This reading explained the importance of knowing genres and the expectations that come along with them. Dirk gave great examples about how rhetoric changes over genres. Dirk opened with the example of country music, a genre in music in which there are common themes throughout. In country music one would expect certain topics that the song would include and therefore the audience almost knows what to expect from that style of music. Genres allow the author to know some sort of "guidelines" to writing and to keep organized. Knowing qualities of various genres and the audiences that go along with them allow the author to write more effectively to that audience. With that being said, before one can even decide what genre to use they must focus in on their purpose and their audience. Once they have done this they can look into what genre would work best for them. This reading taught me that effectively choosing a genre can influence how your audience responds to your work.
Throughout chapter 1 of “The Bedford Book of Genres,” I learned that there are a variety of ways to improve one’s writing. Several writers tend to get carried away while writing that they forget who their audience is and what message they are trying to deliver. This is when one must ask themselves what their purpose of writing is, do they want to present a narrative/ tell a story, inform, or persuade. After figuring out ones purpose they must choose a genre to be able to shorten their idea and be concise. In order for this to occur one must know the basic qualities and agreed-upon rules about the genre they are composing. Once one makes those decisions they move on to the rhetorical situation which mainly explains the idea. This allows the writer to provide support on their purpose such as saying what is great about it or provide statistics, which will automatically make their writing more interesting for the audience to read, as well as, get t...
I agree that this reading showed how important picking a genre is and how choosing one can effect the audience reading your paper.
ReplyDeleteEvery genre has its own unwritten rules, or "guidelines" that come with expectations, and if a writer were to miss that mark, they will be that much harder to comprehend. And as you mentioned, choosing a genre and following its format can influence your audience and their overall impression of your work.
ReplyDeletei definitely believe that it is important for a writer to pick a genre for themselves and even the readers. I, as a reader, think it is easier to understand the logic behind a reading or the goal of the author is more easily understandable when reading their work.
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