Genre Analysis of Aerospace Engineering Journals Cody Eubanks ABSTRACT Genre, in its more recently developed living sense,

provides a window into the responses towards repeated rhetorical situations within a community. In the field of aerospace engineering there is an accumulation of new ideas, processes, and technologies related to the performance of specific tasks, as well as the development of new research methods. This situation has led to the development of a mindset which, when converted to literary works, displays an individual genre. This genre is applicable to researchers, reviewers, and innovators within the field of aerospace engineering, however, while the material presented is invaluable to its communities of interest, to the large public audience the topics of discussion seem extremely specific, and irrelevant. To understand the features of the genre utilized by aerospace engineering communities the breakdown and analysis of documents can be helpful. This study will be considering the topic of laser propulsion experiment reviews published in established aerospace engineering journals in order to form generalizations concerning the genre. Introduction Despite the fact that the field of aerospace engineering is rather narrowly focused, the majority of articles distributed within the community open with an abstract followed with an introductory statement. This is an emphasis on the precision necessary to not only become efficient at discourse within the aerospace engineering community, but also to understand

the information being presented, which is generally extremely specific and groundbreaking. In the case of laser propulsion, experimental design and review articles found were loaded with research specific terms such as ablation, parabolic thruster, LSD/LSC waves, project Orion, and lightcraft. While simply the use of this specific jargon does not establish a discourse community or genre, it does in fact emphasis the need for a developed mindset or reaction to a situation in order to convey the purpose of experiments and research. This study was conducted in order to reveal the characteristics of the aerospace engineering field journal genre, and to explore the forces which shape the structure of such works through genre. Analysis Techniques While the aspects of logos, ethos, and pathos are present in the genre of aerospace engineering journals, in the topic of laser propulsion systems the majority of focus is directed towards the credibility of prior researchers, ethos, as well as the proper explanation of experimental design and derivation of formulaic research, logos. These emphases leave the appeal to emotion, or pathos, through acknowledgement of research assistance, (figure 0) to be a minor element of the genre. The combinations of these modes of persuasion appear to follow a general structure and organization technique specialized to most efficiently convey the new presented material concerning experimental design and future implications. These patterns were observed through the completion of a genre correlation table as seen in figure 1. Figure 0

Figure 1 Analysis and support In the discussion of laser propulsion system history and research, the majority of the text was spent either in detailed explanation of laser ablation experiments, or discussing the development of future technologies and formulas necessary to progress the status of the technology. In Primary Experimental Study on Liquid Ablatant for Laser Propulsion, one of the articles of study, the experimental setup and analysis is heavily reliant on the presence of detailed diagrams, graphs, and correlation data (Figure 2). In the case of A Review of Laser Ablation Propulsion, the authors set out to express the importance of a concrete explanation concerning the benefits, from laser ablatant technology, through extensive theory discussion and formula development (Figure 3). While the topics of discussion in these articles are quite groundbreaking, the recognition of historical figures within the field and prior experiments is quite relevant, as seen in Laser propulsion: a review. In this article the authors make extensive citation to pioneers in the technology such as Gergii Marx, Arther Kantrowitz, and Wolfgang Moecket. To accompany these figures reputation the article expresses the revolutionary experiments and prototypes which have advanced the laser

propulsion technologies to its current state. This is seen in the application sections of A Review of Laser Ablation Propulsion and under the Experimental programs section of Laser propulsion: a review. In these sub sections, articles of this genre dive into the specific instances of history in which technological innovations were made, as well as the catalysts for the development of formulas, to express the science and precision of the technologies developed. In the topic of laser ablation these instances include original prototype models of laser lightcraft as well as extensive attention to the development of theory though formulas concerning laser propulsion dynamics and properties. As far as the distribution of these text types, accessibility to such journals is rare and extremely specialized. In the case of the three articles found concerning laser ablatant research and development through experimental design, the text was aimed at a particular audience and only helpful to a very small community. For these reasons these articles were posted in credited engineering, physics, and science journals on the internet. This quality of the journals is applicable towards genre analysis, as the terms and equipment described in the text appeal to specialized engineering literacies who s discourse is commonly distributed across various locations of research. Figure 2

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repeated situations within the field of aerospace engineering. _______________________________________

1. Xiuuqian, Li, Yanji Hong, Jun Wang, and Guoqiang. "Primary Experimental Study on Liquid Ablatant for Laser Propulsion." JOURNAL OF PROPULSION AND POWER 26.4 (2010): 319-25. The Smithsonian/NASA Astrophysics Data System. Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Web. 14 Sept. 2012. <http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006AIPC.. 830..319L>. Michaelis, Max M., and Andrew Forbes. "Laser Propulsion: A Review." South African Journal of Sciences 102 (2006): 28995. Research Space. Web. 14 Sept. 2012. <http://researchspace.csir.co.za/dspace/bit stream/10204/1014/1/Michaelis1_2006.pdf >. Phipps, Claude, Mitat Birkan, Willy Bohn, Hans-Albert Eckel, Hideyuki Horisawa, Thomas Lippert, Max Michaelis, Yuri Rezunkov, Akihiro Sasoh, Wolfgang Schall, Stefan Scharring, and John Sinko. "Review: Laser-Ablation Propulsion." Journal of Propulsion and Power 26.4 (2010): 609-37. Print. Materiality and Genre in the Study of Discourse Communities Amy J. Devitt, Anis Bawarshi and Mary Jo Reiff College English , Vol. 65, No. 5, Special Issue: Materiality, Genre, and Language Use (May, 2003), pp. 541-558 Generalizing about Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept Amy J. Devitt College Composition and Communication , Vol. 44, No. 4 (Dec., 1993), pp. 573-586

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Conclusions/Implications Overall discussion and interaction within the field of aerospace engineers is a process which, when analyzed, proved to contain certain recurrent features, text types, and structures. Within the journals of aerospace engineering much of the material discussed is extremely specialized and requires a developed literacy within the topic of discussion such as a P.H.D. within the field. The genre has an established bias towards appeal to logos, and ethos, with pathos failing to be prominent in the majority of the text due to the scientific and precision based nature of the genre. These features, when combined produce a mindset and preconceived notion for aerospace engineers to refer to when new material within the community needs to be addressed. While the static genre of experimental reviews and scientific process continues to remain important to the basic definition of engineering journals, through the analysis of text concerning the development of laser ablatant propulsion, the living definition of the communitys genre has gained clarity and developed an awareness of popular qualities used to respond to the

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