Analyzing My Genre

I found five examples of my genre and analyzed them using the genre analysis questions from page 342 of Writing Public Lives.

Examples

Example 1 from Parenting Magazine.

• The writer uses her experience as well as expert opinions to make a position argument and to give advice to other parents. It is emotional and logical. 

Example 2 from Happy Child.

• The author uses an experience she had to directly refute another article. While this may be more of a refutation argument, it sets up her position and acknowledges the other side. It also attempts to persuade readers. 

Example 3 from Parents Magazine. 

• This article discusses a controversial word and how it should be used. It provides a position, but also gives advice to readers. It draws some on personal experience, but the discussion that leads to her conclusion is much more important.

Example 4 from Today's Parent Magazine.

• The topic here is controversial, so the author is trying to take a position and convince her readers to believe and agree with one side of the controversy. It is formatted almost like a blog post, and while I probably won't use an image, everything else fits the format that I plan on using for my article. 

Example 5 from Families Online Magazine.

• This article draws on a personal experience to give advice or pointers on a difficult topic. It is brief, but still takes a position and attempts to teach readers something. 

Screenshot by Boone-Roberts, Morgan. Taken from Flickr on 11/3/15.

Social Context

Where is the genre typically set?

• Articles about parenting matters mostly appear in parenting magazines such as the ones that I found my examples in. 
• However, the more broad genre that I am using, advice/op-ed articles, appear in most news sources and cover a wide variety of topics. 

What is the subject of the genre?

• The subject of my genre is to inform or persuade readers to feel, believe, or think a certain way. In the case of my project, I am trying to persuade my readers not to spank their children. 

Who uses the genre?

• Almost anyone can write an op-ed piece, but they are generally written by someone who has writing or journalistic experience. 

When and why is the genre used? What purposes does the genre serve for the people who use it? 

• The article is used to inform, persuade, educate, or argue about anything from news to addressing a controversy to asking people to support a cause. It is perhaps the most versatile genre out there. 

Rhetorical Patterns of the Genre

What type of content is usually included and excluded?

• In a position article, there is rarely much background information given. Especially since my examples as well as my article are written about fairly common topics, there is little need to explain the beginning of the controversy. 
• It is important to take a strong stance and not waver from it. It's necessary to consider the other side, but being wishy-washy will make the argument seem less well-constructed and credible.
• In the field of parenting articles, most include some sort of personal story even if it's as little as mentioning that the author is a parent and is therefore somewhat knowledgable on the topic they are arguing. 

What rhetorical appeals are used most often? 

• All three of the appeals can be used, but for my article and my examples, the authors mostly use emotional and logical appeals. 
• With parenting, the topics can be so controversial and personal that emotion has to come into play because the author is passionate about the issue. 

How are the texts organized? Do they generally open in similar ways? Conclude in similar ways? What common parts do these samples share?

• Because my examples are all on parenting matters, they all jump into the topic right away without having to explain the issue; they are all commonly known and understood problems. 
• While the paragraphs differ in length, they are all usually under 7 sentences long. 
• All of my examples conclude with looking ahead at the future of the controversy or how the proposed solution will change the situation. 
• All of my examples have a picture at the top, similar to blogging, so I will be sure to include a picture before I begin my article. 

Do sentences share a similar style? Are they mostly passive, active, simple, or complex? Is there an abundance or lack of questions, exclamation points, or semicolons? 

• The sentences all differ in structure. Most are active voice and include a mix of simple and complex sentences. 
• There are occasional questions and very few exclamations. Most of the sentences are declarative. 
• There are a couple sentences between my five example that use semicolons or dashes, but the vast majority don't. 

What type of word choice is used? Do many of the words fit in a particular category of jargon or slang? Is the overall effect of the word choice formal, informal, humorous, or academic? 

• There is not a lot of slang used, and because the topics aren't scientific or technical, they don't contain jargon. 
• These articles, because they are op-ed pieces or advice columns, are more informal in tone, but no to the point that they lose credibility of insult their audience's intelligence. 

Image by Cunningham, Simon. "Analysis." Uploaded 12/18/13 via Flickr.
Attribution 2.0 Generic license. 

What Those Patterns Reveal About the Social Context of the Genre

Who does the genre include and who does it exclude?

• This genre includes anyone who reads magazines or online news sources that have op-ed sections. 
• Specifically for my article, my audience includes parents who read the op-ed articles in parenting magazines. 
• It excludes everyone who doesn't read parenting articles. 

What roles for writers and readers does the genre encourage? 

• This genre encourages the use of personal opinions to persuade others to agree with the author stance. 
• If the article is on the same side of the argument as the reader, it should strengthen their feelings about that side and make them more passionate about the issue. 
• If the article opposes the reader's stance, it should make them question their views and make them reconsider their beliefs. Even if they don't change to the other side, they will at least be provoked to think about the other side. 

What values and beliefs are assumed about or encouraged from users of the genre? 

• Authors assume that readers have an opinion on the topic before reading the article. These types of pieces are meant to persuade, not inform, so readers should already have some sort of predisposed beliefs coming in. 
• Authors also assume that no reader would want a child to be hurt or damaged. They then use this to base their argument. That adds yet another layer of emotion to the topic as well. 

What content does the genre treat as most valuable? Least valuable? 

• Since these articles tend to be brief and mostly to the point, there is little that is not valuable to the argument and its persuasiveness. 
• Keeping audience in mind is probably the most important part, as is staying on topic and not going too far off on a tangent that doesn't directly relate to the argument itself. 

Reflection

Isabel is also doing an article, but she is informing her readers instead of persuading them. She mentioned that articles should be scannable, which I forgot to include in my blog post. Alyssa is doing a documentary, which is an awesome idea. She is trying to inform her audience as well, but also keep them entertained, or at least focused, on the topic that she is investigating. 

Even though we all are doing different types of projects, our blog posts were fairly similar. From just this, I think we are all on the right track for creating great projects!