Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Journal 2 - Jenna Byrd - Genre


Based on your reading of all seven concepts, how do you define "genre"? Is this definition of genre different from how you've understood genre previously?

            Before reading this, I understood genre to be a category of writing that has similarities in the text’s words, layout, composition, etc. After reading and understanding the seven concepts, genre has more complex effects on text than simply being categorized. Genre enables readers to understand the theme and message the writing displays. It sets the tone for a unique and consistent pattern of writing within the text.

What are three major ideas about genre and/or writing that you can take away from your reading of this text? In other words, what three ideas seem most important for you as a writer?

            One of the three ideas I can take away from this article is that without genre, a text cannot be understood by the reader. When the author describes experiences, relationships, or emotions for example, the genre should fit into each category in order for the reader to experience a futuristic car in a sci-fi novel or maybe the loving relationship between husband and wife in a romantic novel. The genre should depict these feelings, leaving the reader with a lasting effect and creating successful writing. Another major idea about genre the authors mention is that “creating genre is not something an individual does,” (40). This means that genre is constantly changing and evolving to include every type of literary piece. An author will not feel constrained to writing text that has to fit in a certain genre. This allows for a multitude of perspectives and ideas to flood into the piece an author is writing and produce the best content the author has to offer. The final major idea of genre is that it informs readers which novel to read if they are looking for a non-fiction book or a romantic novel. Without genre, there would be no classification to assigning books and well written sci-fi  books can be lost if they are grouped together with the genre of science articles.

Has your understanding of "genre" and/or "writing" changed as a result of reading this text? If so, how and why? If not, why not? 

            Before, I thought that a book was just simple placed into a genre after it was written in order for the people on amazon to select a novel they’d like to read. Now, my understanding of genre spreads across this idea; the idea that genres are constantly changing and adapting in order to interpret a piece of writing correctly contrasts my original understanding. Genres are the way authors can express their perspectives which can create personable pieces of work.

 Are there any concepts or claims in the text that you disagree with? What is it, and why? 

            There is specifically one idea in this text that I don’t necessarily disagree with but I don’t understand it: “In writing studies, though, the stabilization of formal elements by which we recognize genres is seen as the visible effects of human action, routinized to the point of habit in specific cultural conditions,” (39). I agree that humans have specific habits and boundaries we like, but if the text is saying that genres are only visible effects of action, I do not agree. This is because humans cannot act in any sci-fi experiences in the world yet there is a genre to include these types of writings.

Find two examples of texts that you would classify as being part of the same genre and link to them in your post.



            These two pieces of text adhere to the seven concepts because their genre would fall under a scientific article about the benefits of a certain food. These articles include raw data, images, captions, headings, a title, and subtitiles. The images act as an attention grab for the reader which keeps the reader scrolling until the end of the article, absorbing the information as they keep looking at the pictures. The layout is very simple to follow as it lists the benefits of food, very easy to read.

 Lastly: what questions do you have about the reading? what more do you need or want to know? what confuses you? 

            One particular question I have about the reading comes from this line, “Conscious thought is warranted only if we have reason to believe things are not as they appear to be, if confusions arise within the situation, or we want to suppress our first impulse and pursue a less obvious strategic -laughing to appear congenial though we find the joke offensive,” (35). What does this line have to do with the key term genre? I want to know how all of these concepts relate to Wikipedia’s definition that genre is a category of writing composition. If the term is described so simply, where is the research that they analyzed to explore this key term more in depth.

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