Revision Sheet

For this writing project, I revised the structure of the essay to make it more organized and

structured and go into depth a critical view of the news genre, which is fake news. When I started

revising, I thought about how, in general, is writing constructed, depending on the context and

genre conventions and added my ideas in my reflective essay. I found that although I introduced

the topic of fake news in the media, I did not think deeply about why it lasted so long as a genre

and the public’s trust in the news genre. During my revision, I revised my critical view of fake

news and truthful news and why the news genre continues to survive today even though it is in

an identity crisis in a fully functioning democracy. I identified this issue through Professor

Speiser’s comments. In my revised writing project, I said that “the public have to accept the co-

existence of truthful and fake news in the media because the public regard quality news as a civil

necessity”. The public value accurate and objective news and conform to their need for an

unbiased information source, even though there is a risk of fake news. After rereading my

writing project 1 and hearing other peers’ review, I found that there is an issue with my

organization. In my original writing, I organized my paragraphs by analyzing each article in

detail in each paragraph. In this structure, my points and analysis about the genre of news

journalism is scattered all over the place because each article have different conventions and

contexts. I found that organization of the paper would be stronger if I separated paragraphs by

appeals, such as pathos and ethos. As a result, I organized my body paragraph according to the

appeals and focused each paragraph on one major point/appeal. Moreover, I change some of my

wordings and added some explanations to my argument and points for the readers to have a

deeper understanding of the purpose of my writing project 1. I also strengthen my topic sentence

of the paragraphs to clarify my points and makes it easier for readers to follow. The audience
will understand the news genre through my analysis of conventions and contexts of news

articles.
Emmy Zhang

Professor Speiser

Writing 2

21 April 2018

Dear Reader,

This letter is to inform you on what this essay is about and the writing and thinking

process I went through. The focus and argument of this essay is to demonstrate and analyze the

features and conventions of the news genre. At a mass shooting in Las Vegas on October, 2017,

50 were killed and 500 were injured by a single person with an assault weapon. It is important

for people to be informed about this tragedy and caution everyone on what happened. The news

genre informs people on important issues happening around them. People receive news from

newspaper and online news articles. The goal of these news sources is to inform everyone, not a

certain age group or just scholars. As a result, news articles strive to get the information out to

the public in a simple language as fast as possible. To illustrate the context and function, textual

features, and implied or assumed features of the news genre, I closely analyze four news articles

related to the issue of gun control. The effect I would like to have on the reader is allow readers

to understand why the news genre is so important but not completely factual.

Even though with fake news as a threat, the news genre still displays civil resistance and

continues to survive. This is because the public value accurate and objective news. The

audiences believe news articles displays editorial integrity and conform to their need for an
unbiased information source. The existence of fake news in the media is inevitable because

truthful news is hard to verify and fake news are very well disguised as real news. The reason for

the survival of the news genre is because the public needs it and fake news is the risk.

My thinking process started by thinking about the social, economic, political,

environmental issues that I am concerned about. Gun control is a topic that I care a lot about and

interested in and I want to analyze how this issue is being presented in media and the news

genre. It’s important how this issue is demonstrated on the news because in many ways, news

represents factual statements and reliable sources. Therefore, the way the news talk about gun

violence and gun control affect how citizens of the United States vote on this issue. Personally, I

support more gun control laws because there were many massive shootings in schools and many

people died because of gun violence. I have a strong passion on gun control and I decided to

choose this issue as the topic of my essay. When I first began analyzing the four articles about

gun control, I thought all of the content of news genre are factual statements based on reliable

sources. In addition, the news genre should accurately convey information of gun control.

However, when I closely examine the news articles, I noticed that the information is not 100%

accurate because authors of the news articles don’t go into depth of the issue and makes a lot of

assumptions. Moreover, I become aware the news genre can be biased. For example, in an article

talking about the Democratic party and Republican party’s perspectives of the issue of gun

control the article did not take a objective view and tend to favor the Democratic party’s view on

gun control laws. Before I write the essay, I made an outline and framework of what each

paragraph is going to talk about. I decided to emphasize the physical features and context of the

news genre. As a result, I choose to write about the context, textual features, and constraints of

news genre in the first two paragraph. In the next two paragraphs, I decided to analyze the news
articles to demonstrate the features and conventions. In the analysis, I also put in all aspects of

news genre such as bias statements and assumptions.

