Police Text Analysis

Police Text Analysis

How does text A use language to create meanings and representations

In text A, we are presented with an informal interview with a police officer who is questioned on the subject of ‘policing’. The writer aims to appeal to the audience through the language, in this case the intended audience is teenagers who are interested in policing. This is done through such techniques as incorporating colloquial terms that the age group are familiar with. The noun ‘cop’ is used by the writer to relate the website with the intended audience as it is a term commonly used by adolescents. This informal tone is carried throughout the interview with the officer producing anecdotal responses which are not littered with sophisticated language a younger audience would otherwise struggle to understand.

Furthermore, we again see the writer try to appeal to their audience, this time through the technique of graphology. This can be seen through the graffiti style font used on the website which is heavily connected to the age group, this is meant to encourage young users to read the content and feel more relatable with the content creator and also the content on it as the design is tailored to teenage culture.

How does text B use language to create meanings and representations

In text B,  we also see an informal approach taken by solihull police twitter account which reports on local police news and events. Similarly to text A, text B takes the more informal approach as it aims to appeal to the audience, in this case the audience is solihull residents who operate on twitter who we assume is a rather young adult audience. The idea the account is trying to appeal to younger people is evident through such things as the emoticon ‘:-)’ we see used in one of the posts. The emoticon is typically used by younger individuals to convey emotion which otherwise is difficult to do via computer mediated text. A survey taken by TalkTalk mobile found that 72% of  18-25 year olds said they used emoticons as a good way to express emotion over text, this shows the use of emoticons by the account aims to appeal more to younger audiences who will feel more encouraged to follow the twitter account as it displays more emotion.

Furthermore, we again see the twitter account appealing to the younger audience on the internet with the use of a hashtag. ‘#EatSleepBarkRepeat’ is used to promote comical relief on a page which mainly is centred around serious events such as crime and disorder. This encourages twitter users to follow the account as not only do they receive important and serious information on local policing news, they are also presented with a more entertaining element which users can appreciate and encourage to keep up with the page and take notice of it.   Feedback (general) Text A Think about how you discuss the representation of teenagers; they are not represented negatively. The graffiti style font is an example of graphology being used to appeal to the audience of young people.  Any connotations of teens as vandals are unfortunate but certainly not deliberate. Give context to quotes. Explain who uses them and where when discussing present tense verbs like ‘achieve’ and ‘helping’. Conclusion not needed.

Text B

Lots of you mentioned multimodal text, need to give examples of this. Must focus on the linguistic features used (personal pronouns, interrogatives, adjective use, ‘tweeps’- dont describe the text  

Comparison

Compare both in structured way : GRAMPS, then same language features  in each, i.e. use of interrogatives and use of graphology essay In terms of genre, there is a clear difference between the texts, however in both texts we see an informal tone carried throughout. Furthermore, there is also a difference between the targeted audiences with the police interview clearly targeting adolescent individuals who have an interest in policing, whereas in text B, the twitter page is aimed at residents in Solihull who are active on twitter. The mode of both is written but text A is also multi-modal as it is written from spoken dialogue. there are also differences between the purposes of both texts as text A is written to inform people on the life of a police officer and text B is written to update locals on policing news. The subject of both however is the same as they centre around policing. Both texts also take advantage of linguistic techniques, one such technique is the graphology. In text A we see this through the graffiti style font which is used to entice the target audience to read the interview. in text B, the twitter account retweets a picture of a police dog which is done in an attempt to attract users to the page and feel more inclined to read the content. in both instances, the use of graphology is done to ensure that the texts are enticing enough for both sets of audiences to want to read the content. Furthermore, both texts encourage further involvement in the subject of policing. This is evident in text A through the use of hyper links to inform people on the subject further. Text B also uses links which make it possible for twitter users in the local area to apply to a job in the policing section. Both are used to encourage audiences to either further their knowledge on the subject or help them find jobs in the subject they're interested in.