GCE Applied ICT G040: Lesson 06 Communication Comparison Report Mr C Johnston

Learning Outcome Reviewed the documents which you must collect Know what features which could be compared Have an idea of how to write up you comparison

Overview In order to pass unit 1 you must write a report which describes, compares and evaluates 6 documents These documents must be collected from different companies You need 2 types of document collected from 3 companies Business Letter Stringer, HSBC Bank, Tesco. Advertising Leaflet Stringer, HSBC Bank, Tesco.

What the exam board says Mark Band 1 (0-3 marks) The candidate describes the layout and purpose of each of the six collected documents; The specific purpose of each document and the main features, such as font size, margins, use of bullets or numbering, use of paragraphs etc. will be briefly described. Common elements such as sender’s and recipient’s address, date, reference and subject on business letters will also be identified The candidate compares similar items, identifying good and bad points about the writing and/or presentation styles of each; The presentation styles of similar items will be compared; those awarded the highest mark will also have made some comparison of writing styles. – writing style refers to the type of language the document uses, e.g. formal, informal, informative, and persuasive, it should not be confused with font styles and sizes, which are presentation styles Good points and bad points will be made although may not be accurate or fully justified. The candidate makes some comment on their suitability for purpose, use of house style and/or how they could be improved; Some comments will be made on each document about its suitability for purpose, use of house style or how it could be improved, but not all three. Comments may reflect your opinions, rather than accepted standards for the type of document; The report may contain errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar.

What the exam board says Mark Band 2 (4-5 marks) The candidate describes in detail the layout and purpose of each of the six collected documents; The layout of each document is and also the particular purpose of each described in detail, e.g. a letter from a bank that is trying to persuade the recipient to open a new type of account; The candidate compares similar items, accurately identifying good and bad points about the writing and presentation styles of each; A comparison of the presentation and writing styles of similar items is written clearly identify good and bad points about writing style, (e.g. the persuasiveness of the text) and presentation style, (such as the use of bullets to emphasise points) The candidate comments on their suitability for purpose, use of house style and how they could be improved; Reasoned comments on each documents suitability for purpose, house style and how it could be improved are made; such comments will relate to accepted standards for the type of document; The report will contain few spelling, punctuation and grammar errors; Although some errors may be present, these should not be of the type that a spell or grammar checker would identify;

What the exam board says Mark Band 3 (6-7 marks) The candidate describes in detail the layout and purpose of each of the six collected documents; The candidate provides a critical analysis of the documents, including comparison of the writing and presentation styles of similar items; their suitability for purpose and use of house style; In addition to the evidence generated for Mark Band 2, you will provide an analysis of all six documents that is well thought out, well structured and critical; Consideration of writing and presentation style will be clearly linked to the purpose of each document and will lead to a detailed discussion of the suitability of each for its purpose; The candidate explains how each could be improved in relation to its purpose; The two documents from each organisation will be compared to explain how house style is applied and improvement will be explained clearly how they would improve the documents’ suitability for purpose; The report will be consistently well structured and there will be few, if any, spelling, punctuation and grammar errors. There will be very few errors in the report.

Report Structure To document your findings you need to set out your report in a formal way, Use sensible headings to structure your work, SPAG is accessed during this task so ensure that it is free from spelling and grammar errors, REMEMBER – to include a comparison between the documents within the work. Critical analysis means you explain why particular features are good or bad. The explanation should be based on accepted standards wherever possible, rather than just your own opinions.

Documents to evaluate Business Letters* Newsletters Publicity flyers* Leaflets* Job Application Forms Questionnaires? Business reports? Presentations? Web Pages (homepage)*

Evaluation Questions What do you think the documents purpose and audience is? Do you think the documents suitable for this audience and purpose? How is the document suitable for the audience and purpose? Which features of the document do you like? Which features of the document do you not like? How do you think the document could be improved? Which document think is the best out of the three based upon the answers to these questions and why?

