Cardenas 1

Norberto Cardenas

Dr. Nelson

English 1301 119

September 10, 2022

The Use of Genre in the Herbal Academy

The Herbal Academy is an online school that offers many services, such as herbal

courses, an herbal library, herbal workshops, and a blog. These services are accessible via their

website, theherbalacademy.com. The community around the Herbal Academy are, of course,

herbalists. On August 18, 2022, Paula Saalfeld, an herbalist in this community, uploaded an

article to theherbalacademy.com titled "HOW TO USE FLOWER PETALS IN 5 CREATIVE

WAYS". The article is easy-to-follow and has six main components: main title, subheadings,

body text, ingredient lists, directions section, and pictures for reference. The article aims to show

readers creative ways to use flowers in their food; furthermore, it encourages herbalists to

practice herbalism in their lives. The author also does an excellent job of attracting new

herbalists. The audience, of course, is herbalists looking to learn new recipes and ways to use

flowers in their lives. The genre fits so well with the purpose and audience because it has an

easy-to-navigate and read structure. 

One of the ways the genre does this is by getting the reader excited about the text by

using the tag section below the main title (Saalfeld). This section highlights some topics in the

text: Floral chocolate bars, flower butter, and flower petals. By placing the tag section at the top,

where the eyes land first, the author makes her article attractive to viewers. The words

"chocolate" and "flower" provoke pleasant thoughts and emotions, so readers are more likely to
 Cardenas 2

follow the article's instructions. The use of pleasant diction repeats itself throughout the article;

the following is one example: "These floral preparations are not only a way to embrace the

summer season, but also make wonderful gifts," (Saalfeld par. 19). The words "wonderful" and

"embrace" follow this trend. People get excited about pleasurable things; Saalfeld wants her

message to be memorable.  Next, Saalfeld uses words like "my" and "you" to create a casual text

style. The casual feel for the text exists because the purpose aims to convert people into

herbalists. Having a friendly tone helps keep readers engaged because of the positivity they feel.

For example, "My favorite combination is . . .," sounds friendly since the author is giving

personal advice (Saalfeld par. 9). So far, the author is trying to use the genre to grab viewers'

attention and be friendly in her text to make the audience feel positive. The previous discussion

all took place in the beginning of the article. The next part of the text further proposes the idea

that the author wants to be beginner friendly.

The instructional part of the article starts after the phrase, "Here are a few creative ideas

for using edible flower blossoms" (Saalfeld par. 6). This section is a list of floral recipes that are

beginner friendly; Saalfeld wants her audience to incorporate herbs into their lifestyles with little

effort. She wants users to commit and not give up; this is evident from this line from the text,

"Blossom butter is made very easily and quickly" (Saalfeld par. 8). Most of the recipes are

simple; take, for example, the blossom butter (Saalfeld par. 11). This recipe only calls for butter,

flowers, salt, and a lemon. Floral ice cubes, another simple recipe, are made by adding flowers

to ice cubes—the most straightforward recipe in human history (Saalfeld par. 14). 

Saalfeld wants things to be understandable and easy to read, so she uses bullet lists. The

bullet lists are in chronological order and instruct the user. If she had used a paragraph instead,

the directions would be harder to follow while making one of the recipes. Bullet lists allow
 Cardenas 3

someone to follow along as they recreate the recipe. Also, Saalfeld puts much detail into the

directions portion of the article to avoid confusion among her audience. For example: 

"Transfer the mixed butter into a butter dish or onto a sheet of parchment paper. If

choosing the parchment paper, roll up to form a cylinder. Twist both ends tight and

refrigerate for at least one hour. The butter is ready to serve when cold and solid"

(Saalfeld par. 11)

In the direction above, Saalfeld describes how to perform the step if the user uses parchment

paper. Specific instructions lead to successful attempts in creating her recipes, so previous

audiences will be more likely to return to the text for the other recipes. 

In conclusion, the analysis of the genre and text points to the fact that Saalfeld wants

readers to follow along easily, for she wants users to act rather than just read and move on. Her

casual text style and structure create a helpful guide to her floral recipes. This ease of

communication was possible with the correct choice of genre; furthermore, analyzing the type of

genres used in the Herbal Academy and any other community is crucial so that communication

does not become diluted. Understanding a community’s reason for written genres is a helpful

skill because it can help create other strategic texts. One should constantly analyze texts' genres

to improve their communication skills. 

 Cardenas 4

Works Cited

Saalfeld, Paula. “HOW TO USE FLOWER PETALS IN 5 CREATIVE WAYS.” Herbal

Academy, August 18, 2022, https://theherbalacademy.com/how-to-use-flower-petals/.