Navigating Genresby Kerry DirkThis essay is a chapter in Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing,Volume 1, a peer-reviewed open textbook series for the writingclassroom, and is published through Parlor Press.The full volume and individual chapter downloads are available forfree from the following sites:• Writing Spaces: http://writingspaces.org/essays• Parlor Press: http://parlorpress.com/writingspaces• WAC Clearinghouse: http://wac.colostate.edu/books/Print versions of the volume are available for purchase directlyfrom Parlor Press and through other booksellers.To learn about participating in the Writing Spaces project, visit theWriting Spaces website at http://writingspaces.org/.This essay is available under a Creative Commons License subject to the WritingSpaces Terms of Use. More information, such as the specific license being used,is available at the bottom of the first page of the chapter.© 2010 by the respective author(s). For reprint rights and other permissions,contact the original author(s).Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataWriting spaces : readings on writing. Volume 1 / edited by Charles Loweand Pavel Zemliansky.p. cm.Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 978-1-60235-184-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-60235-185-1(adobe ebook)1. College readers. 2. English language–Rhetoric. I. Lowe, Charles,1965- II. Zemliansky, Pavel.PE1417.W735 2010808’.0427–dc222010019487249Navigating GenresKerry DirkThere’s a joke that’s been floating around some time now that you’velikely already heard.* It goes something like the following:Q: What do you get when you rewind a country song?A: You get your wife back, your job back, your dog back . . .Maybe this joke makes you laugh. Or groan. Or tilt your headto the side in confusion. Because it just so happens that in order toget this joke, you must know a little something about country musicin general and in particular country music lyrics. You must, in otherwords, be familiar with the country music genre.Let’s look into country music lyrics a bit more. Bear with me onthis is if you’re not a fan. Assuming I want to write lyrics to a country song, how would I figure out what lyrics are acceptable in termsof country songs? Listening to any country station for a short periodof time might leave one with the following conclusions about countrysongs:• Country songs tend to tell stories. They often have characterswho are developed throughout the song.• Country songs often have choruses that are broad enough toapply to a variety of verses.* This work is licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNoncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License and is subject to theWriting Spaces Terms of Use. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ or send a letter to CreativeCommons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105,USA. To view the Writing Spaces Terms of Use, visit http://writingspaces.org/terms-of-use.250 Kerry Dirk• Country songs are often depressing; people lose jobs, lovers,and friends.• Country songs express pride for the country style and way oflife.• Country songs are often political, responding to wars and economic crises, for example.Given these characteristics, I would feel prepared to write some newcountry lyrics. But what would happen if I wanted to write a countrysong that didn’t do any of the above things? Would it still be a countrysong?You are probably already familiar with many genres, although youmay not know them as such; perhaps your knowledge of genres is limited to types of books, whether mystery, horror, action, etc. Now I’mgoing to ask you to stick with me while I show you how knowledge ofgenres goes far beyond a simple discussion of types. My purposes areto expand your definition of genre (or to introduce you to a definitionfor the first time) and to help you start thinking about how genresmight apply to your own writing endeavors. But above all, I hope togive you an awareness of how genres function by taking what is oftenquite theoretical in the field of rhetoric and composition and making ita bit more tangible. So why was I talking about country songs? I thinkthat using such references can help you to see, in a quite concrete way,how genres function.When I started writing this essay, I had some ideas of what I wantedto say. But first, I had to determine what this essay might look like. I’vewritten a lot—letters, nonfiction pieces, scholarly articles, rants—butthis was my first time writing an essay to you, a composition student.What features, I asked myself, should go into this essay? How personalcould I get? What rhetorical moves might I use, effectively or ineffectively? I hoped that a similar type of essay already existed so that Iwould have something to guide my own writing. I knew I was lookingfor other essays written directly to students, and after finding manyexamples, I looked for common features. In