Writing a diary entry

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 4,5

Language B

Writing

Diary entry

context, audience, purpose 

* the overall context may be assumed to be the writer's own life - but the question will probably set some particular situation around which the entry should be invented e.g. 'you have had an argument with a good friend'. (In exams, whether or not the "writer's own life" is the student's real one, or is completely invented, does not matter at all - it merely has to be credible.)

context, audience, purpose 

* the question of 'audience' is the key distinction perceived by IB between 'diary' and 'journal' - a diary is assumed to be essentially private i.e. written for the author's eyes only; whereas a journal may be written for possibly public reading (e.g. a scientist's journal of experiments and data-collection).

context, audience, purpose 

* the purpose will generally be to 'record' some experiences of personal significance - but what sorts of experiences are required will be indicated in the question. One way of stating the distinction between the two text types is that a diary is anecdotal (dealing with intimate personal feelings) while a journal is intellectual (dealing with personal reactions to more public concepts and arguments).

register and tone 

* will use a generally informal register

* the tone will be personal, frank and open
    - e.g. emotions may be described clearly and with feeling

conventions

* will use first person narration

* will have a closing statement to round off the entry

* will avoid self-evident explanatory phrases or sentences, e.g. will use “I saw Alicia”, not “I saw Alicia, my best friend”

* will include the date and/or day

Appropriate?

A Diary (private) / Journal will be appropriate if the task requires you to express your personal thoughts and feelings: to reflect on some situation of your life. This sort of writing is essentially private - normally, you don't expect to publish what you write and make your thoughts public. So, the audience is yourself, and the purpose is to clarify your own thoughts.

Not to be confused with...

... 'email' or 'blog' ... An 'email' is not private, but is usually restricted to the person to whom you are writing. You want to share your personal thoughts and feelings, perhaps about something that has just happened to you, but only through a private conversation limited to a friend. A 'blog' is essentially a very public sort of journal - you intend to present some of your personal ideas in a lively entertaining way to a general, undefined audience. You want to entertain, and hook your (unknown) audience by your interesting, even provocative, opinions and experiences.

Basic Format:

- Heading : a diary entry will use a date; or dates, if multiple entries ('Dear Diary' is unbelievable!)

- Conclusion : there is nothing conventional to end a diary entry (possibly something along the lines of "more tomorrow"?)

- Lucid paragraphing : While one can think of real examples of diaries which ignore basic paragraphing, students writing an exam script should be expected to show that they understand that sensible paragraphing aids clarity.

Approach:

- Address : being essentially private, diaries have no convention of address, but the best examples give a sense of the writer conversing with himself / herself ("As usual, I'm thinking of..."; "Why do I always...")

- Register : informality enriched with sophistication - since diaries are personal, some informality can be expected in register and rhetoric, but higher marks will go to exam scripts which combine colloquialism with dashes of complex phrasing and effects.

Approach:

- Organisation - What should govern the effective organisation of a diary?

- even if a diary is a (more) private reflection, an exam script can still be expected to show a clear and organised flow of ideas. This may include :

•  control of narration – the diary is usually set to address a narrative of some sort, so effective explanation and control of the events is expected
  
• narration plus comment – what distinguishes the diary from other forms of narrative is that the diarist reflects on the events and draws personal conclusions.

Assignment

Write a diary entry by one of the characters, other than Trevor himself, in ‘Born a Crime’.  

(450-600 words)