NPR Article: Critique

It is interesting to see the differences between different forms of writing – depending on what the topic is and where the story is being printed, the voice and tone can really shape the way that the story is heard. NPR covered a story regarding the Common Application and glitches that students are facing with completing the entire application. One major difference that I noticed right off of the bat is how the opening was not as eye-catching or enticing as some of the other news articles that I have examined. Because this was a radio story, it is inevitable that the opening would be different; however, because of the unenticing opening line, it was difficult to stay focused throughout the entire article. Aside from the opening, there were a few more quotations then there were in other news articles that I had read. It was interesting to see how quotations were used to liven up the story, rather then paraphrase more. Although the structure was extremely different from a news article, I found that reading a media based article was much more interesting. The way that the article was structured, really allowed the content to flow properly, and was enjoyable for the reader. NPR did a fantastic job of covering this story on the Common Application. Although difficult to follow at first, I felt that the reporting done was very well done, and that the quotations added life to the report.