Broadsheet and tabloid newspapers - comparing word length of letters and syllables, Picture spaces, Advertisement spaces, Headline space, Type of adverts that are included in the newspapers.
GCSE COURSEWORK
Number Grid
Name: Mohammed Hasnat
Candidate number: 8081
Centre number: 14328
Subject: Mathematics
Teacher: Mr Turkiewicz
Exam: December 2002
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Formula Page
In my investigation I have been asked to use a specialised formula to work out the 'MEAN' of the data that I will collect during my investigation. The formula that I have been given is:
Mean X = ?fx
f = Frequency of the data, so my frequency will be the number of letters in each word
x = this stands for the total of the frequency
n = This stands for the number of observations, such as in case it will 100.
What is mode: mode is defined as the most occurring number in a single investigation, and also you can calculate mode as being the top of the votes in an frequency table. There are 2 types of mode; they are modal group or class, which is used to calculate grouped data.
What is median: median is defined as the middle value in a single investigation, and also there no such formula or any word equation for solving it. Median could be defined as the midpoint in the grouped data, where you find the middle value by subtracting the highest from the lowest range.
What is mean: mean is defined as the finding the total average of the data, such as you will find the total number of observations in any investigations. Mean can be calculated in grouped or un-grouped data, but the formula still stays the same, only the meaning change.
Introduction
There are many different newspapers; they range from tabloid papers to the broadsheet papers. The tabloids are a lighter read to the more involving descriptive broadsheet papers. Different newspapers are written to suit these preferences. In the tabloid papers the wording used is less profound and therefore more easily understood. In many cases tabloids newspapers are aimed at a reading-age of 7-8, therefore broadsheet newspapers have a reading-age of 16+.
Aim
In this investigation my aim to research some of various broadsheets and tabloids newspapers by supported lines of enquires, shown below:
. Word length of letters and syllables
2. Picture spaces
3. Advertisement spaces
4. Headline space
5. Type of adverts that are included in the newspapers
Prediction
My prediction for this investigation is that a tabloid newspaper will have less letters on average per word than, on the other hand a broadsheet newspaper will more letters on average per word. I can prove that my prediction is correct by investigating the two different types of newspapers. I will do this investigation by research different types of broadsheets and tabloids newspapers that re available in the market today.
Objectives
My objectives for this particular investigation are as follows, I have been given these objectives because these are our guidelines for my investigation that I will be working on in the future:
. Read the question
2. Write a plan
3. Start simple
4. Use diagrams
5. Look for patterns and rules
6. Put your results in an table
7. Test and prove your rule
8. Do an extension
9. Write an conclusion / evaluation
Hypothesis
What are 'Tabloids' newspapers?
The term tabloid ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
My objectives for this particular investigation are as follows, I have been given these objectives because these are our guidelines for my investigation that I will be working on in the future:
. Read the question
2. Write a plan
3. Start simple
4. Use diagrams
5. Look for patterns and rules
6. Put your results in an table
7. Test and prove your rule
8. Do an extension
9. Write an conclusion / evaluation
Hypothesis
What are 'Tabloids' newspapers?
The term tabloid is sometimes used to refer to newspapers that carry stories about celebrities, crime, or scandal under sensationalized headlines. However, any kind of newspaper can be printed on tabloid-sized pages. The reading-age of 'tabloids' newspapers are 7-9. This reason for this is because 'tabloids' often include short amount of language that they use to make the reader more eye-catching to read.
The pages of tabloid newspapers measure about 25 cm by 37 cm (10 in by 14.5 in).
Below are some examples of 'Tabloids' are:
. 'The Sun'
2. 'The Mirror'
3. 'Daily Star'
4. 'Metro'
5. 'News Of The World'
What are 'Broadsheet' newspapers?
The term broadsheet is sometimes used to refer to newspapers that carry stories worldwide, and local news, they are use a small amount of pictures and add more of the text because the leave gaps between them. They also intend to advertise their paper for persons aged
The broadsheets are aimed for A class persons because these types of people read news that are factual, interested in headlines that are meaningful and are appealing for reading. Broadsheet newspaper pages measure 33 cm by 55 cm (13 in by 21.5 in).
Below are some examples of 'broadsheets':
. 'The Guardian'
2. 'The Times'
3. 'The Independent'
4. 'The Financial Times'
5. 'Evening Standard'
6. 'The Daily Telegraph'
Comparison between them:
Broadsheets
Tabloids
Theme
Factual / less gossip
Celebrity gossip / factual
Cost
20 - 40p
5 - 25p
Measurements
33 cm by 55 cm (13 in by 21.5 in)
25 cm by 37 cm (10 in by 14.5 in)
Type of adverts included
Jobs, Cars, Property sales, etc
Loans, Cheap Phone deals, and personal
Plan
I will collect various types of broadsheets and tabloids newspapers, and I then have to choose maximum of six articles from each newspapers types. Then I have to find out the 'MEAN' 'MODE' 'MEDIEN' for each of the six articles. Therefore I will collect twelve articles altogether.
