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Running head: Genre Analysis

Genre Analysis on a Scholarly Article and a Magazine Article: Technology Effects on Cognitive
Skills
Samantha Natera
University of Texas at El Paso

Genre Analysis

Genre Analysis on a Scholarly Article and a Magazine Article: Technology Effects on Cognitive
Skills
There is a controversy between people who think technology has help society in different
ways and people who think that although technology is helpful it also has been affecting in
negative ways. People can find discussions about this subject and more in scholarly and
magazine articles, newspapers, videos, etc. These are different genres, and here a scholarly and a
magazine article are the genres that will be compared. These two articles may sound similar but
there is a great difference between the two, one is a scholarly reviewed article and the other is an
article published in a magazine. Both were structured for the same purpose, to inform about what
technology is causing and what the effects can be. The differences are how each of them present
the information and how they differ or agree in certain aspects. The scholarly article presented
here Different attitudes-different priorities? Student perceptions of a technology initiative by
Miikka J. Eriksson and Hanna Vuojarvi, differs greatly from the magazine article Does the
internet make us stupid? by Hermann Maurer. The first notorious difference is the title, how one
article is formal and the other is referred to a wider audience. Yet the similarities and differences
do not change the main purpose, these two articles have to be explained differently.
Scholarly Article: Audience and Purpose
This article is directed towards college students, who were part of an investigation about
technology. The article states how some students prefer technology to be part of their education
whereas others may think that technology wont be as effective on education as the others
believe. The audience here is more specific in the way is directed to people at a higher education.

Genre Analysis
The audience knows how technology has changed and how schools have incorporated it in
classrooms and education. They want to know about both aspects of technology and education,
negative and positive and what the consequences are. This article clarifies what the outcome will
be compared with the expectations. The purpose of this article is to inform about what
technology can cause, what the effects are, and what the purpose of the investigation is so that
people can be informed. The article informs on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats. Also on how laptops and wireless Internet can help with education and its differences
between the level of importance college students and college students with children may have
towards it. Some of the strengths are mobility and flexibility to study, some of the weakness are
ineffectiveness of studying and technical problems.
This is a scholarly reviewed article, which means that has formal writing, people will
spend more time reading it in order to understand it completely. It contains more elaborated
words, which can cause the reader to spend more time reading it. It has to be analyzed in order to
get full knowledge of the article with the purpose of gather information about a topic so that
people can see the results. The type of genre makes it formal, is a reviewed article, it had to go
through a process to be completed, and revision in order to be credible and published. Some of
the specialized words used are: ICT (information and communication technology), analytical
hierarchy process (a technique for organizing and analyzing complex decisions), diversity
(variety), laptops, student experience, students with children, SWOT analysis (is a planning
method used to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats involved in a
project).

Genre Analysis
Scholarly Article: Rhetorical Appeals
Rhetorical appeals refer to the elements of persuasion, they are used to support arguments
or disclaim them. Logos refers to the logic or reasoning, this has to include reliable evidence.
Ethos refers to the ethical appeal and it has to do with the credibility of the author, through
sources, facts, etc. The last one, pathos, refers to the emotions evoked by the article. Logos, the
evidence presented in the article is viable and credible, the author is using charts, and references
Table 3 presents students perceptions of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of
using laptop computers and wireless networks in teaching and learning. (Eriksson & Vuojarvi,
2014) The information presented is well constructed and the article supports what it claims, its
reviewed and tested. Ethos, the author writes consistently and credible, the article text flows and
is well structured. It convinces the reader of what the author is saying, also people can read the
experiment and compare the results. Pathos, because its a formal writing and a reviewed article
is more scientific which means that is not supposed to transmit emotion, it has the purpose to
inform. The emotions it can evoke are consciousness and awareness.
Scholarly Article: Structure and Delivery
The scholarly article is formally constructed, it provides examples, information, and data
about the investigation. The questions are addressed and it clarifies and explains about the things
mentioned at the beginning of the article, this can be seen when the author mentions, the results
indicate that although the laptop initiative had positive effects on studying, there are weaknesses
that need more attention. (Eriksson & Vuojarvi, 2014) It has an introduction, a body with
examples and a well-constructed conclusion. Some of the limitations are that the article is written
in a formal way, which not all people can easily understand. It is directed towards certain people
who can understand the vocabulary that is used. On the contrary the information has to be in a

Genre Analysis
formal structure because of its targeted audience. Its an informative article, with research
purposes. The structure of the article has a purpose to inform and persuade the reader, on the
specific subject, in this case technology and college students, what are the effects and its benefits
and consequences. It is concise and formal, with specialized vocabulary but informative. The
article also has charts and tables that contain the strengths and weaknesses of using technology in
education. The charts contain the information expressed with bullets to emphasize the main
strengths and weaknesses presented in the investigation.
Magazine Article: Audience and Purpose
The author wants to leave a message to young generations,
people between 18 and 30 who depend mostly on technology. This article is intended for people
who are familiarized with technology and possibly use it on a daily basis. Therefore is more
centralized on people in the United States, young generations who have access to technology
more than other parts of the world. The audience knows that this generation has more technology
access that previous generation. Yet technology has advantages, people also know about the
negative aspects of technology overuse, this has to do with attention skills, creativity, and
cognition facilities. Although technology is good for some discoveries for example in science,
there is also the negative part, what technology is causing on brains, how is affecting brain
capacities and what are some things people can do about it. This genre is not too complex for
people to understand, its more informative and persuasive. It delivers a message about the side
of technology much people dont know or dont want to know about. The purpose here is to let
people how technology is changing their brains, this gets in the readers mind (if they read the
complete text), and they can change the time they spend behind a computer. The author wants to
create a sense of the disadvantages that the reforming technology has had on society. How

