Activity:
Read texts A and B. What are the similarities and differences? Which is better?
Text A
O.J. SIMPSON BAILED BY LAS VEGAS COURT ON ROBBERY CHARGES
Thursday September 20, 2007
O.J. Simpson is one of the most famous US football players of his generation during the 1970s. Simpson was the prime suspect in the 1994 murders of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman.
Simpson, who has always vehemently denied the killings, was acquitted of them after a racially charged Los Angeles trial in 1995, a verdict that was greeted with widespread outrage across America.
Recently, Simpson had another brush with the law. He stood in court last week, wearing a blue prison jumpsuit and handcuffs. He was led into a court-room via an underground tunnel for a 10-minute hearing that saw multiple felony charges formally filed against him.
The charges stem from an incident at the Palace Station Casino on Thursday, when a gang of gun-toting men that included Simpson is reported to have stormed into a hotel room and snatched sporting memorabilia from two dealers.
Simpson has been charged with 11 offences, including two counts of conspiracy to commit kidnapping with a deadly weapon, two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon and assault with a deadly weapon. He could be jailed for life if convicted on the kidnapping charges.
After the hearing, Simpson was granted bail by a Las Vegas judge on Wednesday after making his first court appearance to face armed robbery and kidnapping charges.
Prosecution and defense lawyers told the court they had reached agreement prior to the hearing concerning Simpson's bail conditions. He must pay a bond of 125,000 dollars and surrender his passport within 24 hours.
Text B
O.J. SIMPSON BAILED BY LAS VEGAS COURT ON ROBBERY CHARGES
Thursday September 20, 2007
Former US football star O.J. Simpson was granted bail by a Las Vegas judge on Wednesday after making his first court appearance to face armed robbery and kidnapping charges.
Simpson, wearing a blue prison jumpsuit and handcuffs, was led into a court-room via an underground tunnel for a 10-minute hearing that saw multiple felony charges formally filed against him.
Prosecution and defense lawyers told the court they had reached agreement prior to the hearing concerning Simpson's bail conditions. He must pay a bond of 125,000 dollars and surrender his passport within 24 hours.
Simpson spoke only briefly to confirm that he understood the charges against him and to confirm his place of residence.
He was also ordered not to make any contact with witnesses in the case. He was due to be released from custody later Wednesday after completing necessary paperwork, reports said.
Simpson has been charged with 11 offences, including two counts of conspiracy to commit kidnapping with a deadly weapon, two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon and assault with a deadly weapon.
He could be jailed for life if convicted on the kidnapping charges.
The charges stem from an incident at the Palace Station casino on Thursday, when a gang of gun-toting men that included Simpson is reported to have stormed into a hotel room and snatched sporting memorabilia from two dealers.
One of the most famous US football players of his generation during the 1970s, Simpson was the prime suspect in the 1994 murders of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman.
Simpson, who has always vehemently denied the killings, was acquitted of them after a racially charged Los Angeles trial in 1995, a verdict that was greeted with widespread outrage across America. – AFP
1. Using the Inverted Pyramid
(Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox for June 1996) http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9606.html
Traditional pyramid style of writing:
Academic writing style: traditional pyramid: a long climb to reach the conclusions
We are used to reading articles in a chronological order, where information builds up gradually to a conclusion. Academic writing is usually written in a traditional pyramid style. It mostly has the introduction and problem statement, then the elaboration of context, and review of prior work, options and methodologies. Finally the results and conclusions are revealed. In other words, the traditional pyramid style of writing requires the writer to start with the foundation and build up to the conclusion.
Such an academic writing style of writing is not suitable for the Internet. Why?
Discuss why the traditional pyramid style of writing is not suitable for the Internet.
Inverted pyramid style of writing
Journalistic writing style: inverted pyramid:conclusions come first
In the inverted pyramid style, writers start with the conclusion, then provide the most important supporting information, and end by giving the background.
In the first paragraph, the reader should know the key information (who, what, when, where, why) of the article. It encourages the writer to prioritise information which leads to fast, concise writing.
When online, users need to know conclusions first, not last. They like to know what is in it for them. Web writing that presents news, summaries, and conclusions right at the front is useful and saves time for the readers. If you can anticipate the conclusion and write it like a lead sentence in a hard news story, it will allow people to scan your text quickly and skip the parts that led you to your conclusion.
This style of writing is called the inverted pyramid. The inverted pyramid style has been used by journalists. It is useful for newspapers because readers can stop at any time and still get the most important parts of the article, which are located at the top.
On the Web, the inverted pyramid style becomes even more important. Why?
§ Some studies show that users are often in a hurry and they don’t often wish to scroll up and down pages, so they will very frequently read the top part of an article. It seems that people's attention spans shorten when they go online. (Only very interested readers will scroll down to get the full story.)
§ Background information can easily be linked to other articles online, so there is no need to summarize background information in every article.
§ The Web is a linking medium and writing for interlinked information pages is different than writing linear text in print publications. Web writers often split their writing into smaller pieces to avoid long scrolling pages.
§ Longer papers will often be printed and read offline. However, the user must be encouraged download and print it, and the inverted triangle is useful in persuading users that the information will be useful and to read on.
If a reader is interested, he or she can keep on scrolling down or connecting through hyperlinks to get the full story, with each page structured as an inverted pyramid. The entire work would seem more like a set of pyramids floating in cyberspace.
When writing for the Web, it is better to write a little tighter than you would for print. Remember that your readers can click away at any second, so try to keep their attention by sticking closely to your topic. Avoid repetition. You need to find a good balance and cover more information in a readable, entertaining way.
The test of a well-written text is that whatever its length, a reader who is short on time is able to get a good gist of the article just by reading its title, tagline, and first paragraph. Readers can stop at any time and not lose the main information you wish to tell them.
Look at the following example: adapted from http://mtsu32.mtsu.edu:11178/171/pyramid.htm
Activity:
Write an inverted pyramid news story from the following basic facts:
An accident occurred. It happened yesterday. Today is Friday. The accident was a car accident. It happened in Bukit Batok, where Street 1 and Avenue 20 intersects. One person was killed. The person was John Tan. He was 20 years old and lived in Bukit Batok at 212 Bukit Batok Street 2. He was driving a blue Toyota Altis. He was driving up Street 1 at about 5 p.m. He lost control of the car. It was raining, and the road was slick. He was also driving at about 30 km/h over the speed limit. He was the only one in the car. The car smashed into a street lamp along Street 1. The impact crushed the whole front of the car. John Tan was thrown through the car's windshield. He landed on the pavement some 50 metres away. He wasn't wearing a seat belt. He was killed instantly.
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