particular, I noted thewarm, personal style that was prevalent through every essay; the tonewas primarily conversational. And more importantly, I noticed thatthe writer did not talk as an authoritative figure but as a coach. Somewriters admitted that they did not know everything (we don’t), andothers even went so far as to admit ignorance. I found myself doingNavigating Genres 251what Mary Jo Reiff, a professor who studies rhetoric and composition,did when she was asked to write about her experience of writing anessay about teaching for those new to the field of composition. Shewrites, “I immediately called on my genre knowledge—my past experience with reading and writing similar texts in similar situations—toorient me to the expectations of this genre” (157).I further acknowledged that it is quite rare that teachers of writingget to write so directly to students in such an informal manner. Although textbooks are directed at students, they are often more formalaffairs meant to serve a different purpose than this essay. And becausethe genre of this essay is still developing, there are no formal expectations for what this paper might look like. In my excitement, I realizedthat perhaps I had been granted more freedom in writing this essaythan is typical of an already established, although never static, genre.As a result, I decided to make this essay a mix of personal anecdotes,examples, and voices from teachers of writing. Such an essay seems tobe the most fitting response to this situation, as I hope to come acrossas someone both informative and friendly. Why am I telling you this?Because it seems only appropriate that given the fact that I am talkingabout genre awareness, I should make you aware of my own struggleswith writing in a new genre.I will admit that the word genre used to have a bad reputationand may still make some people cringe. Genre used to refer primarilyto form, which meant that writing in a particular genre was seen assimply a matter of filling in the blanks. Anne Freadman, a specialistin genre theory, points out that “it is this kind of genre theory withits failures that has caused the discredit of the very notion of genre,bringing about in turn its disuse and the disrepair many of us foundit in” (46). But genre theory has come a long way since then. Perhapsthe shift started when the rhetorician Lloyd Bitzer wrote the following:Due to either the nature of things or convention, orboth, some situations recur. The courtroom is thelocus for several kinds of situations generating thespeech of accusation, the speech of defense, the chargeto the jury. From day to day, year to year, comparablesituations occur, prompting comparable responses;hence rhetorical forms are born and a special vocabulary, grammar, and style are established. (13)252 Kerry DirkIn other words, Bitzer is saying that when something new happens that requires a response, someone must create that first response.Then when that situation happens again, another person uses the firstresponse as a basis for the second, and eventually everyone who encounters this situation is basing his/her response on the previous ones,resulting in the creation of a new genre. Think about George Washington giving the first State of the Union Address. Because this genrewas completely new, he had complete freedom to pick its form andcontent. All presidents following him now have these former addressesto help guide their response because the situation is now a reoccurringone. Amy Devitt, a professor who specializes in the study of genretheory, points out that “genres develop, then, because they respondappropriately to situations that writers encounter repeatedly” (“Generalizing” 576) and because “if each writing problem were to requirea completely new assessment of how to respond, writing would beslowed considerably. But once we recognize a recurring situation, a situation that we or others have responded to in the past, our response tothat situation can be guided by past responses” (“Generalizing” 576).As such, we can see how a genre like the State of the Union Addresshelps for more effective communication between the president andcitizens because the president already has a genre with which to work;he/she doesn’t have to create a new one, and citizens know what to expect from such an address.The definition of genre has changed even more since Bitzer’s article was written; genres are now viewed as even more than repeatingrhetorical situations. Carolyn Miller, a leading professor in the field oftechnical communication, argues that “a rhetorically sound definitionof genre must be centered . . . on the action it is used to accomplish”(151). How might this look? These actions don’t have to be complex;many genres are a part of our daily lives. Think about genres as toolsto help people to get things done. Devitt writes that:genres have the power to help or hurt human interaction, to ease communication or to deceive, to enablesomeone