Reading non-fiction and media with confidence AQA paper 1 section A WJEC paper 2 section A

1. Reading non-fiction and media with confidenceAQA paper 1 section AWJEC paper 2 section A

2. Your big aim • To be secure in what the text is about – its topic/theme/issue • To be secure in its viewpoint and purpose • To reflect on how this viewpoint and purpose is located in the writer’s choices of presentational features, use of fact and opinion, structures and words.

3. What’s this about? What’s it for? And what does it want me to think?

4. Can I see how the choice of title, heading, subheading, illustration, photo, font, graph, diagram, layout fits the writer’s purpose and helps to create the viewpoint? What’s this about? What’s it for? And what does it want me to think? Presentation features

5. Can I select facts which are used to support the viewpoint and purpose? Can I distinguish these from opinions which are equally included to provoke a reaction in the reader? Presentation features Balance of fact and opinion

6. Can I see how information in the text has been ordered/sequenced/organised to guide the reader towards a certain viewpoint? Most importantly can I see why the opening and ending have been chosen to make an impact on the reader? Presentation features Balance of fact and opinion Structure of the text

7. Can I select high impact words and phrases and comment on how they help to create the writer’s viewpoint and purpose? Can I see a pattern in what kinds of words are used? Presentation features Balance of fact and opinion Structure of the text Selection of language

8. How do I get the viewpoint quickly? When reading non-fiction and media, you need to behave differently to the way you behave as a reader of a novel or a poem. Most of the texts you will encounter on Paper 1 were written to be read quickly and incompletely, as you flick through a magazine or newspaper, or browse a website. You need to take advantage of this. Your first move is not to close read from start to finish. It takes practice and courage, but you need to look for the most obvious signs of what the viewpoint might be from: • Headlines and sub-headings • Photos/pictures with captions • A cartoon • A comment box • First line/last line

9. Speculating the viewpoint... Don’t be afraid to be speculative but bold... The writer’s view seems to be… I can see this from features like… I would guess the article aims to…

10. Commenting on content How can the selection of content be persuasive? • Use of statistics • Use of personal anecdote/true story • Balance between fact (experts referenced?) and opinion (just asserted) • Selection of detail most relevant to the audience and purpose – what will hook and persuade them?

11. Commenting on language There is always a question – often the last one with a large number of marks allocated – which asks you to comment on a writer’s choice of language. Other than saying... “The writer chose to use this word because it suggests...”, What language do we have to talk about language? What ‘kinds’ of words are there?

12. Think of word choices existing on a series of washing lines (continuums) emotive detached biased unbiased specialist non-specialist formal informal slang/colloquial academic humorous serious simplistic complex optimistic depressing

13. Commenting on language cont. • Clearly not all of these mood words will be relevant to every text! • Deciding which kinds of words dominate a text will help you see its viewpoint – and see part of how that viewpoint has been created – with words!

14. Further language devices... • Repetition • Selection of pronouns – ‘you’, ‘we’, • Use of statements, directives, questions • Appealing to the reader – reader as part of the solution • Poetic/sound effects