Zack De Piero

Writing 2 Academic Writing

Writing Project #1: Exploring Genre

Whats genre, and whats the value of studying it?
PB1A: Dissecting a Genres Rhetorical Features and Conventions

Pick a textual genre that youre familiar witha tweet, a college admissions essay, a
romance novelthat we havent discussed together in class. Analyze its rhetorical
features (audience, purpose, context, style, tone) and conventions. Then consider:
what makes this thing this thing? (What makes a tweet a tweet?)

At least 500 words

PB1B: Inspecting Genre Generators

There are various genre generator websites that create plugnchug genresa
fixed pattern (of conventions) is applied to each piece. Experiment with these genre
generator websites, then discuss the different conventions of each generated genre.
After youve acknowledged that, consider: how can thinking about whats happening in
these websites help someone better understand genre?

The generators:
o SCIgen: pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen
o Comic strips: pandyland.net/random
o Memes: memegenerator.net
o Find one additional genre generator website in your analysis! (Google it!)

600-800 words

WP1: Identifying, Describing, and Analyzing a Genre Across Multiple Sources

Part 1: Choose one genre (ie, an Op-Ed) from three different mainstream media or pop
culture sources that focus on the same topic.

Part 2: After you make your selections, describe the genre using the language of our
course. Analyze the rhetorical features (audience, purpose, context, style, tone) and
conventions of each piece. What surface-level features do these pieces have in
common that provide clues to its genre? What similar techniques do these writers use
to write these pieces? Whats dissimilar? Can you speculate on the reasons for any of
these similarities or differences?

Part 3: Consider the value of studying genre: why should (or shouldnt) people learn
genre? Whats the importance of genre and for whom?

This paper should be 4-5 pages long, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins. Tailor your
thesis statement-driven argument to an academic audiencean individual associated
with the university who is interested in learning about the field of composition and its
foundational concepts. Use direct evidence from the textual genres themselves to
support your claims. Draw on ideas from our readings using direct quotes and
paraphrased passages to supplement your argument.