to speak or to discourage someone from saying something different. People learn how to do smalltalk to ease the social discomfort of large group gatherings and meeting new people, but advertisers learnNavigating Genres 253how to disguise sales letters as winning sweepstakes entries. (Writing 1)In other words, knowing what a genre is used for can help people toaccomplish goals, whether that goal be getting a job by knowing howto write a stellar resume, winning a person’s heart by writing a romantic love letter, or getting into college by writing an effective personalstatement.By this point you might realize that you have been participatingin many different genres—whether you are telling a joke, writing anemail, or uploading a witty status on Facebook. Because you knowhow these genres function as social actions, you can quite accuratelypredict how they function rhetorically; your joke should generate alaugh, your email should elicit a response, and your updated Facebook status should generate comments from your online friends. Butyou have done more than simply filled in the blanks. Possibly withouteven thinking about it, you were recognizing the rhetorical situationof your action and choosing to act in a manner that would result inthe outcome you desired. I imagine that you would probably not sharea risqué joke with your mom, send a “Hey Buddy” email to your professor, or update your Facebook status as “X has a huge wart on hisfoot.” We can see that more than form matters here, as knowing whatis appropriate in these situations obviously requires more rhetoricalknowledge than does filling out a credit card form. Devitt argues that“people do not label a particular story as a joke solely because of formalfeatures but rather because of their perception of the rhetorical actionthat is occurring” (Writing 11). True, genres often have formulaic features, but these features can change even as the nature of the genreremains (Devitt, Writing, 48). What is important to consider here isthat if mastering a form were simply a matter of plugging in content,we would all be capable of successfully writing anything when we aregiven a formula. By now you likely know that writing is not that easy.Fortunately, even if you have been taught to write in a formulaicway, you probably don’t treat texts in such a manner. When approaching a genre for a the first time, you likely view it as more than a simpleform: “Picking up a text, readers not only classify it and expect a certain form, but also make assumptions about the text’s purposes, itssubject matter, its writer, and its expected reader” (Devitt, Writing 12).We treat texts that we encounter as rhetorical objects; we choose be254 Kerry Dirktween horror movies and chick flicks not only because we are familiarwith their forms but because we know what response they will elicitfrom us (nail-biting fear and dreamy sighs, respectively). Why am Ipicking popular genres to discuss? I think I agree with Miller whenshe argues the following:To consider as potential genres such homely discourseas the letter of recommendation, the user manual, theprogress report, the ransom note, the lecture, and thewhite paper, as well as the eulogy, the apologia, theinaugural, the public proceeding, and the sermon, isnot to trivialize the study of genres; it is to take seriously the rhetoric in which we are immersed and thesituations in which we find ourselves. (155)In other words, Miller is saying that all genres matter because theyshape our everyday lives. And by studying the genres that we find familiar, we can start to see how specific choices that writers make resultin specific actions on the part of readers; it only follows that our ownwriting must too be purposefully written.I like examples, so here is one more. Many of you may be familiarwith The Onion, a fictitious newspaper that uses real world examplesto create humorous situations. Perhaps the most notable genre of TheOnion is its headlines. The purpose of these headlines is simple: tomake the reader respond by laughing. While many of the articles arealso entertaining, the majority of the humor is produced through theheadlines. In fact, the headlines are so important to the success of thenewspaper that they are tested on volunteers to see the readers’ immediate responses. There are no formal features of these headlines besidesthe fact that they are all quite brief; they share no specific style. Butthey are a rhetorical action meant to bring about a specific response,which is why I see them as being their own genre. A few examples forthose of you unfamiliar with this newspaper would help to explainwhat I’m saying. Here are a few of my personal favorites (politicallycharged or other possibly offensive headlines purposefully avoided):• “Archaeological Dig Uncovers Ancient Race of SkeletonPeople”• “Don’t Run Away, I’m Not the Flesh-Eating Kind of Zombie”• “Time Traveler: Everyone In The Future Eats Dippin’ Dots”Navigating Genres 255• “‘I Am Under 18’ Button Clicked For First Time In HistoryOf Internet”• “Commas, Turning Up, Everywhere”• “Myspace Outage Leaves Millions Friendless.”