Obituary Turned Reflective Essay Can an Obituary Become a Piece of Research?

Chassidie Liu

Joshua Smith

Writing 2: Academic Writing

 May 24June 14, 2020

Translating genres can be extremely daunting, especially when it is a genre one is

unfamiliar with. The genre I decided to translate my psychological research paper into was an

obituary. When looking at my obituary, the connection is extremely subtle, yet powerful.

One may first ask, what is an obituary? An obituary is a notice of a death, normally

within a newspaper and typically includes a brief biography of the deceased person. This genre

normally contains minimal information, such as the deceased person’s name, place of birth, place

of living, place and date of death, and cause of death. The purpose of an obituary is to create

grief and evoke love, passion, and admiration for the one who has died. There are two types of

categories in this genre: informative obituary and opinative obituary. The first genre being an

informative list on how the deceased died using aloof language, brief expressions, and objective

style. andT the latter being, an obituary written by a loved one, which normally evokes more

emotion and is completely subjective. This genre is Both types of obituaries are known to be

fifty to five hundred words. forThe an audience/ community for this genre is normall ofy family

members, loved ones, friends, coworkers, community members, and or anyone who is connected

to or has a relationship with the deceased mentioned in the obituary. Sometimes these obituaries

bring light upon the deceased and make community members empathize with the family. The

importance of But most importantly, this type of genre is to remind everyone about who this

person once was.

First and foremost, after reading the brief description of what an obituary is, you now

have a better understanding of the piece. The categorypiece I have chosen to do, is an opinative

obituary. I chose to do this style because I feel as though it can relate to an audience better than
an informative obituary. It can also evoke more emotion within a reader. The obituary is based

off of my friend, Kyle, who has not only given me permission to use him as the subject, but

offered as well.

You may be asking yourself, how does this new genre connect to my academic article?

Firstly, the academic article I chose to use is, “Depressive episodes with suicide attempts in

severe depression: Suicides and controls differ only in the later episodes of unipolar depression,”

researched by Louise Brådvik and Mats Berglund. Within the obituary, there is a mention of

Kyle dying because of his depressive thoughts. , These depressive thoughts are exemplified in

the article which investigate the distribution of suicide attempts across the depressive episodes in

suicides and controls with a severe depression. Brådvik and Berglund explained that severe

depressive episodes are more likely to result in suicide.1 Although I did not directly translate the

structure, format, or citations of the article, I connected the two pieces through the content within

the study. I took the information I learned about depression and how it can increase the

likelihood of suicide attempts from the academic article, and used it to explain how this mental

disorder took one’s life in the obituary.

Throughout the piece, I made a writerly decision to integrate current universal hot topics

to make the piece more relatable. It is currently 2020 and we are amidst a worldwide pandemic.

Research shows self-isolation and social distancing influences and increases symptoms of severe

depression.2 However Since this pandemic is determinantaldetrimental the pandemic may beo

many of us, this is one of the it is one of best times to conduct psychological research. Pandemics

and tragic events induce emotions and increase mental health symptoms in a variety of people,

1
Brådvik & Berglund, Depressive Episodes, 363
2
Corts &Pham, Social Distancing
which researchers seize the opportunity to experiment on. This is exactly one of the reasons why

I chose to do a psychological research paper and integrate it with an obituary. It seems fitting to

explain to a reader what symptoms can cause depression and then give a seemingly plausible

story that can happen to any individual suffering from severe depression. In the piece, it is stated

that the recent events of “Coronavirus has made me isolated,” which showcases direct

connection to the recent pandemic, which can lead to more symptomatic depression.

I also hope to reveal to the reader that psychology fits into life in multifaceted ways. Both

of these genres convey facts, yet emotion too. This is an integral part that I am hoping to convey

to the reader. I want to highlight the importance of psychological research and its evidence

showcasing how it can affect one’s life. When one reads a research paper, sometimes it is hard to

believe the facts. , Bbut when there is a story behind it, or something connecting it together,

everything becomes much more clear. It allows the reader to connect the two pieces. In other

words, it is finding the ethos and pathos in an array of logos.

