学术英语社科 academic english for social sciences. 6 journalism and journalists it is...

学术英语社科Academic English for Social Sciences

6Journalism and JournalistsIt is reported that journalism remains one of the most popular majors on most university campuses in America. To be a journalist has been many graduates’ dream. Why is it the case? Is it because this profession is superior to others? Are there other reasons? Read the following texts and you will get the answer.

Unit 6 Journalism and Journalists

Unit Contents

Text A

Text B

ListeningSpeaking

Writing

Lead-in

Text C

• Lead-in

– Lead-in task


Lead-in

Write a paragraph which describes a journalist’s way of life according to your knowledge and imagination. (10 minutes); then read your paragraph to the class.

Lead-in task


• Text A

– Critical reading and thinking– Difficult sentences– Group discussion– English language for academic purpose– Suggested answers


Text ACritical reading and thinking of Text A

Analyze the text by asking the following questions:

1.How does the text begin? (Para.1)2.Why did James Kilpatrick tell the story? (Paras.1 & 2)3.What is journalism like? (Para.3)4.Why do the authors say “newspeople do pay a price”? (Para.6)5.Why does journalism remain one of the most popular majors on most university campuses? (Para.6)6.Find examples to illustrate:

a) journalism is a glamorous life;b) journalism is not a glamorous life. (Paras.8,9)


Text ACritical reading and thinking of Text A

Analyze the text by asking the following questions:

7.What advice do the authors give on how to be successful in journalism? Use an example to illustrate it. (Para.10)8.Why can’t journalists react to people’s anger aroused by bad news? (Para.13)9.According to the authors, what is the true reward of journalism? (Para.15)10.What do the authors conclude? (Para.15)11.What is the authors’ purpose in writing this article?


Text A

Critical reading and thinking of Text A

Task1 Complete the following table about the main points of the text.

1. Journalism can be _________. Most journalists can’t help it. They are _____________________.

2. Journalism is hardly ______________. Many journalists work in ______________.

3. Journalism isn’t for you if you have to be a superstar. One of the real keys to journalistic success is to __________________________________________________________.

4. Journalism is not about being popular. Journalists do not ______________________.

addictivehooked on journalism

a glamorous lifequiet anonymity

love the process of journalism regardless of its content or the medium

rate highly with the public


Text A

Difficult sentences

• “Don’t be a newspaperman if you possibly can help it.” (Para.2)

→ “Try not to be a newspaperman.”


Text A

Difficult sentences

→ Today, it’s not just young men who are interested in journalism. Indeed young women are more likely to be interested and the question about journalism is not just focused on newspaper but also on television or on some online media.

• Today, of course, the young man interested in journalism is just as likely (possibly even more likely) to be a young woman, and the career question more likely to be about television or an online medium. (Para.2)


Text A

Difficult sentences

• There’s an undeniable element of ego in journalism, and an equally undeniable element of self-sacrifice. (Para.3)

→ To succeed as a journalist, you must have great confidence about yourself, and at the same time be ready of self-sacrifice.


Text A

Difficult sentences

• the adrenalin rush (Para.5)

→ Adrenalin is a chemical produced by your adrenal glands that makes your heart beat faster and gives you more energy when you are frightened, excited, or angry.

The phrase ‘the adrenalin rush’ is often applied to describe the feeling of exhilaration and power often experienced in highly stressful or exciting situations.


Text A

Difficult sentences

• matching wits against the deadline (Para.5)

→ ‘Match wits against something’ is a figurative expression, meaning to enter into intellectual competition with someone. Here the writer is saying how the journalists are working hard to meet the deadline.

• There’s a touch of truth to this. (Para.8)

→ This (journalism is a glamorous life) is true to a certain extent.


Text A

Difficult sentences

• No one in the newsroom, he told her, can be above doing any job if that’s what the paper needs at that moment. (Para.11)

→ Everyone in the newsroom should be prepared to do any job that is required by the newspaper at that moment.

→ The writer explains how you might be disappointed in the following two paragraphs.

• Here we must disappoint you. (Para.12)


Text A

Group Discussion

Work in groups of 4-5 and make a list of the qualities you think a good journalist should have. You should also give your explanations.