Genre Analysis
college students change their writing, and reading methods with the use of technology. The
language that is used is semiformal, in between informal and formal, it has certain words not all
people can understand. Throughout the article the reader has an idea of what the author wants to
communicate without much analysis. Some specialized vocabulary is used for example ICT and
NFC, information and communications technology and near field communication (respectively).
Cognitive facilities: mental abilities related to knowledge, attention, memory and others.
Magazine Article: Rhetorical Appeals
Logos, the author cites reliable documents, like magazines, and books. Which makes
more impact on the reader about the effects technology causes. But also the author debates about
how it may or may not affect brains, for example creativity. Ethos, The credibility of this text
reassures the reader that there are impacts of overusing technology. The author wants to make
the audience to stop and think about what technology is causing in important skills like attention
spans, and behavior. The text has ethics, it makes the reader to be concern on the time they spend
using technology, changing their habits may help with their cognitive skills and improve them.
Pathos, the emotions evoked from the reading are concern, curiosity to learn more about this
issue, and awareness. It evokes concern because of the fact that technology may be causing our
brains to work less efficiently. Maurer emphasizes this by saying One can argue that there is no
need to worry if some of our cognitive facilities are reduced due to technology, as long as the
loss is overcompensated by technology and as long as we can assure two crucial points:
independent and creative thinking must not be threatened and we must still be able to function in
a reasonable basic mode if technology fail. (Maurer, 2015) And curiosity because people want
to learn more about this issue, awareness because now people will have some idea of what the
effects are.

Genre Analysis
Magazine Article: Structure and Delivery
First it introduces the reader to the main idea, and then it explains the purpose and gives
some examples, and finally in concludes with a summary with all the main ideas and structures
of the text. The information is neatly organized and the reader is able to understand with clarity
the main message of the text. There is more freedom to express the opinions of the author
because of the type of genre, semiformal. Thats the reason the author can express more freely
the ideas and thoughts about this issue, but at the end it lefts open the decision to the reader after
it explains all the consequences technology causes. Its the readers decision to make something
different. The structure of the text helps the reader to go through the text without paying too
much emphasis on complex words or a more specialized vocabulary. Also the author gives
people the main idea right away with examples and points making a good statement, Hence I
better present my conclusions right away: ICTs are indeed reducing many of our cherished
cognitive facilities... (Maurer, 2015) Because of the way the text is structured its easier for the
audience to know the overall idea and the main purpose. The text is eye catching, it invites to
read more, and the visual shows someone thinking colors which refers to creativity.
Comparison and Contrast: Magazine and Scholarly Articles
Audience and Purpose
These two articles have the same purpose, to inform an audience about a specific issue.
Although they have the same purpose the way the information is delivered is different. The
scholarly article is formally presented whereas the magazine article is both formal and informal
reaching a wider audience. One of the main differences is the title, how the magazine title gets
more attention because of the use of the words, and the scholarly articles title its more complex.

Genre Analysis
The targeted audience for both articles is different as well, one is intended for more educated
people and the other is intended for people who have access to technology.
Rhetorical Appeals
Other difference is the rhetorical appeal. The scholarly article is more logos and ethos in
comparison with the magazine article, which evokes more emotions, referring to pathos. The
magazine article has the purpose of evoking these emotions causing the reader to be concerned
about this issue. The scholarly article has more logos, it has more information supporting the
main statements also it has more credibility. Both articles contain the three rhetorical appeals but
they differ significantly.
Structure and Delivery
The scholarly article structure is more organized and concise and the magazine article
structure is presented in an easier way to read. This has to do with the type of genre, when one is
has formal research purpose format the other has a semiformal informational format.
Conclusion
The articles presented Different attitudes-different priorities? Student perceptions of a
technology initiative by Miikka J. Eriksson and Hanna Vuojarvi and Does the internet make us
stupid? by Hermann Maurer were constructed with informative purposes. The way the audience
perceived the articles varies greatly. Some people agree that the scholarly article presents the
information more effectively and others may prefer the magazine article because of its simplicity
and construction. It depends on the audience to decide which genre presented the information
more effectively, yet the magazine article has a clearer message in explaining the main issue.

Genre Analysis
References
Eriksson, M. J., & Vuojrvi, H. (2014). Different backgrounds different priorities? Student
perceptions of a technology initiative. Higher Education Research & Development, 33(2),
272-285. doi:10.1080/07294360.2013.832165

Maurer, H. (2015). Does the Internet Make Us Stupid?. Communications Of The ACM, 58(1), 4851. doi: 10.1145/2629544