May 2017 (SL) Paper 1 Exemplar 2

The 21^st century breeds new technology, development and thirst for scientific knowledge. Science has become a key for the future and we must join in on the journey. “The Journey of a Lifetime” is an article from the magazine New Scientist written by Alok Jha. The purpose of this article is to inform readers about the life cycle of a water molecule but in a creative manner to not bore the audience. The audience of this article includes young readers who enjoy science and thirst for new knowledge. Alok Jha is able to convey the facts yet create an interesting story through her use of vivid visuals, creative writing style created through her tone and lastly, her success in involving the reader.

Firstly, Jha is able to capture the reader’s attention through the large and psychedelic image on the front page. The first thing the reader notices are the bright colours and wavy patterns in the shape of a head. The colours red, blue, orange and black are very dynamic colours that enable it to draw attention. Furthermore, the image is a mix between space, planets and stars and this has the connotation of mystery and science as outer space is something we do not know much about yet and science is what will enable us to obtain new knowledge. Hence, this visual successfully combines imagination and science to capture the reader’s interest. In addition, below the visual is pink coloured font listing facts. The use of the pink font differentiates that section from the rest of the article and reader’s eyes are immediately drawn to it. The pink font gives a brief summary of the article before it begins and allows the reader to prepare themselves for “the Journey of a Lifetime.”

Many authors often write boring scientific articles, which just explains facts and analysis; however, Jha is able to describe the science in a creative way to the reader and she does this through the use of stylistic features. Firstly, to build a close connection with the reader, she uses synthetic personalization including words such as “you” and “your”. This is significant as it allows the reader to bond with Jha and feel as if the author is talking directly to the reader. After the connection has been established, Jha proceeds to put the reader in a trance-like state with her description of the processes combined with the psychedelic colours from the visual. The author adopts a scientific tone, which creates and educational atmosphere to the article; however, what’s important is how the author is able to make the reader feel like the water molecule as we read the article. The author’s extremely detailed descriptions of the journey allow the readers to visualize the imagery and make us feel as if we were there.

Despite all of her creative elements that mask the science behind this, Jha is also able to keep the article education and visible through the use of logos. Numbers such as “700 million” and “8.8 billion” provides statistical figures to the reader and they find it more creditable. Moreover, the use of scientific terms such as “DNA, proteins and other cell membranes” and “cellulose” maintains the scientific tone. On the other hand, to not make the article academically challenging and slightly more creative, Jha uses rhetorics. The use of personification in “the Earth’s growing pains” connects Earth to a man and indicates that Earth is very old, providing scientific knowledge in a creative way to the reader. Further on in the article, the rule of three is used to describe Earth as seen from “hellish, dry and volcanic.” This is another of Jha explaining facts in creative ways to entertain readers.

Finally, the title of the article has significance and ironic as it is not the reader’s journey of a lifetime, but in fact, a water molecule’s journey. Upon realization, the reader becomes intrigued and continues to read on. The article contains many words in the semantic field of water such as “molecule, oceans, streams and rain” and this emphasizes the events of the journey of a water molecule. We can then infer that the journey was in fact treacherous and tough through the juxtaposition between “dry” and “water” and vivid imagery from “rails around the beasts’ digestive system.” All these elements of the article playing its role in setting a scientific yet imaginative and entertaining article.

From a bird’s eye view perspective, Jha has produced a very entertaining yet information article on science. Reading it for the first time felt like a journey of a lifetime and I felt as if I were in a trance-like state. Alok Jha differentiates him/herself from other authors by being able to convey information effectively and creatively, and is therefore able to successfully convey the facts yet create an interesting story.