1. DIARY ENTRIES
VINTAGE AND
CONTEMPORARY

2. Hypotheses 1 - Similarities
•Both texts will be talking about a personal
experience
•Both texts will use jargon specific to what the entry is
based on
•Both texts will use anaphoric references to save
themselves from repeating the same thing multiple
times

3. Hypotheses 2 – Differences
•The older text uses more elevated lexis than the
contemporary text
•The older text is more formal
•The semantic field is always different

4. Original Comparison Text
Captain Cook’s Diary 1775
[some of the officers went on shore to amuse themselves among the Natives where they saw the head and
bowels of a youth] who had lately been kill'd, lying on the beach, and the heart was stuck on a forked stick
which was fixed to the head of one of the largest Canoes. One of the gentlemen bought the head on board
with them where a piece of the flesh was broiled and eat by one of the Natives before all the officers and
[most?] of the crew. I was on shore at this time but soon after returned on board and was informed of the
above circumstances, and found the quarter deck crowded with the Natives and the mangled head, or rather
part of it for the under jaw and lips were wanting, lying on the [?]. The scul had been broke on the left side just
above the temples, the remains of the face had all the appearence of a youth under Twenty.
The sight of the head and the relating the above circumstances struck me with horror and filled my mind with
indignation against these Canibals; curiosity however got the better of my indignation, especially when I
considered it would avail but little, and being desireous of becoming an eye wittness to a fact which many had
their doubts about, I ordered a piece of the flesh to be broiled and brought on the quarter deck, where one of
these Canibals eat it with a surprising avidity. This had such effect on some of our people as to make them
[warn?] who came onboard with me.
[Bediddie/Bediddu?] was so affected with the sight as to become perfectly motionless and seemed as if
metamorphosed into the [Statue?] of horror: it is, utterly impossible for Art to depict that passion with half the
force that it appeared in his Countinance. When roused from this state by some of us, he burst into tears,
continued to [?] and scold by turns; told them they were Vile men and that he neither was, nor would be no
longer their friend. He even would not suffer them to touch him, he [?] the same language to one of the
gentlemen who cut off the flesh, and refused to accept or even to touch the knife with which it was done. Such
was this islanders indignation against this vile Custom and worthy of imitation by every rational being—

5. Vintage Diary Entry Examples
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/scott.ht
Doomed Expedition to the South Pole, 1912- “Saturday, February 17 - A very terrible day. Evans looked a
little better after a good sleep, and declared, as he always did, that he was quite well. He started in his
place on the traces, but half an hour later worked his ski shoes adrift, and had to leave the sledge. The
surface was awful, the soft recently fallen snow clogging the ski and runners at every step, the sledge
groaning, the sky overcast, and the land hazy. “
http://history-world.org/christopherdocs.htm
Christopher Columbus- Extracts from Journal-Discovery Of America 1892
Monday, 6 August. The rudder of the caravel Pinta became loose, being broken or unshipped. It was believed that
this happened by the contrivance of Gomez Rascon and Christopher Quintero, who were on board the caravel,
because they disliked the voyage. The Admiral says he had found them in an unfavorable disposition before
setting out. He was in much anxiety at not being able to afford any assistance in this case, but says that it
somewhat quieted his apprehensions to know that Martin Alonzo Pinzon, Captain of the Pinta, was a man of
courage and capacity. Made a progress, day and night, of twenty-nine leagues.

6. Contemporary Diary Entry Examples
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7606125.stm
Dark into light - BBC environment correspondent David Shukman travels to Alaska, to find out how the Arctic's people and
ecosystems are coping with the change to a warmer climate.
‘Everything is double-checked. We then watch as a view of the dark interior is transformed into a stunning panorama of the
Arctic landscape as the ramp descends.
The wind rushes in, the temperature falls, the noise is incredible. But there, flowing below us, laid completely bare, are mile
after mile of Arctic Ocean, oil pipelines, orange flares of gas burning bright against the grey skies.
http://themodernexplorer.co/portfolio/the-japan-journal-niseko-dreaming/
The Japan Journal – Niseko Dreaming: “Stories of waist deep bottomless pow between the trees. Every second person that had
spoken to us that had been to Niseko were telling us that snorkels were nearly necessary. You can’t help but get your hopes up.”
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/06/explorers-journal
At first glance the mound is nothing remarkable—just a pile of dirt and stone covered in trees
and vegetation. It’s in the Guatemalan forest on the outskirts of the Classic Maya site of Xultún,
near another site I’ve been studying for the past decade. At some point, looters dug a hole into
it, looking for a tomb.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1573979/Diary-extracts-from-explorer-
Adrian-Hayes.html
Day 2 -Monday November 19
How am I feeling, one degree and one week gone? Personally ok. Aim is to get everything
working to total perfection, because you can't afford it not to be. Those hours pulling tyres along
Dubai's beaches paying dividends.

