Week nine – newsletter and quiz

1. Inquiry: Review a newsletter from Crocodile Specialist Group (CSG)

I have chosen volume 34 no.3 of CSG newsletter for review.

i. What kinds of stories are in the newsletter? 

The title of Crocodile specialist group newsletter shows that this newsletter is specialised for a crocodilian. The newsletter provides comprehensive information and news concerning crocodiles apart from materials extracted from other correspondence sources.

There are few sections in the newsletter. The first section is regarding newsletter subscription and a list of patrons. The second section related to an editorial that mourns the death of champions in the world of crocodilian conservation and biology. The editorial also reported some meetings they had attended such as the Species Survival Commission Leaders meeting in the Abu Dhabi and the CITES Animal’s Committee, as well as an upcoming meeting that they will participate. Moreover, the newsletter indicates that the CSG Student Research Assistance Scheme is being supported by CSG. The main parts of the newsletter have been distributed to Regional Reports and Sciences. The regional reports show information about conversations, states, news and current events concerning crocodilians all over the world. In the sciences, there are a lot of abstracts from other correspondence articles. A list of Steering Committee of the Crocodile Specialist Group is set out in the last section of this newsletter.

ii. How do these target the organisation’s audience?

CSG advised that the newsletter is distributed to CSG members and other interested individuals and organisations. We can also find out their target audience including steering committee and its 500 members from the newsletter. In the list of patrons, we can find information on leather goods industries, Zoological and farmers are also the target audience. Other people who are concerning about species survival, conservation and biology or students who are studying in the above areas are also the target audience. Eventually, I deduce that the government in every country would be the target audience because they also concern about the environmental protection and biology.

iii. If you were a science journalist, is there anything you may be interested in following up as a story, and why?

If I were a science journalist, I might be interested in the following up the project “Crocodile Breeding and Management” which was launched in different states of India in 1975 . I feel it is worth to report this story because India has worked in saltwater crocodile projects over 40 years. This is out of my imagination.

iv. What do you think is effective or otherwise about this newsletter?

I think this newsletter is effective because it is professional with rich content; their target audience can get summarised information as they need. They do not have to worry about how to gather information from a great many places. However, if they could enhance the layout and design such as colour, photographs, fonts and balance, they would attract more potential readers.

2. Technical: Complete Quiz 9 – Punctuation

Chapter 6 of Hicks, English for Journalists (Punctuation)

I tried two attempts in order make sure in getting 100% correct. The questions are not difficult. My problem is that I cannot clearly understand the meaning of the words. Therefore, it causes incorrect punctuation.

In this chapter, I understand more about using of punctuation; and I learn a new knowledge such as using a comma before ‘and’ when necessary. (example: fish and chips, and coffee). I trust that I have made progress after reading chapter six of English for Journalists and completing this quiz.

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References

Crocodile Specialists Group Newsletter 2015, vol. 34, no. 3, viewed 03 October, 2016, http://www.iucncsg.org/365_docs/attachments/protarea/34(3-d44e7437.pdf