Sample Rationale for My Potty Mouth Post (below)

This written task relates to part 1 of IB English Language and Literature. It will demonstrate an understanding of the topic relating to language and taboo. More specifically, this blog post will analyze the impact of printing uncensored swear words in the mainstream media. In this case, I will be looking at the way The New York Times printed swear words in two articles. Through this blog, I will demonstrate that I have achieved the learning outcome: analyze how audience and purpose affect the structure and content of texts. This will be achieved by looking at how the intent of both Times articles helped them make the editorial decisions about whether or not to censor the language.

I will be creating a blog post in order to convey my understanding of this topic. A blog post is an appropriate text type to use for this response because this is a personal response to the issue of selective censorship in the news. The author of my blog has opinions about this topic, and she wants to share her ideas with a broad audience. The conventions of a blog post included are compositional risks such as the use of slang and sentence fragments, short paragraphs (including one-sentence paragraphs designed for effect), embedded hyperlinks to outside content, and a (hopefully) engaging voice that keeps the audience reading.

The audience for my blog post is educated people who are interested in language and politics. The purpose of the post is to explain the importance of word choice and censorship in the mainstream media.

The blog is set in a modern context in which people discuss controversial issues like race relations, sexism, and politics.

Word count: 278