7. Chosen Modern Comparison Text
Our selected contemporary
comparison text is written by
a BBC environment
correspondent named David
Shukman entailing his travels
to Alaska.
Old and new
“There's also the puzzle of
how modern life meets an
ancient culture. I'm in the
office of an Internet company
which kindly lends us a fast
connection to London.
This is typically hi-tech. But
into this world steps an
Inupiat woman with questions
about broadband. I notice
that she's brought her baby,
not in a pushchair but in the
hood of her fur-lined anorak,
the classic way of these Arctic
people. Barrow is like that,
and I wonder how the push of
oil and the retreat of ice will
change it.”

8. Methodology
• The only resource we used to conduct our research was the internet as it is one of the
only ways to view and read old artefacts like old diary entries and the contemporary
diaries were reasonably easy to find.
• Being specific with our search terms allowed us to get the best results and also doing
research into explorers enabled us to pick out possible explorers who documented their
journey, this then narrowed down the search options.
• We found 5 other contemporary and 2 other vintage diary entry texts all related to
explorers and travel to link in with Captain Cook’s context of his journal.
• Our selected comparison text was chosen due to it’s context of travel and exploration
and it’s purpose to describe and inform. This text is also very reliable as it’s published by
the BBC and also has a lot of new features to compare with the Captain Cook diary (e.g.
video feature).
• Planning this A2 investigation was fairly difficult as the historical extracts were hard to
find and some were probably unreliable and/or edited. The contemporary diaries were
also hard to find as there are less modern day explorers as everything has already been
discovered! Also we wanted to find actual explorer diaries instead of holiday and travel
blogs which were very common.

9. Dissecting and Comparing Texts

10. Captain Cook’s Diary 1775
[some of the officers went on shore to amuse themselves among the
Natives where they saw the head and bowels of a youth] who had lately
been kill'd, lying on the beach, and the heart was stuck on a forked stick
which was fixed to the head of one of the largest Canoes. One of the
gentlemen bought the head on board with them where a piece of the flesh
was broiled and eat by one of the Natives before all the officers and
[most?] of the crew. I was on shore at this time but soon after returned on
board and was informed of the above circumstances, and found the
quarter deck crowded with the Natives and the mangled head, or rather
part of it for the under jaw and lips were wanting, lying on the [?]. The scul
had been broke on the left side just above the temples, the remains of the
face had all the appearence of a youth under Twenty.
The sight of the head and the relating the above circumstances struck me
with horror and filled my mind with indignation against these Canibals;
curiosity however got the better of my indignation, especially when I
considered it would avail but little, and being desireous of becoming an
eye wittness to a fact which many had their doubts about, I ordered a
piece of the flesh to be broiled and brought on the quarter deck, where
one of these Canibals eat it with a surprising avidity. This had such effect
on some of our people as to make them [warn?] who came onboard with
me.
[Bediddie/Bediddu?] was so affected with the sight as to become perfectly
motionless and seemed as if metamorphosed into the [Statue?] of horror:
it is, utterly impossible for Art to depict that passion with half the force
that it appeared in his Countinance. When roused from this state by some
of us, he burst into tears, continued to [?] and scold by turns; told them
they were Vile men and that he neither was, nor would be no longer their
friend. He even would not suffer them to touch him, he [?] the same
language to one of the gentlemen who cut off the flesh, and refused to
accept or even to touch the knife with which it was done. Such was this
islanders indignation against this vile Custom and worthy of imitation by
every rational being—
Key Language Features:
• Sophisticated lexis
• Complex sentences
• Outdated Lexis e.g. avail,
avidity, metamorphosed
• Jargon/ Specialist Lexis
• Anaphoric references
• Elevated register
• Formal Language
• Slightly racist terms for the
people he meets ‘natives’
• Written in the past tense

