Assignment: Genre Analysis
Background: In unfamiliar writing situations, genre analysis can help academic writers choose writing conventions that are appropriate for their purposes. As the writing of a particular academic discipline becomes more familiar, experienced academic writers develop their understanding of how and why certain genres and conventions are used. To investigate how expert writers use conventions to achieve their purposes, this assignment asks you to analyze important writing choices in a journal article related to your major or intended writing intensive course.
Prompt: How do expert writers in the disciplines use structure, reference, and language conventions to achieve their purposes? Describe the purpose and audience of a journal article from a discipline related to your undergraduate goals; explain whyone significant convention in the article is an effective choice for the article's purpose and audience; discuss what undergraduate writers in the disciplines can learn from your analysis.
Text Features
• Introduce the title and author of the article to be analyzed
• Describe the article's purpose and audience
• Explain why one of the article's genre conventions is an effective choice
• Use summary, paraphrase, quotation, description, and/or images to provide detailed evidence of the convention analyzed
• Discuss one way your analysis can inform undergraduate writers
• Include in-text citations and a references page using an appropriate citation style
Process Steps
• Locate a journal article from a discipline related to your undergraduate plans or intended writing intensive course
• Identify evidence of the article's purpose and audience
• Identify genre conventions that seem important for the article's purpose/audience
• Write a rough draft that explains one significant convention in the article
• Revise your draft based on feedback from peers and the instructor.