Language and Informative & Interpretative Genres  (21304)

Degree/study: Journalism
Year: 1st
Term:1st & 2nd
Number of ECTS credits: 8 credits
Hours of studi dedication: 200 hours
Teaching language or languages: catalan / spanish
Teaching Staff: Salvador Alsius, Lluís Bonada, Carles Castro, Mònica Figueras, Oriol Llop, Sergi Cortiñas, Francesc Salgado

1. Presentation of the subject

This is a subject that the students take during the first and second terms of the first year of the degree.

This subject is part of a very detailed plan of studies, and it is situated on the first year. This fact allows the students to identify the basic concepts of the journalistic writing and to develop certain technological and social abilities in order to produce actual informative texts, in the real-life situation they will have to adapt to.

The subject includes the essential concepts, techniques and methods to succesfully learn how to write in the different interpretative and informative genres (news, reports, articles) in press (both printed and digital), radio and TV, as for the basic formal knowledge and for the learning of the technical and procedural requisites.

It is, nonetheless, a key subject in order to understand the importance of language in the communication media (and of the clarity, conciseness and precision criteria that define it), and, at the same time, to discover its current tendencies.

A part from the theory, there is a huge practical part. The students must be able to elaborate informative and interpretative texts, out of the explained concepts and with the help of professional computer programs. In addition, this subject includes a weekly session specifically on language, for the students to acquire a perfect control of the languages in Catalonia.

 

2. Competences to be attained

General competences

Specific competences

Instrumental   1. Understand, analyse and interpret adequately and logically written texts of an academic level about any relevant subject   2.  Be able to communicate properly, both speaking an writing, in the two official languages in Catalonia - Catalan and Spanish -, in front of expert and inexpert audiences   3. Ability to work with the computer tools and knowledge of their essential applications to regular academic activities   Interpersonal   4. Ability to work in groups, participating actively in the assigned tasks, making decisions and discussing your opinions with others until you come to an agreement   5. Ability to think autonomously and critically when talking about controversial subjects   6. Be self-disciplent, self-demanding and rigorous when doing academic tasks, and organise your time correctly   Systemic   7. Ability to apply and adapt the acquired knowledge to new contexts and situations, with flexibility and creativity

Specific of the degree   1. Ability to communicate in the language of each communication medium   2. Ability to use the informative and communicative technologies and techniques   3. Ability to use the computer systems and resources, and knowledge of their interactive applications   4. Ability to look for, choose and organise any source or document (written, audible or visual) useful to elaborate and process information   5. Ability to retrieve, organise, analyse and process information with the purpose of being broadcasted or disseminated     Specific of the subject   6. Knowledge of the Journalistic Genres' Theory   7. Ability to perform the main journalistic tasks, especially those of writing, with absolute spelling and grammatical correction (in the informative and interpretative genres' context)   8. Ability to work against time and under the pressure of ever-changing informations

3. Contents

1st Term

Lesson 1. Typical elements of the informative language and its crystallisation in the format of "news".

-          Specific aspects of syntax and spelling in the structure of news

-          Presentation of the news' data: identification, attribution, quotations, abbreviations, time...

-          The rules of the informative style. The journalistic language as an argot

 

Lesson 2. Knowledge of the formal and conceptual tools that are necessary to write any informative text.

-          The elements of the news (titles and text). Organisation of the events within the structure of the text (lid and body). The internal rhythm of the story

-          Argumental architecture of the news. The resources of continuity and articulation

-          The different ways of working depending on the qualitative complexity of the news and the kind of event described

-          The union between narration and description in the informative texts

 

Lesson 3. Analysis of the journalistic informative texts on the real medium. Study and research of how the media display news.

-          The title as a mark of identity. Criteria for a most efficient distribution of the news' data in the different parts of the title

-          Tone and style of the different newspapers

 

Lesson 4.  Practical writing task, considering several technical aspects when elaborating news.