11. Captain James Cook was a British
explorer, navigator, cartographer, and
captain in the Royal Navy. Cook made
detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to
making three voyages to the Pacific
Ocean, during which he achieved the first
recorded European contact with the
eastern coastline of Australia and the
Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded
circumnavigation of New Zealand.
Background Information & Contextual
Factors
As Cook was a Royal Navy Captain he
was probably appointed by King
George III to endeavour

12. Quantitative Analysis

13. David Shukman’s Diary 2007/08
THURSDAY 11 SEPTEMBER- Old and new
There's also the puzzle of how modern life meets
an ancient culture. I'm in the office of an Internet
company which kindly lends us a fast connection
to London.
This is typically hi-tech. But into this world steps
an Inupiat woman with questions about
broadband. I notice that she's brought her baby,
not in a pushchair but in the hood of her fur-lined
anorak, the classic way of these Arctic people.
Barrow is like that, and I wonder how the push of
oil and the retreat of ice will change it.
I also wonder what John Barrow would have made
of all this? He was the Royal Navy official the town
was named after, the 19th century figure who
drove the exploration of the Arctic more
determinedly than anyone - launching expeditions
to search for the North West Passage. Mark
Georgiou and I were in the team that made the
journey along that route last year.
We pose for pictures at Point Barrow, a large
whale bone marking the northernmost spot of the
United States. There's no ice to be seen. When I
started this job five years ago, the forecasts were
for an ice-free Arctic in the summertime by the
end of the century. The prediction now is that that
could come by 2013. These past few days have
made that believable.
Key Language Features:
• Current and modern Lexis
• References to early history
• Context is based upon new
technology
• Using politically correct
terminology for the
communities and people they
encounter
• Internet and technology
jargon/specialist lexis
• Written in the present tense

14. Contextual Factors & Background Information
Technology has come a long way since the
1700s and our chosen example of a
contemporary diary contains a lot more
technological features in comparison to
Captain Cook’s diary which has no
technological references what so ever. In
David Shukman’s article there are constant
references to things like the internet as the
purpose of his writing is to compare the
‘old and new’. Also the source of this diary
was the BBC website which included a
video of Shukman flying over an Arctic
oilfield and technological graphology such
as links, subheadings and email tools.

15. Qualitative Analysis

16. Conclusion
The most obvious difference between the two texts is that Captain Cook’s diary contains
much more sophisticated and outdated lexis than the vintage, and also uses longer,
more complex sentences throughout with the average sentence length being 24 words
for the vintage text and only 16 for the contemporary text. The contemporary is also
much shorter, being 228 words with 14 sentences whilst the vintage text is 412 words
and only has 17 sentences.
In relation to this, we can clearly see that language within this genre has changed over
time. This may primarily be due to the increase in modern equipment (particular current,
technology-based lexis/jargon in the contemporary text, whilst the vintage text is much
more descriptive and specific to the topic that captain cook is talking about), and also
that simply due to evolution, the way in which people write is different to how they used
to. For example, sentence lengths and the level of description are much less evident in
newer texts because people have become less willing to read longer texts over time and
it takes more to engage an audience.
There are also similarities. For example, the audience for both texts is likely to be adults
interested in travelling, or perhaps the idea of explorers over time. The general content
of both texts is fairly similar, with both obviously talking about their travel experiences,
meaning that semantic fields are related (both describing places and events that
happened during their experience).

17. Evaluation
• HYPOTHESES
• Both texts will be talking about a personal experience
• -This was proved to be correct, as both writers had embarked on a journey
to a specific location and therefore we had expected them to write about
in in fair detail.
• Both texts will use jargon specific to what the entry is based on
• -This was proved to be correct as we expected the contemporary text to
talk about more modern topics and it did, such as the internet, whilst the
vintage text included slightly racist terms for the people he meets, linking
to the context of when the piece was written.
• Both texts will use anaphoric references to save themselves from
repeating the same thing multiple times
• -This was proved to be correct, although the vintage text used very few
anaphoric references as these were probably rarely used in 1975 which
may be why it is much longer than the contemporary text.