Genre Analysis Guidelines
This assignment will be based on your growing understanding of the function of genre within discourse communities. You will research for specific examples of genre within a discourse community, identify the criteria that you observe, and analyze the ways in which that criteria serves the function of the genre. That community will be based on the topic selection in the first assignment for this course.
To construct an analysis, you will have to collect data and create a report for your own exploration of the genres. You will note the conventions and language elements within the examples that you uncover. In this genre analysis, you will move beyond that observation and develop your own, independent analysis of genre for your reader. Here, not only do you show what is happening with regard to conventions and language, but you will analyze why those conventions and language benefit the genre and serve the discourse community. Keep in mind that genres in discourse communities are developed as acts of communication. They are meaningful and purposeful based on the markers of genre, which include patterns of similar structure, style, content, and intended audience. Therefore, your analysis should be designed to clarify why, how, and to what end the functions of specific genres within a discourse community serve the purposes of its members.
There is not a set limit to how many genres within a discourse you can analyze, but the minimum is three to four. The more examples you analyze, the more easily you will see patterns of similarity that will help guide your analysis. Your genre analysis should address the following:
· How do the features of the discourse community inform or relate to the conventions of the genres?
· In what ways do the features of the genres serve the members of the discourse community?
· Can you identify the rhetorical situation(s) within which the genres are produced?
· How do the above features serve the audience of the genres?
The genre analysis is important because it is the process of looking at several examples of particular genres to better understand their specific similarities and differences based on their purposes and language choices. Those elements should inform you, and therefore your reader, about the criteria of the genres. Take time to analyze and evaluate the genres based on what we have discussed in class, in order to practice analyzing genres. It will not be possible to identify and critically analyze every feature or rhetorical aspect of the genres. It is better to focus on specific features that appear across genres or specific features that differentiate genres and analyze those elements carefully than to simply identify as many features as you can.
Assignment Criteria:
· Approximately 4-6 pages, double-spaced, 12-point font (standard one-inch margins).
· Essay features should adhere to Academic English and be formatted in APA standard.