Specialized vocabulary

Text AEnglish language for academic purpose

Task1 Translate the following expressions from English to Chinese or vice versa. (P120)

official publication

professional journalist

newspaper reporter

radio or TV newscast

uncover scandal

television anchor people

正式出版职业记者报纸记者

电台或电视新闻报道揭露丑闻电视主持人


Specialized vocabulary

Text A

English language for academic purpose

专栏作者日报头版体育版大众传媒新闻稿准时出版

columnist

daily paper

the front page

sports page

mass media

press release

turn out on time


Signpost language

• first, second, third, then, next, and finally• 1, 2, 3, etc.; a, b, c, etc…• before, during, after• words indicating steps, phases, stages, processes,

series, spectra, continuums…

Text AEnglish language for academic purpose

sequence: presenting a list of items in a specific order



Text A

hedging at syntactic level


Formal English

• It is recommended that…• Our data appear to…• Our data are expected to show…• From these results we may conclude…• One might suggest/consider/claim that…• It might therefore be

considered/assumed/claimed…• A consideration of the foregoing might/may

suggest that…


Text A

hedging at syntactic level


Formal English

• Thus it might/may be contended that…• Additionally, it might/may be

contended/assumed/considered that…• Hence/Thus it is essential that…• It is clear that…• It seems appropriate, therefore, that…• It may be considered that…• It might be of interest to compose…• This assumption may also help to explain why…


Text A

2


Collocation

an undeniable element of egocome outthe public’s interestget hookeddeadline pressurepay a priceburn outseek careers


Text A

2


Collocation

public servicebe addictive touncover scandalsrub elbows with celebritiesin anonymitypublic relationsoccupy a lofty position


Text A

Suggested answers

Task2 Complete the following sentences. (P120)

1. News of the professor’s departure was a single sentence at the bottom of a footnote in a holiday-period ministry _______________.

2. Advertising refers to the use of ______________ to carry paid messages for a commercial purpose or to advance a cause, institution, or political candidate.

3. Dan Dorfman, the influential financial _____________, was fired by Money magazine, the magazine’s managing editor said yesterday.

mass media

columnist

daily newspaper


Text ASuggested answers

Task2 Complete the following sentences. (P120)

4. The current revolution in the newspaper industry has highlighted the growing use of new technology to produce _______________.

5. This annual national award honors three ____________________ whose outstanding coverage in audio, video and print formats best reflects the enjoyment, importance and public service value of the Amateur Radio Service.

6. The strange subculture of grown-ups obsessing over a children’s cartoon is now ______________ news a The Wall Street Journal.

professional journalists

press release

front page


Text A

Task 3 Complete the sentences. (P122)

Suggested answers

1. Why do people fall in love? The answer at first sight __________ obvious. Love expresses a mutual physical and personal attachment two individuals feel for one another. These days, we _________ be skeptical of the idea that love is “forever”, but falling in love, we ____________ think, is an experience arising from universal human emotions. It ________ natural for a couple who fall in love to want personal and sexual fulfillment in their relationship, ___________in the form of marriage.

seems

seems

perhaps

tend to

might


Text A


Suggested answers

2. Thus a sociologist studying the Columbine High killings ________ study other mass murders and look to see if there was a pattern in the group characteristics — such as social class, race, gender, age, or cultural background — of the murderers and victims. This _________ lead a sociologist to ask why mass murders like the one at Columbine High __________ to be mostly the doing of young, middle-class, white men and then explain why this is the case.

might

might

seem


Text A


Suggested answers

3. Economists normally ________ that people are rational.

4. To beginners, it can ________ odd to claim that economics is a science.

5. If unemployment is short-term, one _________ conclude that it is not a big problem.

assume

seem

might


• Text B

– Critical reading and thinking– Difficult sentences– English language for academic purpose– Group discussion– Researching


Text B

1. The nature of Internet news: → a rival and partner of print and broadcast news; a moving

target about the future; nobody seems to know where it is headed; interactive

2. People who have adopted this explosive information revolution:

→ publishers, broadcasters, journalists3. Some of the most popular and widely used websites

carrying news:→ MSNBC.com, CNN.com, BBC.CO.UK, NYTimes.com,

Washingtonpost.com…

Critical reading and thinking

Go over the text and try to find the information about Internet journalism according to the following notes.


Text B

4.Some problems of Internet journalism:→produced a lot of red ink; traditional values and standards of good journalism are facing challenges.5.The author’s perception of new media:→New media don’t replace old media, but instead supplement and complement them.6.The new trend of the media:→Provide portals rather than just websites for their online publications.

Critical reading and thinking


Text B

Difficult sentences

• News on the Internet is a moving target and we can only offer a snapshot of this “bird on the wing”. (Para.1)

→ News on the Internet is updating fast. Hence we can just draw a rough sketch of it.


Text B

Difficult sentences

• They provide a kind of instant feedback loop for media corporations. (Para.7)

→ The bloggers’ critical comments of big newspapers and networks provide instant feedback to these newspapers and networks. The phrase ‘feedback loop’ is used here to describe any sort of relationship in which one person gives feedback to another, even if nothing in the feedback process resembles a loop.


Text B

Difficult sentences

• To be successful, online newspapers must be more than merely newspapers online.(Para.14)

→ To be successful, it is not enough for newspapers just upload the printed version online.


