Duffy 1

Amanda Duffy
Megan Keaton
ENC 2135-07
8 July 2015
Genres of a Composed Process
Genres do for writers what public service workers do for the community. They are both
composed of separate entitlements that enable them to perform specific tasks that collaboratively
reach a unanimous goal. The separate entitlements mentioned are concepts such as purpose,
audience, and context. These concepts composed together reach a very significant standpoint in
the genre theory which correlates to the situation. The situation of a genre can pertain to anything
from the setting and environment, to the social dependencies of the intended audience and
circumstance. Genres, along with society, have also evolved. Previously, genres were identified
as a literary tool, a resource if you will, that allowed a writer to better demonstrate the literal
meaning of the text. Now however, they are recognized as a subjective addition to the diction,
style, and culture of the writing. To accommodate our desires for a reunified view of writing, we
must shift our thinking about genre from a formal classification system to a rhetorical and
essentially semiotic social construct (Devitt 573).
How genre can be used effectively in an English classroom is it assists amateur writers on
certain advantages they can add to their writing to help them as well as the reader better
understand their background knowledge and extensive research. It also serves as a more
differential system to writing more so than just generalizing the process of writing. Genres
encourage creativity and a thinking outside the box mindset that helps students to overcome
writing blocks and adapt to the persistent expectation of higher level writing. (Dean 1-4). A genre
ecology is the utilization of all genres composed together that serve as a cause and effect

Duffy 2

relationship that ties into the fluency of the writing. The reason this holds such a high importance
in scholarly literature is that every genre contributes to the beneficial attributes of the text. A
genre ecology map used particularly in my composed process that clearly illustrates this
relationship is provided below:
As previously mentioned in my title, genres are compartments of a composed process. By
a composed process, I simply mean anything that includes aspects of a composition that follows

Duffy 3

a step by step procedure to reach a desired textual or lyrical outcome. An example of a composed
process that I specifically created was an analysis essay on the struggles on John Trudels protest
against the American Government. The reason I chose this essay as my composed process is
because it required a lot of research, in depth thinking, and connecting genres in a genre ecology
to fully analyze and compose it.
Primarily, the first genre I encountered with this assignment was the video biography of
John Trudels life and struggle with regaining independence for American Indians from the
American Government. This was presented to me in my ENC1102 class where we were
instructed to pay vigilant attention to and analyze a theme in the film. This was the most
dominant genre in my composed process because it had the greatest influence over my
perspective and writing. The purpose of this genre served as both a visual reference and an
emotional appeal. The film clearly illustrated the despair and depression of the individuals
affected by the protest and it opened my eyes to being a more open-minded and skeptical writer.
It had an effect on me personally because it presented me with a physical representation of each
theme and demonstration.
The next genre I came across in my composed process was the rubric provided to me by
my instructor. This rubric described the requirements of the essay from the state of Florida and
from my personal professor. This was helpful to me in the way that it gave me almost the
academic guidance I needed to ensure my essay would meet the expectations. The next genre I
encountered while writing my essay was the historical outline of the events leading up to the
American Indian Movement Protest. This served as documented evidence that allowed a reader
to clearly visualize the sequence of things in this time and place during history. It allowed me to
discover the informational context within each event leading up to the protest. In addition to the
historical timeline, my professor would conduct mandatory lectures in class to give a little more

Duffy 4

insight into not only the history of the events, but the concepts and meanings behind them. These
lectures would usually last about forty five minutes and would be heavily paced. The advantages
the lecture genres gave to my composed process is it was a verbal delivery on context impressed
upon me from my academic superior. In my professional opinion it was the most credible source
of reliant information out of the entirety of my genres.
Following that, I did some research on the effects that the AIM Protest had on the general
public. How people in the surrounding environment and population viewed the situation. What I
discovered were scholarly reviewed articles regarding the responses of the media, community,
and government officials during the period of time involving the protest. The purpose this genre
served was it allowed me to have a better understanding of how this circumstance affected
people differently along with similarly, which influenced my analyzation of writing this essay.
Once I began actually composing my writing, I initially started off with an outline genre. The
outline I used was an MLA formatted outline that was a general overview of the headings and
contents of my essay. This genre focused mostly on the structure and form of my composed
process in an efficient way. It provided an excellent foundation for the layout of my essay and
allowed me to gravitate my attention and focus of writing into the topics I needed appropriately.
Moreover, the final genre I utilized in my composed process were the drafts I made
leading up to my final essay. For this particular assignment, three drafts were required. One was
self-corrected, the next was peer reviewed, and the third was revised by the professor. The
function of the drafts were to antiquely show progression in my writing, and to provide textual
support of my writing to my professor for improvement. This genre was extensively helpful to
me along with my classmates because not only did we correct each other, but we were able to
view counterarguments and different standpoints in other essays. This exposed me to
constructive criticism I needed to compose the best essay.

Duffy 5

As I established earlier, the most dominant genre used in my composed process was the
video biography. The video biography is the main source that connects the rest of the genres
together. The video biography showcased not only the emotional appeal of the protest, but the
timely mannered sequence of events. This could also directly correlate to the historical timeline
genre I mentioned earlier. One ignited the necessity of the other. The historical timeline also
offered a pattern that was followed by the scholarly reviewed article genres that offered
responses to the situation. How these two shape one another is they reflect similarities between
time, place, and reaction, which were all very useful while composing my essay/ The video
biography was also mentioned in every lecture done by my professor, as well as required in the
rubric. The rubric provided by my professor also required three drafts, the mentioning of the
scholarly reviewed articles, and the in depth analysis discussed in lecture. The outline included
the subjects of scholarly reviewed articles, the video biography, and the historical timeline. The
lectures went over every genre used in my composed process as an administrative part of the
curriculum. What Im getting at here is each aspect of every genre is connected. They are all
dependent upon each other and serve as a whole purpose. Remember the public service workers
and what they contributed to the community? Thats what genres contribute to each other, the
writer, and the text. They separately hold their own responsibility and characteristics that allow
them to unite together as a greater good, as well as independently operate towards the personal
purpose. Using the genres I did allowed me to be a very resourceful and attentive composer. I
utilized every opportunity provided to me and went with it. I made sure all the research I did was
accurate, could be proven, and was properly documented in my composed process. Doing this
eliminated all possibility of my information being claimed as bias or not credible because of my
personal feelings regarding the protest. Also, as illustrated in my genre ecology map, the

Duffy 6

majority of the genres I used were created by myself which also eliminates any acquisitions of
plagiarism.
Overall, I view the genres I integrated and highlighted in my composed process as
instructive, informational, and relevant. They created a steady flow of purpose, context, and
audience that genres include and expect out of a composer. Going through the composed process
and dissecting ever genre I used has ultimately made me a much more aware writer, student, and
composer, and I can thank this project for that.

Works Cited
Dean, Deborah. Genre Theory: Teaching, Writing, and Being. Illinois: NCTE, 2008. Print.

Duffy 7

Devitt, Amy. Generalizing about Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept. CCC 44.4 (Dec.
1993): 573-586