Problem
Genre and Rhetorical Situation:
Must Choose 3 Scenarios Earlier today you were in a car accident while driving your grandmother's car on your way to take your Biology midterm. Luckily you were not hurt, nor were any others, but your vehicle and another have significant damage and are headed to the repair shop. Since you were texting your friend while driving instead of paying attention, you ran through a red light, so the accident was your fault. Police responded to the scene and your insurance company has been notified. Your grandmother's car was towed away to get repaired.
Scenario I
You now have to write a letter to your grandmother telling her about the accident. Write this in the genre of a letter, whichever of those you would use to communicate with Grandma. Some things to consider as you write:
i. What content should be included for this genre? (What information and details are relevant in this letter to your grandmother?)
ii. What is the style of the language used?
iii. What format is it written in? How could I tell by looking at it that it is a letter?
Scenario II
You are now writing about the accident in the diary/journal you keep to record your thoughts every night before you go to bed. You have had a rough day, and you're trying to make sense of things before going to sleep. Write this in the genre of a "journal entry." Some things to keep in mind:
i. What content should be included for this genre? What details are relevant?
ii. What is the style of the language used? Who is the audience?
iii. What format is it written in? How is it obviously a journal entry?
Scenario III
You are assigned an essay for your Psychology class on the topic of human behavior and what makes people change learned habits. The assignment requires that you indicate why the topic is important to you as the writer of it. You decide to write about distracted driving, and you include your story about texting and driving as the introduction, using this personal experience to set the stage for your essay and explain your interest in the topic. It is significant for you because the accident reminds you of another time in your life when you had a close call that left you with a greater sense of appreciation for life. But you still engaged in texting while driving, so it occurs to you that you didn't learn the lesson. Write the introduction to this Psych essay, keeping the following in mind:
i. What genre are you writing in and what are its conventions?
ii. Who is the audience and what are its expectations?
iii. What details are relevant to this introduction?
iv. What does this part of the essay need to do? How will you achieve that goal?
Reflection on Rhetorical Situation and Genre:
Reflect on the experience of writing in different genres for each rhetorical situation. Use the following prompts as a guideline:
1. How did you know what was appropriate for each genre?
2. For each scenario, how did your audience impact what and how you chose to say?
3. Compare the three scenarios and discuss the significant differences in rhetorical situation (discuss purpose, audience, intended outcome, and appropriateness of writing style for each).
4. How does your understanding of genre, audience, and rhetorical situation influence the choices you make in writing?
5. What 5 elements from this exercise can you apply to a writing assignment you are currently working on in any other class? In other words, what did you learn by doing this that you can now transfer to another writing situation?