Presentational Devices

Presentational devices help the way a text looks on

the page and how it is organised.
Presentational devices include:

The main heading of the article. It gives you

headlines some idea of what the writing is about. It could Council Caught in
also get your attention by using clever wording Cash Crisis
or alliteration.

These are found within the writing and Overspend

tell us what different sections are about.
subheadings They help break up the text to make it Fundraising
easier to read.

Pictures can also break up the writing or

pictures can give us a clue about what the writing is
about.

Bold can be used to make important Your help is needed now.

bold information stand out.

Italics can also be used to make important Your help could make all
italics information stand out. the difference.
 Fonts (different styles of print) might be used to
fonts make ideas stand out or to suggest a theme. GOTHIC
Something about horror could be done in a wavy font
for example.

Font size might also be important as larger fonts All New

font size make things stand out more.
Get the latest . .

Bullet points help with lists so that information is Better qualifications

bullets easier to find and read. Check for the shape of
Better job
the bullet used as they might have a message.
These ticks, for instance, give a positive image. Better life

Colours attract attention. Think about why

colour a colour has been used. Red could stand
for passion or danger. Blue could suggest
coldness or masculinity.

Logos are designs that stand for a company.

logos They are also used to make you trust the
product or writing.
 A caption is the little bits of writing placed
captions underneath pictures to tell you what the picture
is about. It may be a quote from the text. Read the text carefully

maps Maps might be used to help you understand

and where a place is. Graphs of all types could be
used to help you understand numerical
graphs
information.

information These are boxes put on the page so

Flights for this holiday
leave from Durham
boxes that extra information can be added. Teesside and begin on May
1st .

These are mainly used in newspapers and

columns magazines where the text is put in blocks
down the page. Some leaflets also use this
idea.
There will be a question on presentational devices on Paper 1
Section A.

The assessment objective tested is:

v. To understand and evaluate how writers use structural and
presentational devices to achieve their effects.

The most important word in this is evaluate.

This word tells you that the examiner wants you to comment on
the effect of the device and why it has been used. Just
identifying it will get you very few marks.
Look at this advert and identify the presentational devices used.

Did you get?

• colour
• picture
• headline
• bullet points
• different fonts
• font sizes
• caption
Imagine you had a question saying:
How are presentational devices used in the advert to attract
its target audience?

You might begin your answer in the following way:

The target audience for the advert is women who want to lose weight. One of the
presentational devices used is the picture of the slim woman wearing jogger bottoms
that are far too big for her, suggesting that she has lost a lot of weight. This is a
good image as it is saying if you join us you too can lose weight and look slim and
attractive like the woman in the picture. She is holding her right arm up and has a
smug, satisfied look on her face as if she has won something – suggesting that you can
also win your battle against the flab.

The parts that make this get good marks are the bits in red as these bits
are all about the effect of the picture and why it has been used.

You would then go on to write about two more presentational devices

in the same way.
REMEMBER: WRITE A LOT ABOUT A LITTLE.