PLUG-INs A Student’s Guide to Information Literacy

1. PLUG-INs A Student’s Guide to Information Literacy NEWSPAPERS

2. Do you like reading a newspaper? What is your favorite newspaper? What is your favorite section of a newspaper?

3. Newspapers are important sources of “new” information. That’s why they are called newspapers. Newspapers are also fun and relaxing to read.

4. Reading a newspaper is a great way to improve your vocabulary. You can buy them at grocery stores or petrol stations. Or, newspapers can be delivered to your home. Newspapers are not expensive.

5. Let’s talk about different parts of a newspaper. Titles of the stories are called HEADLINES. The first page of a newspaper is called the FRONT PAGE.

6. A newspaper has different parts or SECTIONS. For example, there is a Business Section, a Sports Section, etc. A page is divided into COLUMNS to make it easy to read.

7. A normal size newspaper is called a BROADSHEET. A newspaper that comes out everyday is called a DAILY. A half size newspaper is called a TABLOID.

8. Stories in newspapers are called ARTICLES. A person who writes articles is called a REPORTER or a JOURNALIST. A reporter’s name is also called a BYLINE.

9. The person who manages the reporters is called an EDITOR. Sometimes an editor will write a special article called an EDITORIAL. The big boss is called the EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.

10. Sometimes a newspaper buys stories from a company called a WIRE SERVICE. For example, AP is a wire service; it means Associated Press. Other wire services are Al Jazeera & Reuters.

11. Most newspapers have many photographs. Usually, the photographer or source of the photograph is in the caption. Words about the photograph are called a CAPTION.

12. Usually a newspaper has many advertisements or ads. Money from the advertisements is why newspapers are usually very cheap. There are 2 kinds of advertisements.

13. Companies put big advertisements with photographs in newspapers. But also, there are very short ads from private people. We call these CLASSIFIED ADS or just CLASSIFIEDS.

14. For example, if you want to buy a car, you look in the CLASSIFIEDS under cars. If you want to rent a house or business space, look in the CLASSIFIEDS under rentals. There are many sections of the CLASSIFIEDS.

15. Another section of a newspaper is called OP ED. This means Opinions and Editorials. One this page we find articles on opinions, not facts.

16. On the OP ED page, we find LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. These letters are written by readers of the newspaper, not reporters. Usually people write their opinions in these letters.

17. Sometimes a newspaper has essays by famous people about topics in the news. The writer is called a COLUMNIST. For example, Noam Chomsky has a column in the Gulf News. We call this kind of article a COLUMN.

18. Newspapers usually have an online version from the Internet. Unfortunately, newspapers use up many trees. Reading a newspaper online saves trees.

19. Please help save the planet and recycle newspapers.

20. I hope you will enjoy reading newspapers. Ask your teacher or friendly librarian if you have any questions. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!