Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Mariel Aquino
Writing Project 1
Determining a genre is very useful to help analyze the purpose of different forms
of writing. Every genre has different writing conventions that change based upon who
their audience is. For this Project I chose three different genres that talk about the same
topic; Immigration, specifically illegal immigration and the policies that have been put in
place to deal with this crisis. For my non academic genre I chose a blog that discusses
potential solutions to thousand of immigrants who will be left undocumented after the
instagram post made by a first hand activist who is involved in this issue; she takes a
more emotional approach by using different vocabulary and tone. Finally for my
scholarly article, I chose an online detailed article about the effects of immigration in this
country and all of policies introduced over the years, including the establishment of
TPS. Authors use different genres with the same purpose to clearly develop a message
others by bloggers, or someone with no interest in the topic who happened to see an
instagram post. Although they have many differences they all have the same purpose,
which is to inform the people of the current immigration crisis in the country.
The non Academic genre that I chose Is a blog titled “What Comes Next:
Potential Relief Options After the Termination of TPS” by David Isaacson. In this blog
entry he discusses the various ways immigrants affected by the removal of TPS could
keep residing in the country. The tone of this blog is very candid and critical therefore
this gives away that in fact this is a blog. Blogs are usually full of the authors opinion or
knowledge on a subject. However It is definitely more casual than most news articles
and scholarly articles. It was also very bias although informational. He also provides
hope for the people affected by this by stating that “It is important to know, however,
that the termination of TPS may not equate to the termination of all ability to remain
lawfully in the United States”. 1We can sense the bias on the subject of matter by the
way he informs that there are different possibilities to help the people affected; he uses
encouraging and positive vocabulary and a very informational tone to get his purpose
across to the audience. His main audiences is first hand victims of this issue, therefore
he not only has to show empathy and hope, he is also providing useful information that
could help the nearly 300,000 immigrants to stay in the country they call home.
“materially affecting the applicant’s eligibility for asylum can also excuse late filing under
INA §208(a)(2)(D) and 8 C.F.R. §208.4(a)(4)(i) as long as the applicant files with in a
reasonable time given those changed circumstances.” 2He is giving legal advice to the
1
Isaacson, David. “What Comes Next: Potential Relief Options After the Termination of
TPS |.” The Insightful Immigration Blog, David Isaacson
http://Blog.cyrusmehta.com/Wp-Content/Uploads/Sites/2/2016/01/CDMA_IIB_Logo_201
6.Png, 18 Jan. 2018,
blog.cyrusmehta.com/2018/01/what-comes-next-potential-relief-options-after-the-termin
ation-of-tps.html.
2
Isaacson, David. “What Comes Next: Potential Relief Options After the Termination of
TPS |.” The Insightful Immigration Blog, David Isaacson
families that will be facing deportation in light of the circumstances and therefore
establish a personal connection to the audience. The blog layout is different than other
genres too, for example the column consisted of about 80 character, and paragraphs
were kepts short. This makes readers maintain engaged and interested in . This is in
contrast to what I observed in the scholarly article that I used; although it was also very
informational it was much more formal. The layout also changed from having short
Setting the Record Straight” by Michael E. Fix, Jeffrey S. Passel. He discusses the the
history of immigration and the policies that have been placed in the past few years. He
also discusses the pros and cons of immigration and how immigration has affected the
US economy among other statistics. For example “The United States is now
experiencing the largest wave of immigrants in the country's history. The first major
in-migration began in the late 1840s and peaked in the 1880s, a decade during which
somewhat more than 5 million immigrants arrived on U.S. shores (Figure 1).”3 In this
piece of writing the author is straightforward and less opinionated. This quote was
followed by a graph showing the growth of immigration throughout the years. This
makes this piece much more reliable and less opinion based which is therefore better
http://Blog.cyrusmehta.com/Wp-Content/Uploads/Sites/2/2016/01/CDMA_IIB_Logo_201
6.Png, 18 Jan. 2018,
blog.cyrusmehta.com/2018/01/what-comes-next-potential-relief-options-after-the-termin
ation-of-tps.html.
