Report for the School Magazine: The Inter-House Debate
The school magazine committee has asked a student, Rohan, to write a report on the inter-house debate held on 12 August. The motion was 'Social media does more harm than good'. Four houses took part; the final was between Nehru House and Tagore House; Nehru House won; the best speaker was a Class 11 student, Simran Kaur. The report must be 120-150 words, in the third person, past tense, with a headline and a byline. Rohan's draft begins: 'I am very happy to say that our school organized a debate. It was a very nice programme. All the students enjoyed it a lot. The judges were also very good.' He also includes a long list of all 24 speakers and his own opinion that social media is harmful. The magazine editor says the report reads like a diary entry and is too long. Rohan has to cut it to length and keep only what a reader who was absent needs to know.
1. Identify three features of Rohan's draft that make it unsuitable for a magazine report and explain the effect of each.
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- First-person emotion: 'I am very happy to say' turns the report into a personal diary entry. A magazine report is written for readers who want the event, not the writer's mood.
- Vague evaluative language: 'very nice programme', 'enjoyed it a lot', 'judges were also very good' give no information. They could describe any event, so they fail the news test of specificity.
- Unselective listing and personal opinion: a list of all 24 speakers destroys the word limit and buries the result. Rohan's own view that social media is harmful belongs in an editorial or a debate speech, not in a report, because it confuses the writer's opinion with the event.
A report also needs a headline and byline, which the draft lacks. The editor's complaint is therefore about genre, not just length: the draft has the raw material but not the report's organising principle-what happened, who won, and why it mattered to the school.
2. Write a revised opening of 40-50 words with headline and byline that includes the motion, date, finalists and winner.
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Nehru House Wins Inter-House Debate By Rohan [surname], Class 12
On 12 August, the school's inter-house debate on the motion 'Social media does more harm than good' concluded with Nehru House defeating Tagore House. Simran Kaur of Class 11 was judged the best speaker.
Reasoning: The headline gives the result, not the topic, because 'Inter-House Debate' alone is not news. The byline identifies the writer without using 'I'. The lead answers the reader's basic questions in one or two sentences: what, when, who reached the final, who won and who was best speaker. The motion is included because it tells the reader what the debate was about. This opening uses about 43 words, leaving room for a short body within the 120-150 word limit.
3. Decide what to omit and what to add to bring the report within 120-150 words. Justify your choices in terms of the reader.
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Omit: the list of all 24 speakers, the phrases 'very nice', 'enjoyed it a lot' and 'judges were very good', and Rohan's personal opinion on social media. These either exceed the word budget or tell the absent reader nothing distinctive.
Add: the motion, the date, the number of participating houses, the finalists, the winner, the best speaker, and one sentence on the main arguments if space allows. A brief closing line about the purpose-for example, that the debate was organised to sharpen argumentative skills-is acceptable if it is factual.
Justification: a magazine reader who was absent needs the result and enough context to understand it. A reader who was present does not need a roll call of speakers. The word budget should be spent roughly as follows: headline and byline 10 words, lead 40 words, body 70 words, closing 15 words. Selection, not compression alone, brings the report within 150 words.