This document provides an overview and definitions of the multigenre essay assignment for students. It includes requirements for the assignment such as using a minimum of five genres, references, citations, and notes pages. Students are given approximately one month to complete the multigenre essay, due on April 25th. The document directs students to additional resources on multigenre writing and provides examples for students to examine as they begin working on their own multigenre essays.

1. Learning Module 11
Definitions and Perspectives
about the Multigenre Essay
EDLL 5341/EDLL 5344
March 31, 2014

2. Overview:
• The Focus for this week’s learning module is to
develop your understanding of the multigenre
essay and help you get off to a solid start on this
project. To this end, I would like you to start this
journey by examining definitions and different
perspectives about the multigenre essay. You
have approximately one month to complete this
assignment. The sooner you identify a topic, the
better for you! During the next few weeks of our
course, I will focus your attention on the theories
and techniques for completing this project.
• Due Date for the Multigenre Essay is April 25th

3. What is Multigenre Writing?
http://writing.colostate.edu/gallery/multigenre/i
ntroduction.htm

4. Tom Romano’s Website
http://www.users.muohio.edu/romanots/

5. Cognitive Vs. Emotional
Writing/Narrative Thinking From
Blending Genre/Altering Style
“In most of my writing the cognitive and the emotional
are entwined. This happens because in whatever I
write, I seek a place for narrative thinking. More than I
am interested in reflecting on or abstracting from
experience, I am interested in rendering it so that
readers live the page. When done well, Tom Newkirk
(1997) contends, such rendering ‘penetrates’
experience (p. 95), taking readers inside a present
moment, present because narrative thinking lets us
experience the writing, a little like watching a
compelling movie or Count Basie presiding above the
rumpus or Liz Irish step dancing” (p. 24).

6. Why Study Multigenre Writing as a
Part of Content Area Literacy?
• Multigenre writing is a unique tool for teaching
students to think about content matter. It involves
complex levels of synthesis and analysis as well as
representation and communication.
• Disciplinary-focused literacy entails multiple genres and
modalities of text and the Discourses associated with
comprehending and creating such texts (e.g., symbols,
graphs, pictures, music). Multigenre writing is a way to
bring multiple types of texts together with print-based
texts and in so doing forge a bridge between
disciplinary-driven forms of literacy and traditional
print-based definitions and expectations of literacy.

7. Grammar A and Grammar B
• Compare the two samples of writing over
Count Basie on page 18 and page 20.
• What is distinctive about the style of each of
these pieces?
• Which one is emblematic of a “grammar A”
(traditional) style and which one is
emblematic of a “grammar B” (alternate)
style?

8. Requirements of the Multigenre
Essay
 Paper should be at least 5-7 pages in length
 Include a minimum of five different genres of
writing
 Refer to at least five different, research-based
references
 Include an introductory letter to readers
 Include documentation of referenced material
within the paper (i.e., in-text citations)
 Include a reference page for sources
 Include an end notes page that lists the sources
for each genre of writing

9. The Book that Inspired Tom Romano to teach
Multigenre Writing: The Collected Works of Billy the
Kid
• “Out of his inquiry into Billy the Kid, Ondaatje
created a complex, multilayered, multivoiced
blend of genres, each revealing information
about his topic, each self-contained, making a
point of its own, unconnected to other genres
by conventional transitional devices . . . All of
these genre snapshots combine to re-create
part of the factual world of Billy the Kid but
also the imaginative world of dramatic scenes
. . .Factual and emotional. Objective and
subjective. Real and imagined” (p. 4).

11. Before you Begin Writing:
1. Read Excerpt from The Collected Works of Billy the Kid
by Michael Ondaatje.
2. Read “Cosmetic Clips” on page 7 in Blending Genre,
Altering Style. (Please note this is not a research
example of multigenre writing; it is a personal
narrative.)
3. Read sample multigenre essays written by a high
school student and a former EDLL 5341 student.
4. Brainstorm a list of possible topics for your paper.
5. Brainstorm a list of possible genres you could use in
your paper.

12. Reminder:
Read Chapters 5-8 in Blending Genre,
Altering Style and select a topic for your
multigenre essay for our next class