3
Fix, Michael E., and Jeffrey S. Passel. “Immigration and Immigrants: Setting the
Record Straight.” Urban institute nonprofit social and economic policy research, The
Urban Institute, 1 May 1994, webarchive.urban.org/publications/305184.html#IV.
for academic research. I also observed that his writing is organized differently than a
blog. He divides his information into sections and bullet points. This piece of writing is
obviously much more accepted in an academic setting because of its research based
information and the way it is organized. By observing the characteristics of this article I
can make a conclusion as to the purpose of this document and its intended audience.
Since the content of this piece is researched based and has many graphs and statistics
we can conclude that it is for students or anyone who might be working on a research
paper. It also is very informational and not bias; this lets us know that it is a trusted
resource and can be used in an academic setting. The main purpose is to inform
anyone about immigration in the United States. There is also no political bias therefore it
is very neutral and can appeal to anyone interested in learning about the history and
effects of immigration. This however is the complete opposite to the final genre that I
The visual genre that I chose was an Instagram post made by a first hand
activist who is involved in this issue; she takes a more emotional approach on the
matter. This piece is artwork by Yocelyn Riojas accompanied by a caption. Her painting
is depicting two hands holding, between them they are holding three flags from central
american countries that are affected by the removal of TPS. There are also flowers
between their fingers; the hands are brown which depicts the main groups affected by
this. Her caption is also very lengthy and emotional, she is appealing to the audiences
emotions rather than logic. “As of right now as many of you know or I hope you do, the
Temporary Protection Status is ending for Haiti, Nicaragua, and now El Salvador...Many
families under TPS have been here 17+ years building roots. Even though they are all
small countries ...this situation still matters. It’s disappointing to see how little of this is
being discussed in the media and community if at all. Just because this doesn't involve
you it's still wrong, and therefore deserves your attention and action. I stand with
#DACA and #TPS”. 4Considering that this is an Instagram post this would be a lengthy
caption which would incline more people to read it because of how rare it is to see
something like that on instagram. Usually instagram post consist of trivial things with
short caption and sometime no actual sentences. This form of Activism is becoming
more and more effective today among young adults and teenagers, which is who the
audience for this post was; young activist who want to take action in today's issues.
Although her vocabulary is more casual it is also very emotional. This post serves as
political propaganda by targeting the audiences emotions. The caption is lengthy for an
instagram post but very short compared to a news article or blog, this catches the
audience's attention. The purpose of this is to spark a curiosity on the topic and cause
the audience to inform themselves on this issue. This post serves to raise awareness on
Each of the genres chosen discuss the same topic of immigration, although each
have a very different approach to it. Both the instagram post and the blog had very
opinionated content, unlike the scholarly article. The scholarly article was very different
than both of the other genres as it was not emotionally driven at all and had no opinion
4
“@Yocelyn.riojas on Instagram: "As of right now as many of you know or I hope you
do, the Temporary Protection Status is ending for Haiti, Nicaragua, and now El
Salvador....".” Instagram, www.instagram.com/p/BdzFvJiAUcc/?taken-by=yocelyn.riojas.
based content. The scholarly article had facts, statistics, and conclusions based upon
these facts and statistics presented. The tone was also very different from genre to
genre. Despite all of the differences in genres we can observe that the purpose doesn't
change as much. In each piece the author's purpose is to inform the audience of a
@Yocelyn.riojas on Instagram: "As of right now as many of you know or I hope you do,
the Temporary Protection Status is ending for Haiti, Nicaragua, and now El
Salvador....".” Instagram, www.instagram.com/p/BdzFvJiAUcc/?taken-by=yocelyn.riojas.
Isaacson, David. “What Comes Next: Potential Relief Options After the Termination of
TPS |.” The Insightful Immigration Blog, David Isaacson
http://Blog.cyrusmehta.com/Wp-Content/Uploads/Sites/2/2016/01/CDMA_IIB_Logo_201
6.Png, 18 Jan. 2018,
blog.cyrusmehta.com/2018/01/what-comes-next-potential-relief-options-after-the-termin
ation-of-tps.html.
Fix, Michael E., and Jeffrey S. Passel. “Immigration and Immigrants: Setting the Record
Straight.” Urban institute nonprofit social and economic policy research, The Urban
Institute, 1 May 1994, webarchive.urban.org/publications/305184.html#IV.