-          Practical use of the informative language. Identification of its main features

-          News as a selective summary of an event (text). Elaboration of a narrative blog, detecting the news' core

-          News as a selective summary of the events (headlines). Elaboration of several types of headlines, considering its elements

-          Rapid transformation of headlines and informative texts due to sudden modifications of judgement, location or space within the medium

-          Selection and practical organisation of the news' contents

-          Knowledge of models with a predominance of narrative and/or descriptive elements

-          Adequacy of texts and headlines to the different types of newspapers

 

Lesson 5.  Writing journalistic informative texts for radio & TV.

-          The specificities of the journalistic writing in the audio-visual media. Writing for the "ear"

-          Features of the audio-visual writing: adequacy, clarity, conciseness, precision and cohesion. Exercises to improve sentences and paragraphs

-          The structure of news in radio & TV: how to organise information

-          Writing audio-visual news considering press notes or teletypes. Conversion from news in a published newspaper into news to be listened to.

-          Voice interjections or inserts. How to introduce them. Writing news with statements

-          The union of a written text with images on TV. Writing exercise

-          Other characteristic formats. The television news' summaries. The hosts' introductions

 

2nd Term

Lesson 6. Typical elements of the interpretative language and its crystallisation in the format of "reports".

-          Features of the interpretative style

-          The elements of interpretation

-          Differences between interpretation and argumentation

-          The debate about objectivity

-          The titles in the interpretative journalism

-          The interpretative style on radio, TV & the Internet

Lesson 7. The report.

-          Definition and features

-          Style, technique and language in a report

-          Types of reports

-          The reporter: attitude and situation

-          Structure and titles

-          The report on radio, TV & the Internet

Lesson 8. The interview.

-          Definition and features

-          Style, technique and language in an interview

-          Types of interviews

-          Preparation: choose the character, research about him and questions to ask

-          Interviewing: questions, attitude and development

-          Writing: edition, structure, writing in the page

-          The interview on radio, TV & the Internet

Lesson 9. The report article.

-          Definition and features

-          Style, technique and language in a report article

-          Types of report articles

-          Preparation: idea, approach and research of sources

-          Writing: titles, contents' structure, beginnings and endings

-          Correction

-          The report article on radio, TV & the Internet

Lesson 10. Other interpretative texts.

-          Profile. Definition, features and uses

-          Profile. Types

-          Analysis. Definition and features

-          Analysis. Types. Look for information. Writing

Lesson 11. Learning the necessary techniques to write properly interpretative texts in all their formats.

-          The elements of the argumentative texts (titles and text). Organisation of the arguments within the structure of the text (body).

-          The internal rhythm of the story. Argumental architecture. The resources of continuity and articulation. Ways of starting.

Lesson 12. Analysis of journalistic interpretative texts in the real medium.

-          Comparison of the use of interpretative formats in the media

-          Practical use of the interpretative language. Identification of its main features

1st & 2n Terms

Lesson 13. Language (Catalan/Spanish). Linguistic tools and guidelines for the writing of informative & interpretative journalistic texts.

-          Linguistic adequacy

-          Adequacy of the text to the communicative situation

-          Cohesion

-          Coherence

-          Style

 

4. Assessment

The assessment of this subject is continuous. The marks and the exigence level are tested progressively.

In order to be continuously assessed, the students must attend at least 80% of the lectures. If the students do not attend this minimum of sessions they will fail.

The subject is divided into two terms, which will be about the informative genres and the interpretative genres respectively, and a specific part of language; all of them are worth a mark. In order to pass the subject, it is necessary to get a 5 (out of 10) each term, and also in the language part. This is the percentage on the final mark:

-          1st term (informative genres):                  42,5%

-          2nd term (interpretative genres):              42,5%

-          Language                                              15%

When one of the marks of these three parts is under 5, the students will fail 1st chance. In these cases, the students will be able to ask the teacher for a working plan in order to pass in Septmeber the part they failed. If they succeed, the other marks will be keeped (if passed).

1st Term

The mark is obtained from the partial test of:

1.- Task: analysis of the display of news in the media  (25%)

2.- Presentations and participation in class (10%)

3.- Individual practical exercises about writing informative texts, which will have to respect two requirements: follow the formal guidelines of the journalistic writing and be totally correct in spelling and grammar. (65%)

 

2nd Term

Continuous assessment, based on the marks obtained from the correction of the tasks. The evolution and progression in the acquisition and application of the subject's competence will also be considered. Some tasks (for instance, the elaboration of an interview or an article) might be more important than others, so their percentage on the mark will be higher.