After receiving comments from both my peers and from the professor, I realized that the

rough draft is not clearly organized. In addition, because of my grammar, some parts of the

writing may be hard to understand especially when it’s not well organized. I also need more

evidences from the articles to show and prove my points. Moreover, I need the analyze and

question the assumption and bias statements made the authors of the news articles. The feedback

from my peers and the professor help me see my mistakes in the writing and help me understand

better of what I can do to improve my writing. The most helpful reading was Bunn’s “How to

Read Like a Writer”, because I learn to read my writing word-by-word and carefully analyze my

writing. This help me a lot when writing my final draft. By reading my writing sentence-by-

sentence and word-by-word, I found many mistakes. In addition, when I read my peers’ essay

word-by-word, I learned some useful writing techniques form their writing that I applied to my

essay.

Sincerely,

Emmy Zhang
Emmy Zhang

Professor Speiser

Writing 2

22 April 2018

Final Draft

Genres are contained with various forms of communication (written, spoken, artistic)

organized according to a predictable category of conventions and features. If you go into The

New York Times’ official website and randomly open a news article, you’ll be expecting to read

about factual statements and information on things happening around the world or the US, such

as President Trump firing the formal FBI director Comey, and not a fiction story of princesses

with supernatural powers. Genre can be found in all types of literature, music, or art. Literary

genres includes non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and journalism. Journalism genres like newspaper

and news articles are the most factual and unbiased sources of news. Facts account for most of

the news article coverage and opinion and speculation is unlikely to be seen in news articles.

Most of the facts in a news article are based on reliable sources to strive for accurate information.

The tone of journalism genres is usually serious and analytical. Most news genres also provide

statistics and political diction to convey information. This essay will demonstrate these features

and conventions of the news genre through close analysis of four news articles related to the

issue of gun control. In the news article, “Even in gun country, Democrats shift towards gun

control” by CBS news, the reporter gave a factual and balanced report on gun control. Another

CBS article “Assault weapons ban doesn’t violate 2nd Amendment, judge says” discusses the

topic in a serious tone and an objective view that is common to news genre that gun control laws
does not violate the constitution. In addition, two news articles from ABC news, “New York

passes legislation to prevent domestic abusers from possessing guns” and “March for Our Lives

organizers plan weekend town halls with lawmakers”, share similar characteristics to CBS news

articles and strive to support gun control in the US.

The goal of internet news articles is similar to newspapers, which is to educate and

inform the reader about topics around the world using organized, simple, and edited writings that

have undergone considerable and reliable research before being presented on the internet. Since

the beginning of the late 1980s, online news genre has existed. However, the newspaper was the

dominant news sources until the 1990s when web articles started to be commonly used. As a

result, genre classified by news articles on the internet form contains conventions that changes

over time but also follow a similar format as the older newspapers. Conventions authors use

when writing a news article to a targeted audience about a recent and important issue includes

statistics and polls. For example, from the CBS article, “Even in gun country, Democrats shift

towards gun control”, the author describes a poll that show little disagreement among Democrats

on stricter gun laws which said “69 percent of those surveyed, including 90 percent of

Democrats, think gun laws in the U.S. should be tightened” (CBS News). More people die from

gun violence in the United States than any other country in a civilized world. As a result, news

article reporters include statistics of the number of people murdered with assault weapons in the

United States. The main purpose of news articles is to inform and provide factual evidences and

the information beneath the surface of gun control doesn’t get reported.

Considerations for news articles are constraints that the news genre has to complete

within and the effects it has on the published articles. The limitations of web articles can be

found in various forms and the most important is time and the education level of targeted
audiences. Information are changing every second in a world full of media and technology that

makes communication of information more efficient. News articles online have to publish the

latest news about recent important events and time is significant in this context. Web articles

have to get first-hand information and publish it before anyone can receive any word about it.

