Project #1: Genre Analysis of Disciplinary Literature Reviews

20points (25% of ENGL 108/TR 247 GRADE)

Overview
In English 107, you worked with several academic genres, such as a response and an annotated
bibliography, and you began to see how writing conventions are different in different genres. In English
108, we will continue exploring genres of writing, but now we will also look at variation within genres. In
academic writing, you will find that expectations for writing often vary across academic disciplines or
fields of study. These disciplinary communities develop their own preferences for writing based on some
of their disciplinary values and practices--that is, their ways of doing research and constructing
knowledge. In this first project, you will analyze your own academic discipline’s preferences in one
common genre: the literature review.

Final Product
Your analysis will be presented in a one- to two-page report that gives a quick and clear overview of
what you learned about your discipline’s preferences and conventions in writing a literature review.
Your audience for this report will be other students in your discipline who are also interested in this
information.

Steps
1. Use the university library to locate 3 research articles in your discipline. The articles must
include a literature review section (though it does not need to be labelled “literature review”).
These will serve as your sample literature reviews (LRs) for analysis.
2. Analyze your texts, choosing from three of the following areas: purpose, organization, stance,
source use, and language features (e.g., verb tense, pronoun use). (Guidance for these analyses
will be given in class.)
3. Identify key disciplinary conventions that you learned about through your analyses and
recommendations based on what you learned.
4. Present your genre analysis findings based on .
○ Description of your samples
○ Explanation of what areas of the genre you analyzed
○ Separate section on each area you analyzed (total of 3), including how you analyzed it
and what you found
○ Discussion of why you think these patterns of use (or variations!) exist. How do they
help writers carry out their goals in the literature reviews you examined?
5. Receive feedback on your report draft from your peers or instructor.
6. Revise your report for submission.
7. Compare your findings with those of your peers in the same and other disciplines in a reflection.

First draft: 29th of Oct

Final due date: 31th of Oct

Relevant SLOs
● 1D. analyze the ways a text’s purposes, audiences, and contexts influence rhetorical options.

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 ● 3C. reflect on why genre conventions for structure, paragraphing, tone, and mechanics vary.
● 3D. identify and effectively use variations in genre conventions, including formats and/or design
features.
● 4E. evaluate and act on peer and instructor feedback to revise their texts.
● 4F. reflect on their progress as academic writers.

Assessment criteria
Your Genre Analysis project will be graded on the following criteria, which describe a paper that “Meets
Expectations.” A grading rubric will also be shared.

● Audience and Purpose: The report shares findings from a genre analysis of literature review in
the discipline; its content and language are effective for an audience of students. (Objective 1D)
5 pts
● Analysis: The report analyzes at least 3 aspects of the genre using 3 sample texts (Objective 1D)
4 pts
● Interpretation: The report explains how the examined conventions help writers carry out their
goals in the literature reviews studied (Objective 3C) 4 pts
● Clarity of Language: Information in the report is presented through clear language. (Objective
3D) 5 pts
● Assignment Guidelines and Expectations: The assignment meets the guidelines including
submission of all drafts and revision. (Objectives 4E, 4F) 2 pts

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