This way, the final mark of the term will be the adjusted average of all the tasks.

 

Language

The mark of the language part will be the average of all the tasks handed in during the two terms.

 

5. Bibliography and teaching resources

5.1. Basic bibliography

CAMPS, Magí (coord.). Libro de redacción / La Vanguardia. Barcelona: Ariel, 2004.

CANTAVELLA, Juan; SERRANO, José Francisco [coords.]. Redacción para periodistas: informar e interpretar. Barcelona: Ariel, 2004.

 

COROMINA, Eusebi. Manual de redacció i estil / El 9 nou, El 9 TV.. Vic: Premsa d'Osona, 2008.

 

GOMIS, Llorenç (1989). Teoria dels gèneres periodístics. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya.

 

OLIVA, Llúcia; SITJÀ, Xavier. Las noticias en radio y  televisión: periodismo audiovisual en el siglo XXI. Barcelona: Omega,  5a. edició, 2007.

 

5.2. Complementary bibliography

 

BUSQUET, Joan (coord.) El Periódico. Libro de estilo, Barcelona: Ediciones Primera Plana, 2007.

 

BEZUNARTEA, Ofa. 21 lecciones de reporterismo. Bilbao: Universidad del País Vasco, 1998.

 

DD.AA. Un model de llengua pels mitjans de comunicació. Llibre d'estil del Diari de Barcelona. Barcelona: Empúries, 1988.

DD.AA. Manual de español urgente / Fundación del Español Urgente (Manual de estilo de la Agencia EFE). Madrid: Càtedra, 2006.

 

EL PAÍS. Libro de estilo. Madrid: El País, 2004.

 

GRIJELMO, Álex. El estilo del periodista. Madrid: Taurus, 2001.

 

LARRAÑAGA ZUBIZARRETA, José. Redacción y locución de la información audiovisual: escribir noticias para la radio y la televisión. Bilbao: Universidad del País Vasco, 2006

 

MACDOUGALL, Curtis D.; REID, Robert D. Interpretative Reporting. 9ª ed. New York: Macmillan, 1987.

 

MARTÍN VIVALDI, Gonzalo. Curso de Redacción, Madrid, Paraninfo, 1994.

 

MARTÍNEZ ALBERTOS, José Luis. Curso General de Redacción Periodística. Madrid: Paraninfo, 1992.

 

MARTÍNEZ-COSTA, M. P. Información Radiofónica. Barcelona: Ariel Comunicación, 2002.

 

PERONA, J.J.; HUERTAS, A. Redacción y locución en medios audiovisuales: la radio. Barcelona: Bosch, 1999

 

5.3. Teaching resources

Paradigmatic journalistic texts: Compilation of examples of published texts in the press that will be available for the students in Moodle. These examples will be a starting point for the students, both when writing journalistic texts and when elaborating the research and analysis task.

Materials for the writing tasks: There are two types. The first ones are brief instructions (sometimes with texts or videos that the students need to use when writing different kinds of journalistic texts); normally, they are given when the task is to be started and remain available for the students to consult. The second ones are a compilation of technical and doctrinal observations on each task, that are given to the students along with the correction of their exercises.

 

6. Metodology

 

This subject will basically follow a deductive methodology, in three phases:

 

Lectures: Understanding and learning of the theory and of the informative and interpretative texts' techniques.

 

Supervised analysis of texts: Compilation, analysis and comment of examples and models of informative and interpretative texts that can be now found in the information media.

 

Individual exercises and later meeting: Practical application of the theoretical and technical knowledge acquired, by means of exercises on how to write an interpretative or an informative text. The students will elaborate journalistic texts following the instructions and features given by the teacher. There will be a later meeting and an individual correction of these texts.

 

Catalan/Spanish lessons: We will follow a practical approach: for every aspect explained, we will give advice about the habits needed and the mistakes that must be avoided; we will also present several linguistic online resources in Catalan and Spanish, and the students will do some tasks.