Collocation

• news sources• a moving target• bird on the wing• downsize staffs• trim costs• on the verge of

Text B



Collocation

•electronic edition•in hot competition with•a breaking news story•pop off•equate… with…•classified advertisements•bet on

Text B



Text B

Form groups of 4-5 and discuss the following question.

The author says that “Internet news has a strong future but is quite unlikely to replace either print or broadcast news.” Do you agree? Why or why not?

Group discussion


Text B

Work in groups of 4-5 and conduct a survey about “How weibo affects university students’ daily lives”.

Researching



• Text C

–Critical reading


Text C

Suggested answers

Journalists Major achievements

Bob Woodward

Walter Winchell

Margaret Bourke-White

Robert Capa

Anna Quindlen

Complete the following table by noting down the major achievements of the five famous journalists Text C talks about.

one of the best non-fiction authors; report of “Watergate scandal”

the only combat journalist

one of the world’s first and most famous journalists; the only woman photographer permitted in war zones

one of the best celebrity journalists

the voice of the “Baby Boomers”

• Listening

– Dealing with unfamiliar words


Dealing with unfamiliar words

Listening

1. If the words don’t hinder your understanding of the major points, just skip them over.

2. Use contextual information, common sense and background information to guess the meaning of the word.

3. If you fail to figure out the meaning of an important word, move on and listen attentively to the speaker.


Task 1 listen to a talk and write down the definitions of the following terms. (Page 132)

Listening

Suggested answers

1. blogger: ____________________________________

___________________________________2. Web logger: _________________________________

__________________________________

someone’s online record of the websites he or she visits.

one-person Internet blabbermouths who pop off to anyone who will listen


Listening

Task 2 listen to a talk and complete the following sentences. (Page 132)

Suggested answers

1. The main idea of this talk is_______________________________________.

2. In the final quarter of 2009 the average American spent ___________________________________.

3. Shows like “American Idol” and “Britain’s Got Talent” draw huge audiences partly because ________________________________________ ________________________________________.

TV has coped well with technological change

almost 37 hours a week watching television

people are constantly messaging and tweeting about them, and discussing them on Facebook.


Listening

Task 2 listen to a talk and complete the following sentences. (Page 132)

Suggested answers

4. Pay-television subscriptions grew by _______________________________________.

5. India has gone from two channels in the early 1900s to _______________________________.

6. Once people start ________________________ ________, they rarely stop.

more than two million in America last year

more than 600 todaypaying for greater television

choice


• Speaking

– Analyzing your audience and purpose


Analyzing your audience and purpose

Speaking

Presentation Outline

When you are planning a presentation, you may find it helpful to use an outline.

If it is a group presentation, the outline can provide an easy way to divide the content.

For example, someone could do the introduction, another student the first main idea in the body, and so on.



Speaking

1. Introduction

Topic: ________________________________

Hook/attention getter:____________________

Thesis statement: _______________________



Speaking

2. Body

First step/example/reason: ____________________

Supporting details:___________________________

Second step/example/reason: __________________

Supporting details: ___________________________

Third step/example/reason: ____________________

Supporting details: ___________________________



Speaking

3. Conclusion

Major points to summarize: ___________________

Any implications/suggestions/predictions: ________

Closing comment/summary: __________________


• Writing

– Writing findings/results


Writing

Writing findings/results

A summary of the results

• This study has shown that…• The main finding of this thesis is that…• This study demonstrates that… • The evidence seems to indicate that... • It must therefore be recognised that... • The indications are therefore that... • It is clear therefore that... • Thus it could be concluded that... • The evidence seems to be strong that... • On this basis it may be inferred that... • Given this evidence, it can be seen that…


Writing


An explanation of the results, particularly those that do not support, or only partially support, your hypotheses

• Unexpectedly, X and Y were shown to be…• This finding was unexpected and suggests…• The most likely explanation of the negative

finding is…


Writing


Generalizations that can be made from the results

• Although this study was conducted in one region, the results should be generalizable to other areas.

• The findings suggest that this approach would also be beneficial in other sectors.


Writing


Search your university library for a research paper with a well-written findings or results section. Then answer the following questions.

1. What are the general findings or results of the research paper?

2. Do the authors use tables or figures to analyze the data?

3. Do the authors provide raw material in this part?

4. Do the authors use past tense when writing this part?


• Getting ready for the next unit

– After class tasks


Do the following tasks after class

Getting ready for the next unit

1. Find out main points of Text A.2. Define the key terms with examples.3. Mark the specialized vocabulary and explain them.4. Underline the collocations you think important.


学术英语 社科 academic english for social sciences. 6 journalism and journalists it is...

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学术英语社科 academic english for social sciences. 6 journalism and journalists it is...