Task 1

The layout of this leaflet has to consider the way the leaflet will fold. It is important to leave enough room for where the creases will be. It is difficult to read words that have been folded. This is because the paper can wear away where the crease is because of the movement. The ink will rub off and the words will not be readable. This ruins the flow and a flow is important if you want people to understand your work.

Using bold and bigger lettering for the titles help with explaining what each chunk of text is about. If the reader has a certain point they want explained they can find it quickly by reading the subtitles. This saves them time as they won’t need to skim the whole text. No one likes reading a lot of writing so breaking it up into different sections make the leaflet look more appealing.

A colour scheme has been continued through this example. The colour matches the companies colour scheme. This is so people know that the product belongs to the company. In this case it is the NHS, a company that a lot of people trust so it’s important that they make it obvious its their leaflet. More people will be willing to look at the information if it is from a source that they trust. They know that a lot of research has gone into it and all the facts will be true. This is why it is clever to use your colour scheme on a leaflet. People recognise it so are more likely to pick it up.

The images are all happy, showing the use of mobiles in a positive light. This makes it look biased but it’s not. The text is saying that currently they haven’t found anything that proves that using mobiles effect our health but a lot more research needs to be done. They are showing both sides but the facts stand on the side of mobile usage is safe. The language used is formal but doesn’t use specific terms. This is to make it easier to understand. If you start using terms that people don’t know they will stop reading.

The text used is a functional and clear font that is easy to read. It is serif font to make it look more formal as it is a textbook.

The subtitle is in bold to let the reader know that they have started a new section of the subject.

Diagrams and images have been used to help illustrate points. Since the books purpose is to help students learn, it needs to explain theories and facts as full as they can. The use of images and everyday examples will achieve this.

Because of this the text can’t be biased. It needs to explain all theories and all the questions that hasn’t been answered yet. If they state an opinion they need to back it up with solid facts to prove that it is the truth.

Humour is often used in these kinds of books as they need to keep students interested. It also helps students remember facts, like why the theory has been proved wrong. In this cause it is because of the speed of the moon so a cartoon image has been produced to help portray that and with any luck the image will stick in there head, helping them learn the facts about the subject.

The language used is formal as it is a formal product. If they used colloquial language then it wouldn’t be taken very seriously.

For this type of factual writing the sections have been split up by boxes. Having the headings in the top of the boxes, using a contrasting colour, makes it stand out. This helps the reader see where they need the start reading from. Again images are used to help explain what the booklet is about. The first image is to help familiarise yourself with the equipment you have. This is important as most people won’t know the name of the smaller parts. The first thing about factual writing is that you need to include everything, you can’t assume people already know the names and terms you are going to use.

The beginning of each step is clearly stated. The font that follows is quiet small but the fact that the image is a copy won’t help. Important words are capitalised or are in bold. The images are the main items because they are the easiest to understand.

All of the instructions are simplified to make them as understandable as possible. Instruction manuals usually have an introductory paragraph to explain the item and its purpose. The writing is formal as it needs to make sense, the use of colloquial language would not be suitable for this type of writing.

Clarity: Clarity is needed to ensure that everything is understood. If you leave an instruction to interpretation then the reader could get it wrong. With some things this wouldn’t matter but if it was a bike or wardrobe that they were building then there is a health risk and people could get hurt. If the writing is about a cause like how unhealthy smoking is then they need to make sure the facts are clearly stated with sufficient evidence. Clarity also excuses you from any legal action taken against you if something goes wrong.

Conciseness: It is important to be concise with your writing. People often get impatient, if they are building something causing them to skim the text and not follow the instructions correctly. Again this risks people’s health as they don’t have a structurally strong item. Or they can get bored, meaning they will stop reading. The main point in factual writing is to spread information so if they don’t read it the info will not be spread. If students got bored reading a textbook then they wouldn’t learn anything. The book wouldn’t fulfil its purpose making it absolute.

Accuracy: Accuracy is important as people well trust you an believe what you publish. If it is for a text book then it needs to be up to date and accurate to the latest theories/experiments. If they contain wrong information then this could cause people to fail their exams. You also can’t publish a document stating that something is good for you when there is no evidence that proves so. For example, if you created a publication that said that doing drugs was good for you and it made you live longer than you are liable for any lives that get harmed due to the false information you gave them. Making sure everything is accurate helps you out if anyone wants to take legal action against you.

Avoidance of ambiguity: The need for everything to be clearly stated so nothing is left to interpretation. While writing factual writing you have to presume that the person reading it has no prior experience or knowledge of the subject. As you continue to write you can refer back to previous things you wrote but for an instruction manual the avoidance of ambiguity is very important. The more precise the information the better. An introductory paragraph and warning labels would be a good way to get across what the product is for and the dangers that could happen while building the object. A good way to ensure that things are stated clearly would be to put them in a bold font, emphasising the important things that if aren’t done properly could result in injury.

Bias: Not all factual writing is biased but some end up that way because the evidence swings so highly in favour of one of the arguments that it ends up promoting a side of an argument. Most leaflets are biased as they are to convince people about the risks they face so the amount of evidence on these leaflets is overpowering. Most factual writing about health is biased but some do include the pro’s and con’s of an operation or consumable substance. Some documents let you decide if something is bad or good because when it comes down to it they can’t physically stop you from doing anything but showing you that there are so many more con’s than pro’s can change your mind on the matter.

Register: Most factual writing is informal because it needs to be understandable and this is the best way to get a message across. You don’t want to make the audience feel dumb by using big words or technical terms. However, if the product is to teach people then it needs to be formal. This is because learning environments are often formal. Technical terms need to be used in order to teach people more about the subject. It depends on the message you want to get across and the target audience. For example a text book would be formal as leaflets will mostly be informal.

Evidencing of argument: An argument/opinion means nothing without any evidence to back it up. Evidence can also help people understand why. For example, evidence that theories in science are wrong can help the student understand why the theory is wrong instead of just being told that it’s wrong. It’s important to ensure that people understand the writing and not just take word on what they read. The best factual writing teach people and the use of evidence is the main way they do this.

Referencing sources: Stating where you got your information from is a good way to convince people that your point is right. Often the evidence provided is research and experiments that they have collected themselves and most of the time the research is biased so getting information from a third party will help sway people into believing that what you are saying is true. Including the person’s name and their job can help with this argument, if the quote is from a professional then people will take it more seriously. Referencing the information will also turn the liability away from you so you can’t be blamed if the information is wrong.

Legal constraints: The legal constraints apply more to the journalistic side to factual writing. This is because the media has a lot of laws that need to be followed. For example, libel law. This states that there should be no defamation. You shouldn’t discriminate a person/s reputation on purpose. Never target a single individual and if you do don’t name them. Withholding information like names and other personal information is called a gagging order, they are usually authorized by the court.

Codes of practice: NUJ codes, editors code of practice, ASA guidelines and trading standardsNational Union of Journalists, NUJ, codes are the main rules that need to be followed by written media. The outline of these rules are that you have to publish accurate information and not discriminate against anyone. The NUJ support journalists that want to stick to these rules as most publications now publish lies and need to the lies to have stories to publish. This means that if you want to publish the truth 24/7 you will most likely struggle for work. The other codes of practice are pretty similar, that all information needs to be accurate, you must respect people and their privacy and that the public has a right to be informed about news. It’s important that you follow these codes are your work may not be published, if it somehow does then you are likely to get sued. If the article states that a said person has committed a crime or scandal. If this person has a gagging order set on that certain story then you will be taken to court.