• “Amazon.com Recommendations Understand Area WomanBetter Than Husband”• “Study: Dolphins Not So Intelligent On Land”• “Beaver Overthinking Dam”• “Study: Alligators Dangerous No Matter How Drunk YouAre”• “Child In Corner To Exact Revenge As Soon As He Gets Out”(The Onion)I would surmise with near certainty that at least one of these headlines made you laugh. Why? I think the success lies in the fact that thewriters of these headlines are rhetorically aware of whom these headlines are directed toward—college students like you, and more specifically, educated college students who know enough about politics,culture, and U.S. and world events to “get” these headlines.And now for some bad news: figuring out a genre is tricky already,but this process is further complicated by the fact that two texts thatmight fit into the same genre might also look extremely different. Butlet’s think about why this might be the case. Devitt points out, “different grocery stores make for different grocery lists. Different law courtsmake for different legal briefs. And different college classes make fordifferent research papers. Location may not be the first, second, andthird most important qualities of writing, as it is for real estate, butlocation is surely among the situational elements that lead to expected genres and to adaptations of those genres in particular situations”(“Transferability” 218). Think about a time when you were asked towrite a research paper. You probably had an idea of what that papershould look like, but you also needed to consider the location of theassignment. In other words, you needed to consider how your particular teacher’s expectations would help to shape your assignment. Thismakes knowing a genre about much more than simply knowing itsform. You also need to consider the context in which it is being used.As such, it’s important to be aware that the research paper you mightbe required to write in freshman composition might be completelydifferent than the research paper you might be asked to write for an256 Kerry Dirkintroductory psychology class. Your goal is to recognize these shifts inlocation and to be aware of how such shifts might affect your writing.Let’s consider a genre with which you are surely familiar: the thesis statement. Stop for a moment and consider what this term meansto you. Ask your classmates. It’s likely that you each have your owndefinition of what a thesis statement should and should not look like.You may have heard never to start a thesis statement with a phrase like“In this essay.” Or you might have been taught that a thesis statementshould have three parts, each of which will be discussed in one paragraph of the essay. I learned that many good thesis statements followthe formula “X because Y,” where “X” refers to a specific stance, and“Y” refers to a specific reason for taking that stance. For example, Icould argue “School uniforms should be required because they willhelp students to focus more on academics and less on fashion.” Now,whether or not this is a good thesis statement is irrelevant, but youcan see how following the “X because Y” formula would produce anicely structured statement. Take this a step further and research “thesis statements” on the Internet, and you’ll find that there are endlesssuggestions. And despite their vast differences, they all fit under thegenre of thesis statement. How is this possible? Because it comes backto the particular situation in which that thesis statement is being used.Again, location is everything.I think it’s time to try our hand at approaching a genre with whichI hope all of you are only vaguely familiar and completely unpracticed:the ransom note.A ScenarioI’ve decided to kidnap Bob’s daughter Susie for ransom. I’m behind on the mortgage payments, my yacht payments are also overdue,and I desperately need money. It is well known that Bob is one ofthe wealthiest people in Cash City, so I’ve targeted him as my futuresource of money. I’ve never met Bob, although one time his Mercedescut me off in traffic, causing me to hit the brakes and spill my drink;the stain still glares at me from the floor of the car. The kidnappingpart has been completed; now I need to leave Bob a ransom note. Let’slook at a few drafts I’ve completed to decide which one would be mostappropriate.Navigating Genres 257Ransom Letter 1:If you ever want to see your daughter alive again,leave 1 million dollars by the blue garbage can at 123Ransom Rd. at Midnight. Come alone and do notcall the police.Ransom Letter 2:Hav daughter. Million $. Blu grbg can 123 RansomRd. 