News item & Discussion Text

News Item.

Definition:

A text which informs readers about events of the day. The events are considered newsworthy or important. News item text tries to answer the 5W and 1H questions; what, who, when, where, why, and how relating to the newsworthy.

Generic Structure:

- Main event

- Elaboration

- Resource of information

Languange Feature:

- Using Simple Present Tense

- Focusing circumstances

- Using action verbs

- Using adverbs

- Using material process

Ex:

Winning Award for Airport Toilet

Surabaya's Juanda International Airport has won the Culture and Tourism Ministry's 2009 toilet award, beating out 2007 winner Denpasar's Ngurah Rai Airport, which now drops to fourth. Indonesia's main gateway, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, just outside Jakarta, moves up from fourth in 2007 to second, in the biennial "Sapta Pesona Clean Public Toilet Award".

The award was first handed out in 2007, and has so far involved only international airports. Acting Culture and Tourism Minister Muhammad Nuh said he expected the award in future to also cover public toilets at tourist sites across the country.

"Granting the award to those running public toilets at tourist sites is expected to improve the quality of products and services, particularly in term of cleanliness . as part of efforts to enhance the image of national culture," Nuh said during the award presentation ceremony.

Taken from: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/10/10/l

Discussion.

Definition:

A text which present a problematic discourse. This problem will be discussed from different viewpoints. Discussion is commonly found in philosophical, historic, and social text.

Generic Structure:

- Statement ofissue

- List if supporting points

- List of contrastive point

- Recommendation

Languange Feature:

- Using Simple Present Tense

- Introducing category or generic participant

- Using thinking verb

- Using additive, contrastive, and causal connection

- Using modalities

- Using adverbial of manner

Ex:

The Advantage and Disadvantage of Nuclear Power

Nuclear power is generated by using uranium which is a metal mined in various part of the world. The first large scale of nuclear power station was opened at Calder Hall in Cumbria, England in 1956.

Some military ships and submarines have nuclear power plant for engine. Nuclear power produces around 11% of the world's energy needed, and produces huge amounts of energy. It cause no pollution as we would get when burning fossil fuels. The advantages of nuclear plant are as follow:

- It costs about the same coal, so it is not expansive to make.

- It does not produce smoke or carbon dioxide, so it does not contribute to the greenhouse effect.

- It produces huge amounts of energy from small amount of uranium.

- It produces small amount of waste.

- It is reliable.

On the other hand, nuclear power is very, very dangerous. It must be sealed up and buried for many years to allow the radioactivity to die away. Furthermore, although it is reliable, a lot of money has to be spent on safety because if it does go wrong, a nuclear accident ca be a major accident.

People are increasingly concerned about this matter. In the 1990's nuclear power was the fastest growing source of power in many parts of the world.

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NEWS ITEM & DISCUSSION TEXT:

News Item :

1. News item tell events happen in the day. They are new and important.
2. News item try to explain 5W + 1H. Try to make things become clear.
3. News item do not need others opinions. They only tell things so people get to know new stuff.

Discussion :

1. Discussion present problematic discourse. So basically we can make a discussion about everything eventhough they are not new.
2. Discussion doesn’t try to explain 5W + 1H, it only focusing on opinions and at the end the solution of the problems.
3. In discussion everyone will try to put their opinions and their thoughts into it.