Edgar Ramirez

ENC 1102
Leslie Wolcott
02/17/15

Genre Analysis
Introduction
When most people think of the word genre, they simply think its
a word that means a category of artistic composition, as in music or in
movies. But they fail to realize it also has another significant meaning.
The genre that Im talking about is a form of communication such as a
book, written documents, etc. But the official meaning of the word that
Amy Devitt has is that, genre is not as form, but form that helps us
understand (Devitt 574). For those who dont know who Amy devitt is,
shes an associate professor at the university of Kansas. She has a
background in both English language studies and rhetoric and
composition, and lastly she directed the First- and Second-year English
program and the Writing Across the Curriculum program.
When conducting a genre analysis, people typically look at two or
three forms of texts from a specific discourse community. The
discourse community that I have looked into is the American society of
civil engineers and from this I have looked up civil engineering
research articles to use as genre samples.
Analysis

My first genre sample is a civil engineering article about the

study of the amount of solar heat through the walls of a house built in
Bujumbura City using different materials. While the content of the
article isnt important, the way this article is written and the texts
thats being used to get the message across in this article is important.
They organized this article by first including an abstract and continued
on by numbering and labeling the headlines of each section. By doing
this, they make the text stand out since the headlines are also bolded
and underlined. Right away this should tell you that the parts that are
bolded and underlined contain important text in the research article.
Also from reading this article, the targeted audience would most
definitely be people in an engineering major or people that have an
interest in engineering. The reason Im saying this is because the
language they use to describe how they built the house using different
materials and solar heat is hard to understand unless youre a civil
engineer. The materials they name and the procedures they describe
wont confuse the average person who isnt really interested in this
work field.
My second genre sample is another civil engineering article but
this time it deals with repeated earthquakes on a school building. But
yet again, the content of this research article isnt important since all
were looking at is the details of the article. Details such as how its
written, the type of text it uses, the use of highlighting and the articles

structure. When it comes to how the article is written, its practically

the same style as the first article, which is no surprise since these two
articles are basically from the same discourse community. The type of
text it uses should be familiar with anyone but isnt as easy to
understand if you arent apart of that discourse community since you
hear and see it every day in your work force. This should tell you right
away who exactly participates in these articles, which if you dont
know are engineers and people aspiring to be one in the near future.
The Use of Volcanic Ash of Mount Sinabung Eruption as the
Substitution of Fine Aggregate in Making Batako is the title of my third
genre sample. Just by the name of the article is another example of
how an average person who isnt use to the language in this discourse
community would struggle to understand the meaning behind this title.
Batako is just a mass produced brick. The way the article is written is
similar to the two previous articles that I have mentioned. That is
because all three first include an abstract and continued on by
numbering and labeling the headlines of each section. These sections
are numbered to show the step-by-step procedures of the project that
they are working on. After all these are research articles on projects
that they have previously done. This article also includes pictures of
the projects and tables displaying the data. These are used so other
engineers can reference back when reading upon these research

articles. Like the other articles, the targeted audience would be

engineers and people aspiring to be engineers.
Conclusion
So after looking carefully at the details of my genre samples and
working on the genre analysis, the definition of genre that Amy Devitt
has given, which is genre is not as form, but form that helps us
understand became much more clearer to me. But overall these
genre samples show exactly the audience and the people that
participate in those articles. Also by the similarity between these
articles, you can tell right away that theres a good chance theyre all
from the same discourse community. Some similarities between these
articles would be their audience, their organized structure, their use of
highlighting to make important sections stand out, etc. But most
importantly is knowing that genre doesnt have only one significant
meaning.
Citations

"Effect of Repeated Earthquakes on the School Building in Northern

Sumatra." Effect of Repeated Earthquakes on the School Building in
Northern Sumatra. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.

"The Use of Volcanic Ash of Mount Sinabung Eruption as the Substitution

of Fine Aggregate in Making Batako (Mass-Produced Brick)." The Use of
Volcanic Ash of Mount Sinabung Eruption as the Substitution of Fine
Aggregate in Making Batako (Mass-Produced Brick). N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb.
2015.

"Study of the Amount of Solar Heat through the Walls of a House Built in
Bujumbura City with Different Materials and Choice of a Proper Facades
Orientation for Its Internal Comfort." Study of the Amount of Solar Heat
through the Walls of a House Built in Bujumbura City with Different
Materials and Choice of a Proper Facades Orientation for Its Internal
Comfort. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.

Devitt, Amy. "Generalizing about Genre: New Conceptions of an Old

Concept." Generalizing about Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept.
N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.