I also made the writerly choice to take the content of the article rather than the structure,

because I want to be able to explain to the audience, in a somewhat unconventional way, how

serious depression and other mental health disorders can be. I did this by disregarding the APA

style citation, abstract, and subheadings, such as “Introduction”, “Data”, “Hypothesis.” Instead, I

incorporated the information within those subheadings to formulate the cause of death in the

obituary. For example, aThis piece can illuminate insight on how a mental disorder can lead to

one’s death. As explained and studied by Bradvik and Berglund, multiple depressive episodes is

a risk factor for suicidal behavior.3 I took this fact and subtly embedded it into the formulation of

3
Brådvik & Berglund, Depressive Episodes, 363
Kyle's death by writing, “I feel as though I cannot live any longer.”4 This statement signifies

suicidal ideation, alluding to the facts given by Bradvik and Berglund that depressive thoughts

and episodes can lead to suicide. By taking this information, I then use it to formulate Kyle's

known cause of death. This piece can illuminate insight on how a mental disorder can lead to

one’s death. When reading a psychological research paper, it is construedinterpreted for most of

the audience to believe it only contains facts and hypotheses. SoB by taking the content and

using it to formulate my obituary, I am turning those facts into an applicable, real life, story. As

the audience reads this, my hope is that they will empathize with the deceased and can begin to

further destigmatize mental health.

When I was making the obituary, I researched and referenced other obituaries. Although

mine may not look as traditional as the ones found in newspapers, I modified it to make it more

modern. This slight change makes it more relevant to society's modern technologically advanced

ways., especially Dduring this day and age, when no one really reads the newspapers anymore,

but people do see e-invitations and online obituaries. but they continuously frequent the internet.

Look wise, it may not seem traditional, but I kept the original content elements that are within

obituaries, such as, the name of the person, the school they went to, their hometown, and their

condolences.

Although finding a way to fit the content into this genre translation was straightforward,

it was challenging to take a seven page psychological research paper and condense it into a one

hundred and fifty word paragraph. I remedied this, by remembering that it is not the intention of

an obituary to describe how the deceased died, but why they did. Explaining ‘how’ someone

4
Liu, Kyle’s Obituary
could commit this act suicide can be elusive, exhaustive, and melancholy. I simply would not

have had enough space to do this.

Throughout the process of making this translation, I learned that my primary text and

genre have a lot in common, not by structure or visuals, but by content. Both genres use facts and

evidence to evoke emotion within a reader and allow the reader to make insightful remarks.

Although both genres are extremely different, they connect a reader by the content of their

pieces. By utilizing current world topics, savvy internet skills, and the intertwinedness of

content, I was able to create a genre translation from a psychological research paper to an

obituary highlighting one of my dear friends (who is very much alive).

 Bibliography

Daniel, Corts P., and Tracy, Pham D. “Social Distancing Individuals With Depression: The
Impact of Symptom Severity.” Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research no 24 (2020):
https://doi.org/10.24839/2325-7342.JN24.3.159

Louise, Brådvik, and Mats Berglund. “Depressive episodes with suicide attempts in severe
depression: Suicides and controls differ only in the later episodes of unipolar depression.”

Archives of Sucidual Research, no. 14 (2010): 363-367.

DOI:10.1080/13811118.2010.524068Bibliography

Daniel, Corts P., and Tracy, Pham D. “Social Distancing Individuals With Depression: The
Impact of Symptom Severity.” Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research no. 24 (2020):
https://doi.org/10.24839/2325-7342.JN24.3.159

Louise, Brådvik, and Mats Berglund. “Depressive episodes with suicide attempts in severe
depression: Suicides and controls differ only in the later episodes of unipolar depression.”
Archives of Sucidual Research, no. 14 (2010): 363-367.
DOI:10.1080/13811118.2010.524068