Running Head: Bullying in Children 1

Bullying in Children and Schools: Genre Analysis on a Journal and Website

Andrea Lopez
University of Texas at El Paso


Bulling in Children 2

Bullying in Children: Genre Analysis on a Journal and Website
Since the beginning of time, there have been cases of children being mistreated by other
children. As the years passed, these acts in these children have continued and have been
progressing in different ways. Some of these children that mistreat other children do this for their
own pleasure, because they have been influenced to do so, because they are going to hard times
or because they are just bad kids. Because of these actions, negative energy is given out which
harms others around them.
There are various types of genres that cover and go about bullying in children and in their
schools. The two genres that discuss and cover bullying and children that I will be analysis for
you will be are Bullying, a book written by Ian Rivers, PhD and Dr. Neil Duncan, and a federal
government website managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
www.stopbullying.gov. Through these genres I will be able to, and will be possible to, know the
groups of children in their schools, why children get bullied, and who the bullies are and why
they do such actions.
Audience and Purpose
The intended audience for the book will be teens, adults, parents and anyone with
children in their family interested in how bullying happens and why it does and to find ways to
help their children overcome bullying and to find ways to prevent it from happening not only to
their children but to other children as well. The purpose is to persuade families to get involved in
their childrens lives more and talk with them to see if there are a victim of bullying. Also to be
informed about different ways to prevent their children from being bullied and to communicate
Bulling in Children 3

with other families about this issue as well, and about the children who have a higher risk at
being bullied by their peers.
For the website, the audience is anyone who uses computers around the world who
navigates the internet who enjoy using this type of genre to gather information and for families
concerned about bullying. Their purpose is to inform the internet user about the different ways to
be bullied, the classifications or labels as it is used in the website, to identify the types of
children, different ways to prevent bullying to occur, different ways to get help, and to show the
children that are at risk and have higher risks of being a bully victim by their peers and
classmates.
By using either of these genres, the audience will still be greatly informed on bullying.
They will learn more about what they want to know and how to act to it. All the different groups
that are in the children and how they are classified. By the way they are classified, defines their
risks of being bullied. Also, this information may be useful for the children that are having
problems at school with bullying who do not want to tell their parents about it. The children who
do not want to inform their parents about them being victims of bullying can also go to other
adults who they trust.
Rhetorical Issues: Ethos, Pathos and Logos
The book Bullying provided sources that make its information successfully credible. One
of the books authors, Ian Rivers, PhD, is a psychologist, academic and author. For twenty
years, he has been studying bullying behavior in the U.K. and the U.S. He works at Brunel
University in London, England and is a professor of Human Development. The other author, Dr.
Neil Duncan, is a Senior Lecturer, Special Needs and Inclusion Studies. He is part of a research
Bulling in Children 4

group at the University of Wolver Hampton. He studies how schools inadvertently impact upon
pupil behavior, specifically sexual bullying and gender formation in high schools. Their titles
give them strong ethos to their information provided. On the contrary, the website, it does create
credibility, but not as strong as the book. The website creates credibility by stating that it is a
federal government website run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources, with
partners including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Education,
Health Resources and Administration, and The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration. Their credibility has also been gained by their popularity from television
commercials and school presentations.
Both of these genres create excellent emotional responses created by the audience. The
book provides a positive response of security due to the sections that inform the reader with ways
to prevent their child or family member to be a victim of being bullied or to help their child or
family member to stop being the victim of this such act. It also give more positive feedback
because it informs the readers about how children can still receive help and consulting. Although
it does present somewhat of a negative feedback of the visualization of the children that are the
victims of bullies and what some children do to get out of the victim group, suicide. On the other
hand, the website creates more of a positive response than a negative one. The website provides
images that show children smiling and playing with their peers. Only a few are shown that create
a negative response due to the images that show children being bullied and what some of the
victims decide to do to take the easy way out.
The book provides us with well logic on the subject. The information given to the
audience seems to be fair and relevant. All the facts that they include in their book and their own
words come from other sources that they found to be credible. The facts used in the book really
Bulling in Children 5

help the reader understand what the meaning is and what they are trying to say. In the website,
the creators made their logic clear with all of their sources and partners that help them keep their
site running. Although on some pages it might be difficult to find what you are really looking
for, their sources and helping hands can help you. You may ask questions and they try their best
to get back at you and help you with your confusion. Both genres create good logic and express
it well.
Structure
Bullying has a great and neat layout throughout the book. Each section is labeled which
makes it easy for its readers to find what they are looking for. It sends out its message on
bullying and children involved in it by setting each group of information in its own section and
its information set out clearly. The word choice used in this book is professional, not many
simple words being used. It provides a clear concept so its readers understand what they are
reading. Their pages are numbered of course, making the index and table of contents much
easier.
The website, although it might be considered the easy way of reaching the information
the audience needs, is much less detailed than that of what is in the book. The website does
convey well information on its subject. The word and page structure is magnificent. There is a
page for each concern that one may have on bullying. In the website, there is a section for blogs,
videos and resources that may help the audience reach their answer more quickly and efficiently.
It is much easier to gain access to the answer of your question or concern through the website
while it will take a bit more time to find it in the book.
Style/Language
Bulling in Children 6


Ian Rivers, PhD and Dr. Neil Duncan, authors of Bullying, use formal and professional
language throughout their book. As the language is formal and professional, it is a great way to
for the readers to have a clear understanding of the topic discussed. Throughout the pages,
special language is used to convey and further explain their subject researched. Some words like
discourse communities, society, concerns, help, giving a hand are the types of words used. Also
some abbreviations are used to explain the different groups or help that are out there that may
help us with bullying issues. The color of the book in general, like the cover, displays that the
message to be given is serious, and creates an appeal to the readers.
The website uses formal language as well. It helps the audience understand their
message. The page layout colors, white and different shades of blue display a somewhat neutral
feeling. Although some language features are not noticed or really literate, it still displays the
topic in a way that the style is good. Also, the video tab displayed on the home page may also
help the website create some more swing to its message to actually help people see and
understand what children go through in school and other places.
Conclusion/Synthesis
Both of these genres excellently explained thoroughly the message to be given out to its
audience. The first genre, the book Bullying, provides its audience with full and trustworthy
information regarding the bad action of bullying in children. It provides its readers with complete
facts and details. All of the different topics covered to display its message had a complete and
accurate advice and tips for its readers to help them resolve any bullying problems that their
children are encountering or other children in the family that are being bullied. The book has
Bulling in Children 7

been a great way to display the message due to that it holds more information than the website.
Although the website is a great way to learn about bullying, it does not cover everything
thoroughly like the book. The website does though, display great images and videos that may be
seen to help display the emotion and feeling that the book does not. Each of these are a great
genre to explain and discuss the bullying issues that many children are going through.


Bulling in Children 8

References
Duncan N., & Rivers, I. (2012) Bullying Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge
Stop Bullying http://www.stopbullying.gov/index.html