Opinion Columns

Infographics/image, broadsheets, internet article, paper 1: texts and conventions, structural elements.

Salutation - shows the relationship between speaker and audience.
Establishes purpose
Introduces stance of the speaker
Relates to the audience
Purpose is emphasised through different techniques.
Repetition of the purpose using rhetorical devices.
Proving the benefits of the purpose using appeals.
Call to action
Concludes message and ends with finality.
Linguistic elements
Aristotelian appeal: Logos, ethos, and pathos
Use of facts and figures
Anecdotes or personal examples
Figurative language (simile, metaphor, personification, imagery)
Hyperphora, anaphora, rhetorical structures
parallel structures, tricolon
Asyndeton, polysyndeton
Personalised language, usage of second person pronoun
Masthead or title
Strapline under headline, more detail
Short paragraph summarising entire article
Generates interest in the audience
name of the writer
Image and caption
One or two lines that grabs the attention of the audience.
Pulled out of the matter
relevant and important text.
States the purpose and topic.
States the relevance of the topic by relating to the audience.
Body matter (largest part)
Author gives a comment
Talks about an investigation
Predicts a consequence
Call to action.
Shows the credibility of the journalist.
Call to action, eg. comment on twitter, etc.
Inherits all conventions from article.
Opinion is stated very strongly in first paragraph.
Body paragraphs have arguments in favour and rebuttic arguments.
Newspapers and magazines often have columnists who write for them
Generally speaking, newspapers or magazines want there to be a cult of personality surrounding these columnists to generate good sales and brand loyalty
Columnists may be very outspoken in their opinions
Nevertheless, their opinions are in tune with the readership of a particular magazine or newspaper
Furthermore, their opinions are newsworthy, meaning that they both comment on the hot topics of the day and their opinions are worthy of publication.

Structural Elements

Introduces the issue and states the writer’s stance.
Strongly puts forth call to action.
At times, the reader of a magazine or newspaper gets to hear the editor’s voice directly
This usually takes the form of a brief explanation or justification on hoe they have decided to cover a topic in their newspaper or magazine
Remember editors are the gatekeepers at a publishing house who decide what goes in to the final publication
In an editorial they may comment on their journalists’ fieldwork, their columnists’ reputation, or their newspapers’ status in society
This is written by a renowned person, somebody who has authority in a field.
Opposes the stance of the editorial.
Written prose piece typically published by a newspaper or a magazine written by a named writer/public personality usually not affiliated by the publication’s editorial board
Op Eds are different from editorials (which are usually unsigned and written by the editorial board members) or Letters to the editor (which are submitted by the readers to the journal/newspaper)
the general of an army may write an op-ed about the status of war
a famous rockstar may write an op-ed in Rolling Stone magazine
the president of a country may write a letter to a political opponent, which he or she wishes to be published as an op-ed

Features common with editorials

Short sentences and simple sentence construction
Active voice rather than passive voice in verbs
Short words from common vocabulary
Almost no use of number or math
Attention grabbing title
Important point first, not last
Use of people’s first and last names for ‘human interest’
Affiliation language (business, university, titles, location) for persuasion
Who, what, when, where, why, how
Contains all the conventions of a cartoon or a graphic novel.
Stacking and flow between images and photographs.
Number of images
Spacing and use of negative space

Graphical/linguistic elements

Camera angles
Colour scheme - light and shade
Simple, fluent language
Use of formatted text
Facial/bodily gestures and expressions
Begins and ends with a hook , an attention grabber.
Retains the curiosity and interest.
Feedback mechanisms from the audience are present.

Linguistic Elements

Audience focused
Follows online conventions
Figurative, but to the point
Sets out the purpose of the letter
Introduces context and content for analysis
Contains statement of intent
Contains purpose and contextual clues
Call to action (formal open letter)
Reiterating purpose + intent
Pleasantries
The tone, which establishes the relationship of the writer to the primary audience
Relatability of the text
Purpose of the writer
Contextual references
Minced words, euphemisms
Vernacular/local language
Sarcastic elements
Uses emotive, personal language
The hidden implications of the text
The real meaning of the text below the language
Use of puns
Use of alliteration
Exaggeration for effect
Colloquial language
Informal names used
Short, snappy sentences
Heightened language (over the top)
Brand names
Sexual innuendos
A focus upon appearance / colours
Frequent use of elision e.g. won’t, don’t.
More formal
Metaphors rather than puns (puns - sometimes used, although more subtle)
subtle rhetoric
More complex sentences (look for sentences separated by lots of commas, semi-colons etc.)
Descriptions of people tends to relate to personality or position in society ;
Politician’s comments often included, with a commentary by the journalist
Focusses more on being authenticity and sophistication
Name of the journal – masthead
Contextual information under the headline, it establishes relevance of lead story – standfirst
Name of the writer, when it was published, place – by-line
Selective excerpts magnified - pull quote
Quotations/sources
Other reading suggestions - off-lead

Characteristics

Voice – this refers to many aspects of language including word choice, verb tense, tone and imagery
Newsworthy – is the column relevant to its time? What makes it newsworthy?
Call to action – columnist usually call on the reader to become involved or care about an issue
Humour – this is really an aspect of voice; humour usually helps readers see a topic through an original and fun perspective
Hard facts – this aspect of newsworthiness gives an opinion column credibility
Logos – appealing to logic will help persuade your readers