 

Teamwork: The students will work in groups in the analysis of current informative texts in the media, although they will have to distribute the work and will have to present and elaborate individually the research and conclusions; they will use the audio-visual material and the adequate computer programmes in the presentations.

 

Individual work: The majority of the writing tasks will be done individually, simulating the conditions of a real editorial office (with limitations of time and space). In some cases, however, this will be done in groups of two or three people (because on a real editorial office you might have to work in groups as well). Moreover, the correction and comment of the students' tasks and the supervision of their progress will also be individualised.

 

7. Planning of activities

 

The details and organisation of the following activities can change, depending on the groups. Each teacher will inform the students of any modifications made in this programe.

 

1st term

 

Week	Activities in class	Activities at home
Week 1	SESSION 1 (Language): Introduction: general linguistic problems. SESSION 2: Methodology of the subject. Introduction to writing in an informative language. Practical exercise.  SESSION 3: Specific aspects of spelling in news. Practical exercise: news as an accumulative story.	Read the books useful for the tasks and do an exhaustive reading of every day's press in order to detect paradigmatic cases for the research task.
Week 2	SESSION 1 (L.): Bibliography and computer resources SESSION 2: Grammar and vocabulary. Practical exercise: information via an audio-visual document. SESSION 3: Rules of presentation, formal structure and style of the informative texts. Practical exercise: reconstruction of texts.	Read the books useful for the tasks and do an exhaustive reading of every day's press in order to detect paradigmatic cases for the research task. Language exercise.
Week 3	SESSION 1 (L.): Hand in exercise 1: Error correction using computer programs. Frequent mistakes I Upper case and lower case. Proper nouns. Accent diversity and other spelling varieties. SESSION 2: Identification and presentation of the main characters in news. Practical exercise: conversion from news into a complex literary story. SESSION 3: Quotation, attribution and sources. Practical exercise: information about a parliamentary debate.	Do an exhaustive reading of every day's press in order to detect paradigmatic cases for the research task.
Week 4	SESSION 1 (L.): Frequent mistakes II Abbreviations. How to write foreign words. The use in ortography of italics. Numbers and dates. SESSION 2: Structure of news. Practical exercise: cover an accident. SESSION 3: Lid and ways of starting. Practical exercise: cover a criminal act through audio-visual witnesses.	Do an exhaustive reading of every day's press in order to detect paradigmatic cases for the research task. Language exercise.
Week 5	SESSION 1 (L.): Hand in exercise 2: Correction (giving reasons) of normative mistakes. Vocabulary How to choose words? Avoid hyperonyms and periphrasis. Use precise words. Don't overuse predicative verbs. Common vocab errors. Lexical precision. SESSION 2: Oral presentation of the research task in groups. Continuity resources. Practical exercise: write news considering written information. SESSION 3: Headlines and their structure. Practical exercise: making rapid headlines.	Do an exhaustive reading of every day's press in order to detect paradigmatic cases for the research task.
Week 6	SESSION 1 (L.): Oral standard I. Phonetics. Frequent phonetic mistakes. How to pronounce foreign words. SESSION 2: The rest of titling elements. Figures of speech. Practical exercise: cover an electoral campaign act (audio-visual material). SESSION 3: Oral presentation of the research task in groups. The variable format of news. Adaptation techniques. Practical exercise: write same piece of news in different formats.	Do an exhaustive reading of every day's press in order to detect paradigmatic cases for the research task.
Week 7	SESSION 1 (L.): Oral standard II. Morphology. SESSION 2: Types of news. Practical exercise: elaborate a piece of news in groups. SESSION 3: How to write the different types of news. Practical exercise: application to compound news.	Do an exhaustive reading of every day's press in order to detect paradigmatic cases for the research task. Language exercise.
Week 8	SESSION 1 (L.): Hand in exercise 3: Correction (giving reasons) of oral errors and elaboration of a radio's piece of news. Punctuation I. Punctuation signs. Rules and liberties. SESSION 2: Narration & description. Practical exercise: elaboration of informative texts about audio-visual messages that require both narration and description. SESSION 3: Oral presentation of the task in groups. Practical exercise: elaboration of a piece of news about a complex event.	Do an exhaustive reading of every day's press in order to detect paradigmatic cases for the research task.
Week 9	SESSION 1 (L.): Punctuation II. Structure and cohesion of the text. SESSION 2: Types of newspapers and their different styles. Practical exercise: elaboration of a piece of news following a model. SESSION 3: Writing informative texts for radio & TV. Practical exercise.	Study very hard your notes and the important texts given during the term. Language exercise.
Week 10	SESSION 1 (L.): Hand in exercise 4: Correction (giving reasons) of vocabulary and punctuation mistakes. Write a piece of news. SESSION 2: Writing informative texts for radio & TV. Practical exercise. SESSION 3: Writing informative texts for radio & TV. Practical exercise.	Study very hard your notes and the important texts given during the term.