Equipment: in this investigation I will be required for this following apparatus for me to complete my investigation:
Equipment
Quantity
Reason for use
Broadsheet newspapers
Use to record my results
Tabloid newspapers
Use to record my data of results
Calculator
Use to calculate Mean Mode and Median
Ruler
Use to measure the AREA of the newspapers
Pen
2
Use to write down the data I have achieved
Pencil
2
Use to draw my diagrams
Preliminary work: Before going ahead with the investigation, and making a valid prediction supported by a hypothesis, I will do a trial run of the experiment. This will give me an indication as to what to base my predictions on. For my preliminary work I did the investigation very perfect using the support that I have received from my maths teacher.
This preliminary work helped me to plan my actual investigation better as I learnt from my mistakes. These were things like missing couple of letters in the words, which changed my results. Therefore, in the actual experiment I am going to be very careful when I count the words accurately, get the MEAN, MODE, and Median correct.
Method: the data will be collected ungrouped because then I won't be able to find the true results. This should give a good overall view to the word length in a section. Similar sections from each newspaper will be counted as to keep it fair. For example sports will be counted from newspapers, so will economics and politics. This is to give an overall view of the newspapers and so not just one area is studied. From each section the same number of words will be used to keep the investigation fair.
Fair-test: to make my investigation fair I will choose 6 articles from broadsheets and tabloids, and count an hundred words for each of the articles. My fair test will be completed at the end of the investigation. My fair-test will succeed in this investigation because it will keep all the variables the same.
My Aim In Brief
. Word length of letters and syllables in Tabloids and Broadsheets
2. Picture spaces
3. Headline spaces
4. Advertising space
5. Type of adverts that are included in the newspapers
. Word length of letters and syllables in Tabloids and Broadsheets
Broadsheets: in broadsheets newspapers the minimum length of words is 3 letters-per word and maximum of 7-11 letters-per word. The reason for this is that in broadsheets the language average (eg mixture of complicated and simple words).
Tabloids: in tabloids newspapers the minimum length of words is 3-4 letters per word and maximum length of words is 7-10. The reason for this is that the reading-age has been affected my research, and the language used are quite similar to broadsheet newspapers.
2. Picture spaces
Broadsheets: in broadsheets newspapers total area of the paper is 1815cm because I have used the formulae of 'AREA' which is L x W. I am now going to find the area of an advert in any broadsheets newspapers, which is: 13 x18 cm, now the area of this advert is 234cm which leaves 1815 -234 = 1581cm.
Tabloids: In tabloids newspapers the measurements is 27 x 37cm. The total area is 999cm. I am now going to find the area of one particular advert which is featured in tabloids: 15 x 29 = 435cm, so I then do 999 - 435 = 564cm.
3. Headline space
Broadsheet: In broadsheet the headlines cover almost of the top section of the newspaper itself because editors use bold, large, eye-catching fonts to attract their reader to buy the paper.
Tabloids: In tabloids the headline space is very small and lacks boldness, clear font, and also does not sound irrelevant to the context of the paper. The editors use colour to attract the reader's eyes.
4. Advertisement space
Broadsheet: in broadsheets they intend to include very few or less adverts because they usually concentrate on the whole story itself. They lack irrelevant adverts like; loans, cheap mobile deals, etc. but they mainly include jobs. They lose less space on the page for decent ads.
Tabloids: In tabloids the advertisement space is very high and very long because the whole advert stretches itself through an half a page. The advert that are used are aiming at the lower class person who are unemployed, self employed, no work.
Sample Of My Data
In my sample I will be talking about various issues and reasons why I have chosen these 3 articles from broadsheets and tabloids. I then discuss various attitudes that lead me to choose my various reasons for it, and also I will give examples of the articles headings and key words that are associated to the heading itself.
Article 1: 'College attracts record number of students'
I have chosen this article from broadsheets newspaper because it includes various key words that are very eye-catching in my opinion such as "attracts" because it shows that it is an educational background theme to it. The language used is very persuasive to catch and reader's eye for instance.
