12 Part 1: The Writing Process 4. Understanding Purpose and Register Having decided that a text is reliable, a student must read and understand as, much as necessary far the needs of the essay, Understanding a text is not just @ matter of vocabulary; the reader needs to find out the writer's intentions. Is the writer aiming to inform, persuade, describe or entertain? The answer to this question may affect the way a student uses the material 1. Compare the two extracts below: 2) Rebus Cooge is seeking candidates forte poston of Weasue Aste Chit anil Oicer of te Coege the Teasureisresponsible fo working with te senior administration and Trustees to develop and implementa franc staegc vison forthe Coleg 8) Are you wondering what to do wt tat jumper you were gin for Crstas hats two sis oo small - or worse, the persona stereo ta simply doesn work? Wel, don't worry. Chanes ar, you'l beable o get your dud gts swapped, fied or get refund ‘And, armed with our guide to yours, youl be ale to get any detective products sori ‘The first extract is written to inform the reader about a jab vacancy and to give information about the work. The second aims to persuade the reader to buy the guide described, The language style, or register, of the extracts is also very different. The first uses very formal vocabulary such as seeking, position and implement. The second uses an informal tone, the pronouin you, the question form and informal vocabulary such as dud and swapped. 2. Read the following extracts and complete the table using one or fo of the following: inform/amuse/persuade/entertain. Text Purpose a b 8) The lower you arin the ofc hierarchy the more disgusting your sandwiches. You ‘can saely assume tha chicken and banana man is nota mainboard director. Some peopl, generally those in accounts, have had the same sandwich forthe past 30 ‘years. People keto prove how busy they are by eating their sandwich tte desk But this is counter productive, because everytime you tke a mouthful the plone rings, and you'll ony get tofnsh tat last mouthful just before you go home 1b) Witing for pubicaton can be both proftable and enoyabl I's open to everyone, because you don't need any qualifications. In Britain thee isa huge demand for new imatrals, with thousands of newspapers and magazines published every week In addtion there ae TV and radio programmes, the theate and fms. Given ths situation, ‘here are many openings for new writers. But the recor of one ofthe UK's main \witing colleges, the Wrting Academy, advises: Yo enter this market successtuly you must have good traning’Reading and Note-Making 13 210 Style ‘36 Formality i Verbs ©} The Advertising Standards Authorty makes sure that advertising i legal, decent, honest and truth. The Authoty safeguards the public by ensuring that he rules contained in the British Code of Advertising Practice are followed by everyone who prepares and publishes advertisements in the UK and that advice is rely avaabe to prevent problems arising. The Code lays down what is andi nat acceptable in advertisements, except fr those on TV and radio. 3. Register. Compare the tone, or register, of the following: a) These apparent fares often result rom inadequate panning and management, especial the lack of integration of biophysical and socio-economic information into {he effort, The lack of integration of information is, infact, a imitaton hat has been emphasised by many authors working wit agricultural and land use planning in recent years (se, foristance, Vaughan eal, 1995; and Chidley and Brook, 1997). 1b) owas routine an ordinary minor operation — excep for a single extraordinary pont ‘Te patient was onan operating table in Milan. Te dactos were in Washington, nearly 6,000 kilometres away, The news tha, forthe fst tie, a vansatantc operation had been carted outwith 2 rbot doctor in one continent copying the real-time hand "movements of a lve doctor in another, introduces a new medical age. ©} Legislation identities the minimum space of 11 that shouldbe allocated to each person and shouldbe adhered to especialy if much of he room i taken up with essential furitue. Equal the maximum height ofa room is now accepted for such calculations as three mates. For example, in arom § m x 4m x 3m (high) this ould provide inital space forfve persons, ‘The first extract is an example of academic register, used, for instance, in dissertations and academic journals. This typically uses cautious language like apparent and often, as well as academic vocabulary (biophysical, socio- economic), and will generally include references. The second passage is journalistic. The first part attempts to interest the reader by presenting the story in a simple but dramatic way (a single ‘extraordinary point). The importance of the news item is stressed by the claim a new medical age. Journalism often uses current idioms like real time, The last extract uses a very formal tone, suitable for a semi-legal text. Verbs such as identifies, adhered to and allocated, the use of passives (be allocated), and special vocabulary (persons instead of the more normal people) are typical ofthis register. . Although it can be acceptable to use articles from newspapers, ‘magazines and the internet, which are often more accessible and up to date, in academic work students need to be aware that these sources may have less credibility, and that material written for a wider readership tends to be less detailed. Students need to be especially careful of taking journalistic phrases and, using them in formal essays.