Activity Using this example letter produce a practice evaluation. Include these sections within your work Explanation of the audience and purpose Description of the presentation style Content / layout / house style Evaluation of presentation style Good points / bad points Description of the writing style Type of language / style of language / word length / reading age / ease Evaluation of writing style Suitability for purpose Improvements that can be made so the communication suits purpose more clearly

Steps Forward Collect the documents you are going to analyse and commence writing your report Use the mark scheme slide to come up with a layout for your report Need same headings for each communication A detailed comparison for each type of communication A detailed comparison of house style for each organisation Remember to use the notes from previous sessions to provide guidance and the practice evalutions Your teacher will give you a date by which the first draft of the report will be due Make sure you carefully proof read the work prior to hand in as marks will be lost for poor SPAG

Where Should I Be? Comm 1.1 Comm 1.2 Comm 1.3 Comparison of communication 1 Similarities and differences between the 3 same communications What worked well and what didn’t? What is good practice and what is bad practice? For each communication Explanation of purpose Description and evaluation (+ve/-ve/improvements) of presentation style Description and evaluation (+ve/-ve/improvements) of writing style Suitability for purpose Improvements related to purpose

Into the future… Comm 2.1 Comm 2.2 Comm 2.3 Comparison of communication 2 Similarities and differences between the 3 same communications What worked well and what didn’t? What is good practice and what is bad practice? Description / evaluation of house style used Description of house style used by each company (i.e 1.1 & 2.1, 1.2 & 2.2, 1.3 & 2.3) Comparison of the house styles used (i.e. .1 v .2 vs .3) What works well what doesn’t? What makes a good house style which is recognisable and gives brand awareness? For each communication Explanation of purpose Description and evaluation (+ve/-ve/improvements) of presentation style Description and evaluation (+ve/-ve/improvements) of writing style Suitability for purpose Improvements related to purpose

Into the Future… Comm 2.1 Comm 2.2 Comm 2.3 Comparison of Comm 2 Similarities and differences between the 3 same comms What worked well and what didn’t? What is good practice and what is bad practice? House Style Explain the house style used by each company Compare the house style used by each company i.e. 1.1 vs 2.1, 1.2 vs 2.2, 1.3 vs 2.3 Conclude if the house style is appropriate or not For each communication - Explanation of purpose - Description and evaluation (+ve/-ve improvemnts) of presentation style - Description and evaluation (+ve/-ve improvemnts) of writing style - Suitability for purpose - Improvements related to purpose

“Writing style was miss understood by many learners” Think….. The three statements below all convey the same information. What emotions (feelings) does each suggest? “Writing style was miss understood by many learners” “Mr Johnston was deeply saddened and disappointed that many learners had not correctly described writing style within their essays. In future he will ensure that everybody fully understands the concept before ” “Mr Johnston was very angry and cross that learners wrote the wrong content for writing style, despite a number of reminding and warning of how previous learners had gone wrong. Some learners had even written about font styles which almost sent him into meltdown!” He wonders why on earth he bothers if learners are not going to listen and in future will not waste his breathe!”

Common Essay Issues 2016 Structure No main title, Don’t underline any titles, Missing Sub-Subtitles, Headers and Footer not always used, questions which I have asked left in as sub-subtitles (you need to develop your own!!) Lack of Presentation Style Description – fully describe Page Layout (Margins, Headers and Footers, Page orientation, Paper size, Pagination, Gutters) Graphical Images and Media (Graphs / Charts, Lines or borders, Shading, Video Clips, Pictures, Drawings Digital photographs, Clipart, Scanned Images, Sound) Textual Styles (Fonts, Heading and titles styles, Bold, Italic and underline Superscript and subscript use, Text orientation, Text animation (on screen)) Paragraph Formats (Tabs and indents, Paragraph numbering, Widows and orphans, Justification used, Paragraph spacing, Use of tables, Bullet points, Line spacing, Hyphenation) Special Features (Borders, Shading, Background colour, Text colour, Text / picture boxes) Make sure have +ve, -ve points for presentation style and must be fully analysed (justify) Writing style was poor and often incorrect Some made up reading age.. Need evidence if going to quote an age.. Think about the emotions you feel when reading the text… this is part of the writing style… do the emotions generated match the purpose and aim of the communication??

Suitability for purpose often missing or not explained Ensure that you don’t just state “its suitable for purpose” explain why its suitable for purpose… also reiterate the purpose within your explanation Improvements limited and not applied to purpose Need to tease out as many improvements as you can and say why each is an improvement and how making that improvement will enable the communication to become more suitable for its purpose Evaluation not critical enough Need to backup every statement you make with reason… cant just say something is good or something is bad… need to know why it is with some factual, hopefully evidence based reason… Comparisons between same communications is weak Need an in-depth compassion between the same three communications… what is the same? Same is not? What is good? What is not? What do you like? What do you not like? What ideas/good practices can you take away your self? House style – some good comparison between leaflet and letters but limited in terms of what the actual house style is and if its effective or not Start off by explaining the house style used by each company in general (if stuck have a look at some other communications by the company for example the website) then compare what has been used within the communication you have chosen… Finish by concluding if the house style adopted by the company is effective or not… how can it be improved??