Article 2: 'Mum's victory over school error'
I have chosen this article from an broadsheet newspapers because it includes a various key words and phrases that are very
Results: from my investigation I have achieved the following data from broadsheets newspaper which I have selected only six articles. I have used this type of table format because it looks concise, accurate, and easy to read the data given in my results tables:
Article 1: 'College attracts record number of students'
Number of letters
Frequency
Cumulative freq
2
6
7
3
8
25
4
0
35
5
6
41
6
6
47
7
2
59
8
9
68
9
9
77
0
3
80
1
20
00
I have used the method of the cumulative frequency graph design because it looks more original than any typical graph of line that I have composed in the past. From my first piece of data of article one I have noticed that many broadsheets publishers and editors have used a wide variety of eleven letters in a word. The reason for this is that broadsheets newspapers are aimed at higher class persons in the UK. The editors use a minimum of three letters in each word because they want to attract with the small word to extend the story
Article 2: 'Mum's victory over school error'
Number of letters
Frequency
Cumulative freq
6
6
2
4
20
3
22
42
4
9
51
5
8
59
6
5
74
7
2
86
8
5
91
9
6
97
0
98
1
99
2
0
00
Article 3: 'Thugs wreak havoc on woman's parking bay'
Number of letters
Frequency
Cumulative freq
2
2
2
0
2
3
27
39
4
0
49
5
3
62
6
9
71
7
6
87
8
7
94
9
95
0
3
98
1
99
2
00
Article 4: 'Starlighters sink their teeth into latest play'
Number of letters
Frequency
Cumulative freq
3
3
2
3
6
3
24
40
4
3
53
5
2
65
6
3
78
7
9
87
8
2
89
9
5
94
0
4
98
1
2
00
2
3
3
Article 5: 'Blair: We must be bold'
Number of letters
Frequency
Cumulative freq
4
3
2
1
6
3
20
40
4
20
53
5
1
65
6
9
78
7
7
87
8
5
89
9
94
0
6
98
1
00
Article 6: 'A-level reformer to ministers: we need more time'
Number of letters
Frequency
Cumulative freq
0
0
2
21
21
3
20
41
4
22
63
5
8
71
6
3
84
7
0
94
8
3
97
9
0
97
0
2
99
1
00
2
0
I have now achieved my full data from the research I have conducted during this coursework project. I am now going to find out the Mean, Mode, Median for each of the 6 articles on broadsheets. I am now conduct a table which show clearly about the Mean, Mode, and Median:
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3
Article 4
Article 5
Article 6
Mean
9.09
8.33
8.33
8.33
8.33
8.33
Mode
3 Letter word
3 Letter word
3 Letter word
3 Letter word
3 / 4 Letter word
4 Letter word
Median
6
6
6
6
6
6
Comparing 'broadsheets and tabloids'
Results: Now that I have completed my task on the broadsheet, I will now start to investigate in Tabloids newspapers to check that if there is any relationship between the two newspapers:
Article 1: BBC 'wastes' £10m to bag Harry Potter'
Number of letters
Frequency
Cumulative freq
2
6
7
3
30
47
4
4
61
5
1
72
6
3
85
7
0
85
8
6
91
9
6
97
0
3
00
Article 2: 'Carjack killer's apology as he is jailed for life'
Number of letters
Frequency
Cumalative freq
4
4
2
7
21
3
23
44
4
8
62
5
5
67
6
7
74
7
2
86
8
6
92
9
6
98
0
2
00
Article 3: 'Download music for free - legally'
Number of letters
Frequency
Cumulative freq
2
2
2
7
9
3
20
29
4
7
46
5
3
59
6
1
70
7
7
77
8
0
87
9
6
93
0
5
98
1
99
2
00
3
2
Interpretation/ Analysis
By looking at the tally charts and box plots for both' London Metro' and 'The Independent on the report on the front page it shows that there is a larger range from The Independent. It has a range of 11 to the range of 9 from 'London Metro'. The median is also a lot higher. 'The Independent' has 6 compared to the 4 of 'The London Metro' (A difference of 2 letters per word). This suggests that 'The Independent' has more letters on average than' London Metro', but this is only from a small section of the paper.
The cumulative frequency diagram shows 'The Independent' to have a greater frequency of letters per word. 'London Metro' has more medium size words than The Independent. The graph shows that the 'London Metro' having more constant data.
The Independent has a larger mean than 'London Metro' 5.4 compared to 5.2 this is only a small difference and could have been achieved by chance. Constant data. The Independent has a higher and a lower number of letters per word.
Conclusion / Evaluation
My prediction was accurate. In the conclusion the results suggest that 'The Independent' has more letters per word on average than' London Metro', but this does not mean that this is conclusive. There is only a small sample that has been taken. If there was more time larger, more wider investigations could have been taken. I could have investigated other newspapers. I could also have investigated on the size of photographs or pictures that were in the papers, to see if there was a correlation between the size and number of pictures to the size of the words. If I could have done this investigation I would have: chose less articles, count les words to save time.
Appendix
