Essays on Blurbs

It is difficult to pinpoint where the decline of modern journalism began to slide down the perilous chute towards sensationalism and garbage news, but what is certain is that at this current time the industry needs a new start. From what is covered and what is considered to be newsworthy the world has been steered again and again towards increasingly inane and nonsensical material. That which is considered news is easily likened to a mudslinging contest in a grade-school playground, or a smear campaign devised by a high school student to become the most popular. Journalism has become less ...

Introduction

For the purposes of this genre analysis, I chose to examine the letter to the editor as a genre of writing. The concept of letters to the editor has always fascinated me; I have a tremendous amount of respect for those who follow news and editorial stories, and have a rebuttal or show of support for them. It is an interesting and fascinating way for people to express themselves and engage in a dialogue with those who provide them with their information and insight. It is for this purpose that I examine the style, art and purpose of letters to the editor.

In ...

Part 1: Genre analysis of blurbs

Blurbs are a genre of writing that consists of short, truncated pieces of text that are meant to grab an audience's attention and get them interested in a larger work. Examples of blurbs include those found on dust jackets of books, and the text found on the back covers of DVDs, books, albums and the like. They are a common method of advertising for these types of media, and for any product that needs a short, enticing description to draw the consumer in. They are hardly ever more than one or two paragraphs, and often superlative language is used in the text. Punctuation ...