Tag: writing

  • What is a News Text?

    What is a News Text?

    For some people, reading the news may be like eating or drinking, which is not only a necessity but also a necessity. What for? Yes, especially if you don’t get information, as is the meaning of the news text that we know.

    The information contained in the news text itself can be in the form of events that are currently happening or those that have already happened. And this is usually conveyed either orally as we often hear and see on television, or in writing as we usually read in print media.

    When referring to Wikipedia, news itself can be interpreted as new information or information about something that is happening, presented in print, broadcast, on the Internet, or by word of mouth to a third person or crowd.

    News reports are the duty of the journalist’s profession, when the news is reported by the journalist, the report becomes the latest facts / ideas which are deliberately selected by the news editor / media to be broadcast on the assumption that the news chosen can attract a large audience because it contains news elements.

    What are the elements referred to? There are at least six, namely what, who, where, when, why and how.

    Understanding news according to experts

    Mickhel V. Charniey stated that “news is the fastest report of an event or incident which is factual, important, and interesting for some readers, and concerns their interests”. Meanwhile, according to Willard C. Bleyer, news is defined as something recent (new) which is chosen by journalists to be published in newspapers so that it attracts readers’ interest.

    Not much different, Wiliam S. Maulsby argues that news is a true and impartial narrative of facts that have significant meaning and have just happened, which can attract the attention of the readers of the newspaper containing them.

  • How to define the main idea in a paragraph?

    How to define the main idea in a paragraph?

    The main idea or main idea is a topic that will be discussed in a paragraph. A good paragraph has a main idea and a few explanatory sentences. The main idea serves as the topic of discussion, while the explanatory sentence serves to explain the topic. A paragraph must have a main idea and explanatory sentences that are correlated or related. Then, how do you determine the main idea of ​​a paragraph?

    Types of paragraphs based on the location of the main idea are divided into three, namely deductive, inductive, and mixed paragraphs. A deductive paragraph is a paragraph where the main idea is at the beginning, while a paragraph whose main idea is at the end is called an inductive paragraph. Then what about mixed paragraphs? Yes, a mixed paragraph is a paragraph that has at least two main ideas, namely at the beginning and end.

    How to Determine the Main Idea

    Determining the main idea of ​​a paragraph is not too difficult. Accuracy is one of the things that you must have to be able to find a main idea easily. To make it easier for you to determine the main idea of ​​a paragraph, there are several ways you can do it, such as

    1. Separate the Main Sentence from the Special Sentence

    The main sentence will usually be followed or preceded by a special sentence. To be able to recognize a special sentence, you can pay attention to one of its characteristics, which is a sentence that contains examples, evidence, or special details, so that if you see a sentence with these characteristics, it is a special sentence. After that separate the two, then you will get a main idea in the form of the main sentence.

    2. Read Carefully

    Maybe this is the simplest way, you only need time and a little concentration to do it. In this way, you can determine which one can be called the main idea or which includes an explanatory sentence.

    3. Concluding a paragraph

    The main idea can determine a conclusion from the paragraph. Therefore, by reading a paragraph and then concluding it, you will get a main idea.

    Those are three ways to determine the main idea easily that you can put into practice, now let’s look at some examples in determining the main idea of ​​a paragraph.

    Examples of Finding Key Ideas in Paragraphs

    Heavy rain for four consecutive hours caused the river to overflow at several points. This causes flooding and can hinder daily activities. This overflowing water caused the streets in the village to inundate, thus narrowing the space for the residents to move. Even the protocol roads were flooded and further hampered traffic in Jakarta. This situation is expected to take place within the next 24 hours. If there is no effective handling from the DKI Jakarta provincial government.

    Based on the sentence above, we can recognize the characteristics of a special sentence. The special sentence here serves to explain the meaning of the main sentence in the form of a further description of the problem alluded to in the main sentence, namely the flood that hinders activity. The second to the fourth sentence is a special sentence that will support the main idea in the main sentence.

    We can also draw a conclusion from the example of the paragraph above, that the floods that occurred caused obstruction of residents’ activities, this conclusion fits the first sentence of the paragraph above, so the first sentence is the main idea of ​​this paragraph.

    If there is a question how to determine the main idea, the answer is these three things. By utilizing these methods, you can answer various questions easily.

    Do you have any questions about this? Please write your question in the comments column and don’t forget to share with others about this knowledge!