Consequently, articles published online are usually short and most of the content are quotes from

reliable source. Another reason that news articles are simple and short is because the targeted

audiences for news articles are everyone that cares about the issues, which includes people that

might not be highly educated. Although some articles require a high school level education of

English, the writers of the news genre assume the audiences are not specific experts in the area.

As a result, news articles are written with simple word choices that’s easy for everyone to

understand. (time constraints of a reader). Web articles are for casual, everyday readings so it is

considerably shorter than academic papers or fiction books. In addition, the titles of the articles

are very direct and simple. For example, the title “Even in gun country, Democrats shifts towards

gun control” from CBS news directly stated that this article is about Democrats supporting gun

control in the United States. Another title “Assault Weapons ban doesn’t violate 2nd Amendment,

judges say” is an article that argues gun control laws doesn’t actually violate the constitution.

Web articles also use pathos to evoke empathy and sadness of specific audiences by

asking questions like how many innocent people have die before the access to deadly assault

weapons become more difficult? In the news article, “Even in gun country, Democrats shift

towards gun control” by CBS news, the reporter gave a factual and balanced report on gun

control. In the beginning, the news article provided a factual background of the former one-term

congressman and the Democratic party. After the factual information, the author of the article

provided evidences to support his/her statements. The supporting quote is from a political
newcomer running against the Republican candidate. Kara Eastman, the candidate running for

gun control said “We need leaders who are going to stand up and fight for the kids”, hinting the

opponent candidate does not care about the danger of assault weapons. The author chooses to use

this quote from the candidate because the quote demonstrates the use of pathos. By using the

sentence “stand up and fight for the kids”, the author uses the appeal of pathos to evoke the

empathy of readers that care about children that suffer from mass shootings at schools. However,

this may not be considered as a reliable source because political candidates employ rhetoric to

obfuscate issues, instead of demonstrating expertise on a subject. This is a source that provide a

different perspective for the readers since the candidate is also in the campaign for gun control.

Having a professional to support statements made in the article is a convention the news genre

uses to convey information. As an evidence, this quote provides an inside view of what is

actually happening during the nomination instead of a expertise’s view on this issue.

Another convention is a professional or expert’s opinion on the gun control issue. These

conventions help aid the author’s credibility which engage the reader more because reader will

have more confident in believing the news articles’ well-developed idea. In “Even in gun

country, Democrats shift towards gun control”, the author also provides factual information of

the Republican party and their views on gun control. The article also takes the statements of a

candidate that did not join both parties and his supporting quotes. The tone of this article is

serious and analytical. In addition, this news article takes an objective view that does not favor

either side of the campaign for gun control or pro-gun control. In addition to the quote from

progressive candidates, the news article also supports its facts by showing a poll. The Associated

Press-NORC Center found “that 69 percent of those surveyed, including 90 percent of

democrats, think gun laws in the U.S should be tightened” (CBS news). The poll is provided by
the authority, The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, hence it is a

reliable source. The poll shows what the surveyed think of the gun laws in the US. Unlike other

genres, journalism genres use quotes and polls as factual evidences to support their information.

However, because of the constraints of time in the news genre, the article does not go into depth

to talk about the Republican party. In the article, most of the evidences are provided by the

Democratic party and does not include what the Republic party think about gun control. This is

because of the limitation of time reporters have. As a result, the news genre cannot provide a

well-researched paper on the issue of gun control since there are many other important issues

happening around the world to report. Similar to the gun control campaign article, another article

titled “Assault weapons ban doesn’t violate 2nd Amendment, judge says” by CBS, also provides

numerous quotes from professionals of gun control and judges to support the argument.

Moreover, facts in the news article are reported in a serious tone and stated in an objective view.

