Analyzing my Genre

Anik Shrestha "Volvo P1800" September 11, 2011 via Flickr
reuse with attribution

In this blog post, I'm providing answers to the bulleted questions found on page 342 of Writing for Public Lives. I've also included 5 examples of the genre:

Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
Example 5

Social Context

• An opinion column is generally found in a magazine or in it's online form.
• Depending on the subject of the magazine, the subject of a column found in it would vary.
• Generally magazine editors will write opinion columns as as space to express their own opinions and biases.
• The genre is a space where people who are generally professional journalists who are not usually supposed to express bias can show their personal opinions and biases.

Rhetorical Patterns of the Genre

• Content is text-based with limited images sometimes included.
• I would think the appeals skew toward ethos as the piece is about personal opinions however depending on what the particular article is about, any and all rhetorical strategies can be used.
• The texts don't all include a specific organization but they are all generally an argument about something that has to do with cars. How that argument is structured and how it proceeds etc. depends on the author.
• Sentences in this genre do no have an overarching pattern.
• As a magazine article, the word choice tends to be formal with informal words only used as necessary. However, the tone is generally conversational and easy to read.

Analyse What those Patterns Reveal about Social Context of the Genre

• The genre itself does not intrinsically include or exclude anyone; magazines are generally written very accessibly.
• I don't see any particular role as being encouraged for the writer and readers. Obviously the readers are reading the writer's opinion about a subject.
• There are also no values intrinsically associated with this genre. With the audience of a car magazine: yes. But not in particular with readers of an editorial column.
• The genre generally treats the writer's opinion as the most important content as that is what it is centered on.

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I commented on Hallye and Swati's Genre blog posts. Hallye chose to write more of a magazine article which I think will work really well for her topic (something art history related). Her analysis for this blog post was excellent in particular regarding what audience she would be reaching. Swati on the other hand chose more of a general interest science topic which she also analyzed very well. In both situations, however, I would be slightly concerned how they would get across their own opinions. I specifically chose my genre because I knew it would be very easy to make an argument because objectivity is not expected in an editorial column.