Larissa Macko ENC 1102 Leslie Wolcott

Genre Analysis We may not fully understand some areas within a discourse community but we can analyze the use of genres to help us try. Genre analysis calls for studying the sorts/kinds of things rather than the things themselves in order to understand the social actions framed. Bazerman has noted that genres become a part of our social relations, communicative landscape and cognitive organizations, which are always shifting but nonetheless an operational site for the discourse community and understanding its functions. Within my community a common form of genre used is the medical intake form for plastic surgery. It is used multiple times by different doctors offices in order to gain access into ones life by asking and setting up certain questions for them. I have three different versions of medical intake forms created by members that assist non-members of the plastic surgeons office community. Each form has its own way of simplifying the process for non-members in order to be diagnosed by a member, or doctor, of the community. The medical intake forms came from my online research, one from John Hopkins hospital, one from a cosmetic center in Coral Gables, Fl, and the last one from a plastic surgeons office in California, which is also international. Each of these was accessed online simply by researching the different forms. They each have comparable structure for patients to fill out. All three forms introduce the office and welcome patients. Also, they each demand for the basic demographics such as name, address, date of birth,

Macko 2 height/weight, spouse information, and contact information, by being left blank for someone to fill out. Other common features of the medical intake form that are important are the sections involving the medical history of a patient and their family or current conditions, insurance information, and an area requesting a specific surgery. This is used to help guide patients (non-members) to getting what they ultimately desire, plastic surgery, and give an idea to doctors (members) about whom the patient is. We are able to analyze how this information plays a role within the discourse community. Carolyn R. Miller defines genre as typified rhetorical ways of acting in recurring situations (159). There are multiple different forms with basic information when visiting a doctors office. These patient forms are generic and simplified for patients to be able to understand when filling them out for doctors to use. The physical data alongside the name help to distinguish which patient is who for doctors, nurses, and the receptionists in the office. With the information gained on the intake form, doctors/nurses are able to use it along with their community knowledge to evaluate the situation, which allows for proper diagnosis and protection of lawsuits. In this case, the medical history of a patient is asked for by either filling it in or checking off boxes because there are always going to be patients but each have a different context on their forms. It is important to recognize that studying these forms is more important than the actual information filled out. As mentioned earlier, it protects doctors from potential lawsuits. It is a form that is filled out and kept on file so that in the case a patient feels they were diagnosed incorrectly, a doctor has something to base it off of.

Macko 3 Insurance information was asked for in one out of the three forms. This implies that only one of those particular offices accepts insurance but for the most part, plastic surgery is paid for out of pocket. Plastic surgery is an optional procedure, which, due to the procedure selection area, is implied. Within my specific research, breast reconstruction is also an optional procedure regardless of pre- operative diagnosis. The reference is used for other communities to communicate between each other or prove that there is interaction not only within one community. For example, a woman who has just undergone a mastectomy can be referred to another plastic surgeon knowledgeable enough to perform the lipofilling process, therefore, linking two communities. According to Bawarshi, what we know and do is connected to the language we use. It helps us reveal the material strength of the community and the power it has over both non-members and members (550). Doctors have their own language use, common amongst each other. That language therefore becomes the control of the community giving the doctor the most power. Doctors interact with nurses and receptionist but still know more than them to carry out the communitys purpose. But we must recognize that without those other people, whose language isnt as complex as doctors, the community would not function as smoothly. Bazerman defines genre, not just as forms, but also as social actions. The social action develops due to the genre. An example includes the nurse and doctor relationship. A nurse can read and identify the information given by patients but to evaluate that information and diagnose them would be the doctors job because he is the most reliable in that situation due to his knowledge. Thus resulting in a genre set of nurse/ doctor relationship. Another genre set within the community can include the doctor/ patient,

Macko 4 which could be the doctor explaining to the patient a certain topic. Genre sets then create a multi-genre community. An example could be that doctors can give patients a prescription that results in interaction between a patient and pharmacist (the social interaction) because of the genre form of a prescription. And the form of the medical intake form thus becomes a record and legal document all at once; a multi-genre community. Participants in this genre are invited if they wish to have plastic surgery. The forms are made for those who have a basic literacy, hence the simplification of medical intake forms. Asking for the information with options and open spaces makes it the easiest way for someone to understand. The patient intake form creates a line of authority, receptionist can input information and file away the legal document, nurses use it to help set up a patient for a doctor, who would have the highest authority because they are ultimately the decision maker. Doctors in this community have the most knowledge hence the most power over deciding what happens to a patient based on their intake information. Genres are the operational sites of discourse communities. Though they are always shifting contextually, the genre stays the same with the purpose of simplifying a non-members understanding and members understating of each other. They allow social relations to occur, communication as an open field between genre sets, and the cognitive organization for both insiders and outsiders of a community.

Macko 5

Works Cited

Bawarshi, Anis, Devitt, Amy J., and Reiff, Mary Jo, Materiality and Genre in the Study of Discourse Communities. Materiality, Genre, and Language Use (May, 2003), pp. 541558. Print.