This investigation will be comparing the use of language by two types of newspaper. The broadsheet and the tabloid.

Method of investigation

. Select a tabloid and a broadsheet newspaper.

Tabloid: - 'The Sun'

Broadsheet: - 'The Daily Telegraph'

2. Select the same storyline from each newspaper.

3. Choose a sample size. Not too small.

For the number of letters in a word I have chosen a sample size of 200 words (not including numbers). I have taken 100 words from the beginning of the article and 100 words from the end of the article. I have done this to get a fair picture of the whole article.

For the number of words in a sentence, I used 19 sentences because there were only 19 sentences in the tabloid newspaper article.

4. With the broadsheet newspaper, count the number of letters in words and make a tally chart of the results. Repeat this for the tabloid newspaper. Do the same for the number of words in sentences.

5. Calculate the cumulative frequency for all of

the results.

6. Draw cumulative frequency graphs. All cumulative

frequency graphs have a similar shape. This shape is an ogive.

Ogive

Cumulative

frequency

Sample

7. Estimate the median from the cumulative frequency graph.

The median is found by halving the total cumulative

frequency, read along from

this point to the ogive, then read down.

8. Find the inter-quartile range. This range is useful to see how well the frequencies are dispersed.

9. Compare the results and write a conclusion.

Results

Number of letters in words

Type Results

of newspaper

Estimated

Median

Inter-quartile

range

Tabloid

3.7

3.3

Broadsheet

3.3

3.6

Number of words in sentences

Type Results

of newspaper

Estimated

Median

Inter-quartile

range

Tabloid

20.2

6.6

Broadsheet

22.2

2.2

On the following page, two comparison graphs have been drawn. This is to help to see any patterns of similarity between the results.

Evaluation of results

Evaluating the length of words

The results show that the number of letters in words is very similar for both types of newspapers (not as predicted).

The longest word in the broadsheet newspaper is 11 letters, in the tabloid newspaper it is 12 letters (not as predicted).

The median shows that the average word length in the broadsheet newspaper is near 3 and the tabloid newspaper is nearer 4 (not as predicted).

The inter-quartile range shows the dispersion of the frequencies to be similar. As shown by the comparison graphs (not as predicted).

Evaluating the length of sentences

The results show that the length of the sentences are not that similar (as predicted).

The longest sentence in the broadsheet is 33 words and 27 in the tabloid newspaper (as predicted).

The median shows that the average sentence length is 22 words in the broadsheet newspaper and 20 in the tabloid newspaper (as predicted).

The inter-quartile range shows the dispersion of frequencies to be greater in the broadsheet newspaper than the tabloid newspaper (as predicted).

Conclusion

My prediction was partly correct.

The broadsheet newspaper didn't use longer words but it did use longer sentences.

The use of English is similar in both newspapers.

The tabloid newspaper is getting its information to the reader in shorter sentences.