12AM. No poliz.Ransom Letter 3:Dear Bob,Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.You have a lovely house, and I very much enjoyedmy recent visit while you were out of town. Unfortunately, I have kidnapped your daughter. As I amcurrently unable to meet several financial demands, Iam graciously turning to you for help in this matter.I am sure that we will be able to come to some mutually beneficial agreement that results in the return ofyour daughter and the padding of my wallet. Pleasemeet with me at the Grounds Coffee House on FirstStreet so that we may discuss what price is most fitting. Your daughter, meanwhile, remains in safe andcompetent hands. She is presently playing pool withmy son Matt (a possible love connection?), and shesays to tell you “Hi.”Yours truly,JimP.S. Please order me a skim vanilla latte, should youarrive before I do.Immediately, you can probably determine that ransom letter oneis the best choice. But have you considered why? What does the first258 Kerry Dirkletter have that the other two are lacking? Let’s first eliminate the mostobvious dud—letter number three. Not only does it mimic the friendly, familiar manner of two friends rather than the threatening note ofa deranged kidnapper, but it also suggests both that there is no rushin the matter and that the price is negotiable. Letters one and two arecloser; they both contain the same information, but letter two failsto be as rhetorically strong as number one. The spelling errors andchoppy feel might suggest that the writer of the note is not intelligentenough to get away with the kidnapping. The first letter is the mostrhetorically strong because it is well written and direct. All of theseletters would qualify as fitting the genre of ransom letter, but the firstone most obviously fits the rhetorical situation.It may be worthwhile to note some particular challenges you mighthave to approaching your writing genres as rhetorical situations. Perhaps you have come from a writing background where you learnedthat certain rules apply to all writing. Just nod if these sound familiar:• You must have a thesis statement at the end of the introduction.• Every thesis statement should introduce three points of discussion.• You cannot use “I” in writing.• You cannot begin a sentence with a coordinating conjunction.• Every paragraph should start with a topic sentence.You get the point. These rules are appealing; they tell us exactly whatto do and not to do with regard to writing. I remember happily creating introductions that moved from broad to specific (often startingwith “In our world”), constructing three point thesis statements, andbeginning paragraphs with “first,” “second,” and “third.” I didn’t haveto think about audience, or purpose, or even much about content forthat matter. All that really mattered was that essay followed a certainformula that was called good writing. But looking back, what resultedfrom such formulas was not very good; actually, it was quite bad.That is, of course, not to say that there aren’t rules that come withgenres; the difference is that the rules change as the genre changes,that no rules apply to all genres, and that genres require more effortthan simply following the rules. Because genres usually come withestablished conventions, it is risky to choose not to follow such conNavigating Genres 259ventions. These similarities within genres help us to communicate successfully; imagine the chaos that would ensue if news broadcasts weredone in raps, if all legal briefs were written in couplets, or if your teacher handed you a syllabus and told you that it must first be decoded.In sum, “too much choice is as debilitating of meaning as is too littlechoice. In language, too much variation results eventually in lack ofmeaning: mutual unintelligibility” (Devitt, “Genre” 53).But on a brighter note, genres also help us to make more efficientdecisions when writing, as we can see how people have approachedsimilar situations. Creating a new genre each time that writing wasrequired would make the writing process much longer, as we wouldnot have past responses to help us with present ones (Devitt, “Generalizing” 576). As a result, the more you are able to master particulargenres, the better equipped you may be to master genres that you laterencounter:When people write, they draw on the genres theyknow, their own context of genres, to help constructtheir rhetorical action. If they encounter a situationnew to them, it is the genres they have acquired inthe past that they can use to shape their new action.Every genre they acquire, then, expands their genrerepertoire and simultaneously shapes how they mightview new situations. (Devitt, Writing 203)Taking what Devitt says into account, think back to the previous discussion of the research paper. If you already have some idea of whata research paper looks like, you do not have to learn an entirely newgenre. Instead, you just have to figure out how to change that particular genre to fit with the situation, even if that change just comes fromhaving a different teacher.Learning about genres and how they function is more importantthan mastering one particular genre; it is this