Most of coverage of the news article “New York passes legislation to prevent domestic

abusers from possessing guns” by ABC news is based on factual information provided by

reliable sources. There is a limited amount of opinion and speculation in this article. Moreover,

quotes are used as evidences to support the factual statements. In addition to the article provided

by CBS news, this article has a video and images showing and proving the scene of the

legislation. For example, the video stated “4,500 Americans died due to gun violence this

August” (ABC news). This statistic is provided by the Brady Campaign, which is a reliable

authority. The video also contains statistics like the percentage of Americans supporting gun

control and the number of citizens lost their life during a gun shooting scene that strengthen the

facts made about New York legislation’s decision. Another article, “March for Our Lives

organizers plan weekend town halls with lawmakers, also by ABC news, also provide videos of
the scene to convey information. Similar to the New York legislation article, this article about

the march also have quotes from professionals, which is a reliable source. The videos in both

article is also taken in a serious tone and display factual information. Even though most of the

news genre’s coverage is factual, some statements may be exaggerated to get audience’s

attention. For example, in an article published by CNN, the news article stated that Donald

Trump said “give teachers gun” (CNN) which wasn’t what President Trump actually said. The

CNN article published the news genre this way because they want to grab audience’s attention in

order to gain money and fame in the news industry. What President Trump actually said was to

look at the possibility of giving “concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special

training experience” (The Washington Post). The CNN news article did not take an objective

stance and published false information. This may be the result of not going into depth and

making implied assumption of what President Trump is talking about. The news, as a source, is

important because it provide factual information to the public and has worldwide influence and

readership, but sometime news may make assumption and provide inaccurate information that

mislead its readers. This kind of fake news is a threat to the trust in the news genre. However,

even when the expectations between the reader and writer fails, the news genre continues to

survive. This is because the public value accurate and objective news that displays editorial

integrity. The readers conform to the need for an unbiased and fair-minded perspective of the

truth and understanding of the social issues around them. Even though when a critical component

of this genre fails, the public accept the existence of fake news in the media is inevitable because

people need the information, even with the risk.

In conclusion, most of the contents of news genre are factual statements reported in a

serious tone with objective views. Opinions and speculation is unlikely but may be presented in
news articles by bias news broadcast companies. Most of the facts in the web articles are based

on reliable sources such as quotes from specialists and professionals. In articles about gun

control, quotes would be from lawyers and judges that specialize in the constitution and adults of

victims from gun violence. In addition to quotes, statistics and polls are also often provided to

support statements made in the article and convey information. The goal of news articles is

similar to newspapers, which is to educate and inform the reader about topics around the world

using organized, simple, and edited writings that have undergone considerable and reliable

research before being presented on the internet. However, there is fake news nowadays that make

assumptions and provide false information to its readers. When the news genre, which is crucial

to a fully functioning democracy, is in an identity crisis, the public have to accept the co-

existence of truthful and fake news in the media because the public regard quality news as a civil

necessity. In addition, fake news is very successful in engaging their readers. It is more easily

shared by the readers because fake news disguise very well as truthful news. The media also

have authority over the displayed information and it is difficult for the public to verify the

statements in the news. In addition, because of constraints of time and length in news genre,

news article may not go into depth of the issue. In addition, the authority of the news may also

want to grab reader’s attention by intentionally using pathos, logos, and ethos, but these

techniques may result in inaccurate information.

 Works Cited

Ap. “Even in Gun Country, Democrats Shift towards Gun Control.” CBS News, CBS Interactive,

7 Apr. 2018, www.cbsnews.com/news/even-in-gun-country-democrats-shift-towards-

gun-control/.

Thorbecke, Catherine. “New York Passes Legislation to Prevent Domestic Abusers from

Possessing Guns.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 2 Apr. 2018,

abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/york-passeslegislation-prevent-domestic-abusers-

possessing-guns/story?id=54183562.

Goodin, Emily. “March for Our Lives Organizers Plan Weekend Town Halls with

Lawmakers.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 6 Apr. 2018,

abcnews.go.com/Politics/march-lives-organizers-plan-weekendtown-halls

lawmakers/story?id=54292451.

Borchers, Callum. “Analysis | Trump Brings the Gun-Control Conversation Back to Himself and

'Fake News'.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 22 Feb. 2018,

www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/02/22/trump-brings-the-gun-control

conversation-back-to-himself-and-fake-news/?noredirect=on.