 

2nd term

 

Week	Activities in class	Activities at home
Week 1	SESSION 1 (L.): Introduction: textual problems. SESSION 2: Presentation of the subject. The interpretative language. SESSION 3: Lecture: the report. Exercise 1: report.	Revision of the basic bibliography.
Week 2	SESSION 1 (L.): Cohesion I. Deixis & anaphora. SESSION 2: General comment and revision of exercise 1. Exercise 2: report. SESSION 3: General comment and revision of exercise 2. Lecture: The report article.	Research and analysis of examples of interpretative texts.
Week 3	SESSION 1 (L.): Cohesion II. Connectors. Verbal correlation. SESSION 2: Comment interpretative texts. Exercise 3: short report article. SESSION 3: General comment and revision of exercise 3. Exercise 4: report.	Prepare the short article. Research and analysis of examples of interpretative texts.
Week 4	SESSION 1 (L.): Adequacy. The communicative situation. Conventions of genre and register. Coherence. The lineal progression, the repetition of a topic. SESSION 2: General comment and revision of exercise 4. Lecture: The interview. SESSION 3: Comment interpretative texts. Exercise 5: short interview.	Research and analysis of examples of interpretative texts. Prepare the long article. Language exercise.
Week 5	SESSION 1 (L.): Hand in task 1: correction (giving reasons) of textual cohesion mistakes. Write a report or a report article. Clarity and conciseness in sentences and in the whole text. Length. Digressions. Order of the elements. Linguistic tics. SESSION 2: General comment and revision of exercise 5. Exercise 6: report. SESSION 3: General comment and revision of exercise 6. Lecture: Other interpretative genres: analysis, portrait, and obituary.	Research and analysis of examples of interpretative texts. Prepare the long interview. Prepare the long article. Prepare the analysis.
Week 6	SESSION 1 (L.): Sintactic errors: syllepsis, zeugma, pleonasm, anacoluthon, etc. SESSION 2: Comment interpretative texts. Exercise 7: analysis. SESSION 3: General comment and revision of exercise 7. Exercise 8: portrait.	Research and analysis of examples of interpretative texts. Prepare the long interview. Prepare the long article. Language exercise.
Week 7	SESSION 1 (L.): Hand in task 2: correction (giving reasons) of mistakes related to the clarity, conciseness and style when writing a portrait. Comment of the work related to task 3 (diary of mistakes). SESSION 2: General comment and revision of exercise 8. Exercise 9: obituary. SESSION 3: General comment and revision of exercise 9. Exercise 10: report.	Research and analysis of examples of interpretative texts. Prepare the long interview. Prepare the long article.
Week 8	SESSION 1 (L.): Grammar errors I. SESSION 2: General comment and revision of exercise 10. Write the long interview. SESSION 3: Comment interpretative texts. Exercise 11: elaborate again the long interview.	Research and analysis of examples of interpretative texts. Prepare the long interview. Prepare the long article.
Week 9	SESSION 1 (L.): Grammar errors II. SESSION 2: General comment and revision of exercise 11. Exercise 12: analysis. SESSION 3: General comment and revision of exercise 12. Exercise 13: report/portrait.	Prepare the analysis. Prepare the long article. Language exercise.
Week 10	SESSION 1 (L.): Hand in task 3: diary of textual mistakes. Final sum-up. SESSION 2: General comment and revision of exercise 13. Write the long report article. SESSION 3: Write and finish the long report article.