knowledge that helpsus to recognize and to determine appropriate responses to differentsituations—that is, knowing what particular genre is called for in aparticular situation. And learning every genre would be impossibleanyway, as Devitt notes that “no writing class could possibly teachstudents all the genres they will need to succeed even in school, muchless in the workplace or in their civic lives. Hence the value of teachinggenre awareness rather than acquisition of particular genres” (Writing260 Kerry Dirk205). This approach helps to make you a more effective writer as well,as knowing about genres will make you more prepared to use genresthat you won’t learn in college. For example, I recently needed to writea letter about removing a late fee on a credit card. I had never writtenthis particular type of letter before, but I knew what action I was trying to accomplish. As a result, I did some research on writing lettersand determined that I should make it as formal and polite as possible.The body of the letter ended up as follows:I have very much enjoyed being a card carrier withthis bank for many years. However, I recently hada late fee charged to my account. As you will notefrom my previous statements, this is the first late fee Ihave ever acquired. I do remember making this payment on time, as I have all of my previous payments.I hope to remain a loyal customer of this bank formany years to come, so I would very much appreciateit if you would remove this charge from my account.You can see that this letter does several things. First, I build credibilityfor myself by reminding them that I have used their card for manyyears. Second, I ask them to check my records to show further that Iam typically a responsible card carrier. And third, I hint that if they donot remove the late fee, I might decide to change to a different bank.This letter is effective because it considers how the situation affects thegenre. And yes, the late fee was removed.Chances are that I have left you more confused than you were before you began this essay. Actually, I hope that I have left you frustrated; this means that the next time you write, you will have to considernot only form but also audience, purpose, and genre; you will, in otherwords, have to consider the rhetorical effectiveness of your writing.Luckily, I can leave you with a few suggestions:• First, determine what action you are trying to accomplish. Areyou trying to receive an A on a paper? Convince a credit cardcompany to remove a late fee? Get into graduate school? If youdon’t know what your goal is for a particular writing situation,you’ll have a difficult time figuring out what genre to use.• Second, learn as much as you can about the situation for whichyou are writing. What is the purpose? Who is the audience?Navigating Genres 261How much freedom do you have? How does the location affectthe genre?• Third, research how others have responded to similar situations. Talk to people who have written what you are trying towrite. If you are asked to write a biology research paper, askyour instructor for examples. If you need to write a cover letterfor a summer internship, take the time to find out about thelocation of that internship.• And finally, ask questions.Discussion1. What are some genres that you feel you know well? How didyou learn them? What are their common rhetorical features?2. What rules have you been told to follow in the past? How didthey shape what you were writing?3. How much freedom do you enjoy when writing? Does it helpto have a form to follow, or do you find it to be limiting?Works CitedBitzer, Lloyd F. “The Rhetorical Situation.” Philosophy and Rhetoric 1.1(1968): 1–14. Print.Devitt, Amy J. “Generalizing About Genre: New Conceptions of an OldConcept.” College Composition and Communication 44.4 (1993): 573–86.Print.—. “Genre as Language Standard.” Genre and Writing: Issues, Arguments,Alternatives. Ed. Wendy Bishop and Hans Ostrom. Portsmouth, NH:Boynton/Cook, 1997. 45–55. Print.—. “Transferability and Genres.” The Locations of Composition. Ed. Christopher J. Keller and Christian R. Weisser. Albany, NY: SUNY P, 2007.215–27. Print.—. Writing Genres. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2004. Print.Freadman, Anne. “Anyone for Tennis.” Genre and the New Rhetoric. Ed. Aviva Freedman and Peter Medway. Bristol: Taylor & Francis, 1994. 43–66.Print.Miller, Carolyn R. “Genre as Social Action.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 70.2(1984): 151–67. Print.The Onion: America’s Finest News Source. 20 July 2009. Web. 20 July 2009..262 Kerry DirkReiff, Mary Jo. “Moving Writers, Shaping Motives, Motivating Critique andChange: A Genre Approach to Teaching Writing.” Relations, Locations,Positions: Composition Theory for Writing Teachers. Ed. Peter Vandenberg,Sue Hum, and Jennifer Clary-Lemon. Urbana, IL: National Council ofTeachers of English, 2006. 157–64. Print.
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