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Morgan Williams
Writing 2
S. Kneece, Wed
9 June 2016
Online News vs. BlogsNEEDS TITLE, HEADING
When it comes to keeping up to date on environmental issues, people rely on the internet
and its endless amount of content. ADD AN ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND INFO
SENTENCE TO INTRODUCE TOPIC EASIERDigital books, scientific reports, and essays are
readily available online genres brimming with data, statistics, and perspectives that are perfect
for educating oneself. However, reading lengthy reports is very time consuming. In this fastpaced world, people do not have the time to mull through the newest academic journal every day.
Online news articles and blogs are two popular online genres of writing that are sought out by
people who want to become more informed on the environment.condense the most important
information of current events, and fashion it into one brief, easy-to-read piece. While both genres
do inform, they differ in the type of information they provide, and they way in which they
provide it.
News articles inform on current events as well as the state of the global environment.
Authors are concise when recapping their complex topics, , directly delivering the necessary
information for readers. They know their audience, so they present information in a specific way
to cater to this genre byPROVIDING THE NECESSSARY INFORMATION FOR READERS
IN A DIRECT DELIVERANCE. including cited evidence from published studies and reports,
quotes from researchers and community members, and pictures documenting what the article is
discussing.

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Environmental blogs are similar to online articles in that they are succinct and organized;
but the two genres differ in that blogs are much more personal, subjective, and not always
credible. Blog writers have an audience that wants to be advised through stories of the authors
experiences. So authors use a mixture of anecdotes and facts to explain and justify their beliefs.
To begin breaking down the differences and similarities between these two genres, let us
look at what conventions are commonly used to achieve their different purposes. To start off,
online news articles being written in third person helps the author achieve a part of their purpose:
to provide reliable information. In Cheryl Katz news article Summer in March? Warming
Climate Alters Europe's Seasons, she uses third person to introduce new information, Kevin
Trenberth, a climate scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, finds some
shortcomings with the new studyBut he notes that several other studies show springs are
arriving early in Europe. In this quote she utilizes third person to introduce the scientists to her
readers, and states his confession about his qualified study and his rebuttal that other studies have
found what his has. Giving the information in thCHANGE TO WHICH PROVOKES onird
person allows the author to avoid associating herself with what is being said about the cited
study. Third person is used in this genre because keeping biased information out of news articles
is crucial for maintaining credibility as a news source.
Unlike news articles, which aim to be objective, blog posts are a more subjective type of
writing that aims to connect to their readers. For this reason, blog posts are written in first
person. In Katherine Martinkos blog post, Why I Reserved a Tesla Model 3, she lists one of
her expectations for the new car, I suspect that the fit, finish and overall quality and
performance of the Model 3 will be superior to the Bolt. Using first person makes it clear that

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statements are solely her opinion. It also makes the blog post personal and somewhat casual.
First person allows the writing to sound like a friend speaking to a friend and establishes that
friendly connection with the reader.
A similarity between online news articles and blog posts purposes is that they both want
to inform their readers in some way. Including factual cited evidence is another convention used
by both genres to achieve this part of their purpose. Blog posts use factual evidence to support
their opinions and advice. Evidence is also often paraphrased and citations are not included in the
text because the genre is more subjective and not held to high standards for credibility. In Hanna
Gettys blog post Why Vegan? she breaks down reasons why a person chooses to become
vegan and argues for that choice by supporting claims with evidence. For the reason of being
environmentally conscious, Getty states Commercial agriculture and raising livestock depletes
our planet of its precious resources faster than any other human endeavor (Getty). By including
evidence when arguing for her personal beliefs, Getty gives herself some degree of credibility.
For blog posts, credibility is needed for readers to trust what the author is saying. Theyre not
required to be accurate or credible but, especially for blogs about the environment, including and
citing scientific evidence helps them provide accurate information to their readers, and lets the
readers know that they can trust the authors.
On the other hand, online news articles use cited factual evidence because their purpose
is to provide reliable information. They are expected to show readers information that comes
straight from the source; so they do. In Azure Gilmans article, A California Crab Ban Reveals
Trouble in the Pacific Ocean, he directly quotes someone qualified to speak on the matter,
This is usually the time of year when we expect an algae bloom to dissipate, because typically
the water is cooling off, said Michael Milstein, a public affairs officer at the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). After giving the mans statement, he immediately

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cites the source by stating the speakers name and title, showing that information is straight from
a qualified source. Pairing factual evidence with third person writing is what keeps online news
articles objective and shows that they are a reliable source.
Just like with purpose, online news articles and blog posts have similar but different
contexts. The situations in which each genre is read has determined common conventions used in
formatting blog posts and online articles. For example, online articles are made up of very short,
one to two sentence paragraphs that build on each other as the paper progresses. In Gilmans
piece on the California crab ban, she states only two one sentences before each quote. The single
sentences introduces the idea or subject that the quote refers to, as well as the speakerperson who
spoke the quote (Gilman). As a result, the writing is kept brief and the author is forced This
keeps the writing brief, and forces the author to remainbe concise and to-the-point. This direct
approachBeing straight forward and direct like this helps news articles to synthesize a lot ofmore
information in a small amount of text. All of thisdirect quotes, quick sentences, etc.--matters
when writing online news articles because it makes it easier for the audience to read the texts.
Like I said before, people do not have the time to read hefty reports on a daily basis. News
articles are designed to be read while drinking your morning coffee, or during a lunch break at
work. They need to be concise and straightforward so the audience can get all the information
they need in the limited amount of time they have.
Similar to online news articles, blogs audiences still has a limited amount of time to read
through a post; meaning a post cannot be twenty pages long. However, blog posts are sought out
by people who have enough time to do a small amount of research. So bloggers do have more
flexibility than online news writers with the length of each post. This flexibility allows for longer
paragraphs which can be used by the author to effectively tell a story or argue their point. To
compensate for lengthier posts, bloggers clearly organize and show their main ideas by dividing

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up a post into sections, each with its own numbered or bolded title. In Gettys post Why
Vegan? she has her three main sections bolded and in a larger font-- Health Reasons, Ethical
Reasons, Environmental Reasonsand smaller subsections within each of the larger three
(Getty). This allows for easy navigation of the post. If a reader is looking for a specific topic, it
can quickly be found. The subsection titles also help summarize the post, so if need be, readers
can quickly scan over the whole post and see what topics are covered. The paragraphs
themselves are composed of longer sentences that cover a lot of material, which works best to
cover the content provided in blog posts.
Thus, online news articles and blogs have their similarities as well as their differences.
News articles explicitly report information. Blogs advise their readers through the presentation of
facts and stories of past experiences. Blogs also interact with their audience more than news
articles, but the two genres both educate their audience. Therefore, every genre has its own
situation that it is best at responding to.

Works Cited
Getty, Hanna. "Why Vegan?" Vegan Blogger. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
Gilman, Azure. "A California Crab Ban Reveals Trouble in the Pacific Ocean." California Crab

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Ban Reveals Troubled Pacific Ocean. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
Katz, Cheryl. "Summer in March? Warming Climate Alters Europe's Seasons." National
Geographic. National Geographic Society, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
Martinko, Katherine. "Why I Reserved a Tesla Model 3." TreeHugger. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr.
2016.