Project 2 genre analysis report assignment promptin pr

1. Project 2: Genre Analysis Report
Assignment Prompt
In Project 2, you will choose a specific genre and analyze it for
an audience who is interested in, but unfamiliar with, the
community where the genre originates. The purpose of your
analysis is to describe how your chosen genre functions in the
community that uses it (on campus, online, or local) and
analyze the ways in which specific features (conventions) help
it do so.
To accomplish this purpose, you will compose an analytical
report that identifies the conventional features of your chosen
genre and interprets their purposes and functions. You will use
specific examples of the genre and information from
background research as evidence to support your interpretation
of the genre’s features and purposes.
Analytical Report Requirements
In the role of an interpreter, you will break down a genre into
specific features and interpret the importance of these features
to your genre’s particular purpose and rhetorical context. Your
report should:
· Identify the specific individual or organization that creates
this genre. (Who creates it? What is the author’s role in the
community it was created for?)
· Identify the specific users and audience for the example. (Who
uses it? Who is it designed for?)
· Define conventional features of this genre, such as features
related to:
· Design/layout/length of the genre

2. · Organization of information
· Language formality
· Visuals: Use of color, photos, videos, and/or graphics
· Text: Font types, font sizes, effects
· Structural moves
· Citations (How is outside information referenced?)
· Analyze the genre in relationship to its context.
· Explain how the genre is shaped by its context and users.
· Explain how conventional features of the genre function in
this context to serve its users.
· Identify whether the genre is unique to this community.
· If so, why does the genre only exist in this community? How
does it relate to the community’s specific needs?
· If not, how is this organization’s version of the genre similar
to other versions of this genre? How is it different from other
versions of the genre? Why is it similar and/or different?
Selecting a Genre
You may choose any genre to analyze for this project. Keep in
mind that a genre is defined as a text that responds to a specific
rhetorical situation and represents a form of social action. It
does not necessarily need to be a written text, however. For
example, you could choose to analyze a type of image, video,
audio, multimedia, or spoken text. Be sure to choose a genre
that you can easily collect multiple samples of. Also keep in
mind that the more samples you have, the easier it will be for
you to identify conventions, yet you could get overwhelmed if
you collect many samples of a long genre.
Assignment Stages
Step 1: Identify a distinct genre that is produced by a specific
community and collect multiple samples (see Strategies below).
Step 2: Analyze genre samples and synthesize your information.
· Recognize the rhetorical situation (audience, purpose, context)
that gives rise to the genre.
· Define core features of the genre, breaking it down into its
major components, such as language conventions and structural

3. moves.
· Draw inferences about the core features you have identified:
why they are included in the genre and what they mean.
· Connect your understanding of the genre’s features to its
audience, purpose, and social context.
Step 3: Plan and outline your analytic report. Decide what
information to include and how you will organize this
information. Use headings to help readers follow your
organizational pattern.
Step 4: Write and revise your report based on feedback. As you
draft, review the grading rubric.
Format Requirements
· Your project should be 900–1200 words in length.
· Your project should be double-spaced, in 12-point Times New
Roman font with 1-inch margins.
Other Requirements
· Use the name of your genre in the title of your project.
· Use headings to help organize the content and guide the
reader.
· Use hyperlinks to cite any text you quote from your genre
samples or from outside sources (such as your community’s
website).
· If you include a picture, drawing, or graph, it should be
accompanied by a caption and a citation (if borrowed from
another source).
· End your paper with a reference list that lists all genre
samples and outside sources you consulted.
Course Objectives
After completing this project you will have made progress
towards the following student learning objectives:
· 1B. identify the purposes of, intended audiences for, and
arguments in a text, as situated within particular cultural,
economic, and political contexts.

4. · 1C. analyze how genres shape reading and composing
practices.
· 2A. integrate evidence through methods such as summaries,
paraphrases, quotations, and visuals.
· 2B. support ideas or positions by discussing evidence from
multiple sources.
· 3A. follow contextually appropriate conventions for language
use related to areas such as grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
· 3B. apply contextually appropriate citation conventions.
· 4B. produce multiple revisions on global and local levels.
· 4C. suggest useful global and local revisions to other writers.
Grading Criteria
Your Genre Analysis will be graded on the following criteria:
· Context for the Community: The report clearly identifies a
community of focus and explores this community’s membership,
goals, values, activities, and communicative practices.
(Objective 1B, 1C)
· Analysis of the Genre: The report describes the conventional
patterns of design, organization, content, and rhetoric and
provides examples as evidence. It discusses why these
conventions are common in the genre and why/how they express
the community’s values and help it achieve its goals.
(Objectives 2A, 2B)
· Organization: The paper appropriately uses or adapts common
organizational features of an analytical report to create a clear
and meaningful organizational structure for readers. (Objectives
1C, 3A)
· Language and Rhetorical Features: The report appropriately
uses or adapts common language and rhetorical features of
genre analysis, such as description, evaluation, modals, and a
variety of methods of exemplification. Genre samples and
outside sources are properly cited. It is free of errors of the type
that would be detected by a spell-check or grammar-check tool.
(Objectives 3A, 3B)
· Reflection & Revision: The report has gone through multiple

5. revisions (prewriting, first & final drafts). The author has
critically incorporated feedback from peers and instructor.
(Objectives 4B, 5A)
Getting Started: Strategies for Selecting a Genre
· Select a genre for which you can easily identify the
community that uses it.
· e.g., brochures/pamphlets for organizations at the University
of Arizona or in your local community
· Select a genre that has a distinct purpose and role as well as
an identifiable target audience and publication venue.
· e.g., syllabi, newsletters, webpages, TikTok videos
· Select a genre that is distinctive in the following ways:
· writing/speaking style and tone
· specific uses
· organization and design
· Select a genre to which you have easy access to multiple
examples.
· Select a genre that has enough features to be interesting to
analyze, but is short enough that you will have time to analyze
several samples within a brief period.
Photo by Spencer Davis on Unsplash
© University of Arizona Writing Program