Genre Notes

What Are Genres Not:

-Not primarily literary (poetry, fiction, etc.)
- Not only used for text
What Genres Are:
-Genres represent all sorts of interactions
-Are defined more by situation than by form
-Are dynamic and flexible
-Are more of explanations of social interaction than a classification system?
5 things to look for:
-Content: what ideas should you include? What cant you include?
-Structure: How ideas are organized-order
-Format: how does it look? Visual?
-Language: Formality? Tone? Language Devices?
-Sentences: Style (long, short, winding)? Are fragments okay?
Why study genre?
-Brings attention to readers expectations
-Make kinks between writing process and writing product
-Shows that good writing is not always the same. Situation, purpose, audience
and relationship all have an impact on successful writing.
-Enhances our critical literacy
We can characterizer genres as:
-Social

-Rhetorical

-Dynamic

-Historical

-Cultural

-Ideological

-Situated