Although most of us think of music styles when we hear the word “genre,” the word simply means category of items that share the same characteristics, usually in the arts. In this context, however, we are talking about types of texts. Texts can be written, visual, or oral.
For instance, a written genre would be blogs, such as this one, books, or news articles. A visual genre would be cartoons, videos, or posters. An oral genre would be podcasts, speeches, or songs. Each of these genres communicates differently because each genre has different rules.
A genre analysis is an essay where you dissect texts to understand how they are working to communicate their message. This will help you understand that each genre has different requirements and limitations that we, as writers, must be aware of when using that genre to communicate.
Sections of a genre analysis
Like all other essays, a genre analysis has an introduction, body, and conclusion.
In your introduction, you introduce the topic and the texts you’ll be analyzing.
In your body, you do your analysis. This should be your longest section.
In your conclusion, you do a short summary of everything you talked about and include any closing thoughts, such as whether you think the text accomplished its purpose and why.
Content
All professors ask for different things, so make sure to look at their instructions. These are some areas that will help you analyze your text and that you might want to touch base on in your essay (most professors ask for them):
1. Purpose of the text
What did the creator of the text want to achieve with it? Why was the text created? Did something prompt the creator to make the text?
Sometimes, the texts themselves answer these questions. Other times, we get that through clues like the language they use, the platforms the creator chose to spread their text, and so on. Make sure to include in your essay what features of the text led you to your answer.
If we take this blog post as an example, we can say that its purpose is to inform students like you about what a genre analysis is and the content it requires. You probably figured this out through the language I’m using and the information I’m choosing to include.
2. Intended audience
Who is the creator of the text trying to reach? How did you figure that out?
The audience can be as specific as a small group of people interested in a very niche topic or as broad as people curious about a common topic.
With this blog, for example, I’m trying to reach students, particularly UTEP students who have this assignment and are trying to understand it. My causal and informative tone, as well as the fact that the blog is posted on UTEP’s Writing Center blog, probably gave this away.
How is the text organized? How does that help the creator achieve the text’s purpose?
You need to know the information at the top of this blog post to understand what comes after, so this blog post is organized in order of complexity.
4. Genre conventions
Is the text following the usual characteristics of the genre? How is this helping or impeding the text to achieve its purpose?
Like most blogs, this one is using simple language, short paragraphs, and illustrations. My use of all these elements is helping me be clear and specific so you can understand your assignment.
Do the ideas in the text come from somewhere else? Can the reader or consumer interact with the text? Is the text inviting that interaction?
Most of the time, when the ideas come from another source, the text will make that clear by mentioning the text. In terms of interaction possible with the text, think about if it would be easy for you to say something back to the text.
For instance, if you wanted to ask a question about this blog post, you could type it in our comment section. I might not explicitly say that many ideas in this blog come from the guidelines your professor gives you for this assignment, but you probably gathered that because I mention that these areas are things most professors are looking for.
Hopefully, this information helps you tackle your assignment with a clearer idea of what your professor is looking for. Make sure to address any other areas the professor is asking you to.
If you still have questions or want to make sure you are on the right path, come visit us at the University Writing Center.