Writing Genres

In Writing Genres, Amy J. Devitt examines genre from rhetorical, social, linguistic, professional, and historical perspectives and explores genre's educational uses, making this volume the most comprehensive view of genre theory today. Writing Genres does not limit itself to literary genres or to ideas of genres as formal conventions but additionally provides a theoretical definition of genre as rhetorical, dynamic, and flexible, which allows scholars to examine the role of genres in academic, professional, and social communities. Writing Genres demonstrates how genres function within their communities rhetorically and socially, how they develop out of their contexts historically, how genres relate to other types of norms and standards in language, and how genres nonetheless enable creativity. Devitt also advocates a critical genre pedagogy based on these ideas and provides a rationale for first-year writing classes grounded in teaching antecedent genres.

In this classroom-tested approach to writing, Brock Dethier teaches readers how to analyze and write twenty-one genres that students are likely to encounter in college and beyond. This practical, student-friendly, task-oriented text confidently guides writers through step-by-step processes, reducing the anxiety commonly associated with writing tasks. In the first section, Dethier efficiently presents each genre, providing models, a description of the genres’ purpose, context, and discourse; and suggestions for writing activities or “moves” that writers can use to get words on the page and accomplish their writing tasks. The second section explains these moves, over two hundred of them, in chapters ranging from “Solve Your Process Problems” and “Discover” to “Revise” and “Present.” Applicable to any writing task or genre, these moves help students overcome writing blocks and develop a piece of writing from the first glimmers of an idea to its presentation. This approach to managing the complexity and challenge of writing in college strives to be useful, flexible, eclectic, and brief—a valuable resource for students learning to negotiate unfamiliar writing situations.

This volume showcases the efforts of real teachers using the teaching events from real middle school classrooms. Included is the work of eight hard-working middle school teachers who are convinced that the form and function of genre is a way to teach writing across the middle school curriculum. Each chapter contains sample lessons, protocols, classroom instructional materials, and assessment tools to provide middle school teachers with an approach to explore rigorous expository writing instruction in their own classrooms.

One of the twentieth century’s enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize–winning career. The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Rich and brilliant, it is a chronicle of life, death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the beautiful, ridiculous, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America. Love and lust, war and revolution, riches and poverty, youth and senility, the variety of life, the endlessness of death, the search for peace and truth—these universal themes dominate the novel. Alternately reverential and comical, One Hundred Years of Solitude weaves the political, personal, and spiritual to bring a new consciousness to storytelling. Translated into dozens of languages, this stunning work is no less than an account of the history of the human race.

Overview of EAP Foundation: Academic Writing Genres Students at university are expected to write in a range of forms, from essays to reports and other genres. EAP Foundation: Academic Writing Genres, part of the EAP Foundation series of books, examines frequently encountered forms of academic writing, identifying common features such as structure and language, and providing clear models, in order to scaffold learning and provide a way for students to master each one. Contents of the book The first section of the book looks in detail at essay writing, the most common genre for academic study. It begins by looking at the content and structure of a typical essay, then looks at different essay types, namely comparison and contrast, cause and effect, problem-solution, classification, argument, discussion, definition, process, exemplification, and description. The second section of the book looks at report writing, the next most common genre for academic study, beginning with an overview of report writing, followed by a detailed look at the two most common report types, namely laboratory reports and business reports. Other report types are also covered. The third section covers other genres which do not fit into the essay or report category. They are posters, reflective writing, book reviews, research proposals, and theses/dissertations. The fourth and final section considers genre elements. These are types of writing which can form part of other genres, but can also be stand-alone pieces of writing, and need looking at in detail. They are abstracts and literature reviews. About the EAP Foundation series The EAP Foundation series of books is written for students who are preparing for, or currently studying at, a Western university, including those on foundation or pre-sessional courses. The units focus on presenting practical information in a straightforward and readable manner. There are additional tips in each unit to help students perform well, and numerous 'In short' boxes which give a summary of the main points, for quick previewing and reviewing of the unit. Each unit contains a checklist, which can be used to give feedback on writing (self or peer). Each unit concludes with a range of exercises to check comprehension and deepen understanding. Full answers to exercises are provided at the end of the book. All books in the series come with free additional online resources, accessed via the code given in the Appendices. In short Whatever your course of study, this book will provide an indispensable guide to all forms of writing you will encounter.

In this classroom-tested approach to writing, Brock Dethier teaches readers how to analyze and write twenty-one genres that students are likely to encounter in college and beyond. This practical, student-friendly, task-oriented text confidently guides writers through step-by-step processes, reducing the anxiety commonly associated with writing tasks. In the first section, Dethier efficiently presents each genre, providing models; a description of the genres’ purpose, context, and discourse; and suggestions for writing activities or “moves” that writers can use to get words on the page and accomplish their writing tasks. The second section explains these moves, over two hundred of them, in chapters ranging from “Solve Your Process Problems” and “Discover” to “Revise” and “Present.” Applicable to any writing task or genre, these moves help students overcome writing blocks and develop a piece of writing from the first glimmers of an idea to its presentation. This approach to managing the complexity and challenge of writing in college strives to be useful, flexible, eclectic, and brief—a valuable resource for students learning to negotiate unfamiliar writing situations.

From memes to resumes, fairy tales to researched arguments, in a striking full-color visual design, The Bedford Book of Genres invites students to unpack how genres work in order to experiment with their own compositions. After capturing the imagination of instructors and students in its successful first edition, the second edition incorporates extensive reviewer feedback to better teach students the rhetorical analysis skills they need to read and compose in any situation. To start the text, the Guide now includes a new Part One that lays out the book’s key concepts--rhetorical situation, the elements of a genre, and multimodal composing--and a substantially revised Part Two with examples arranged by academic, workplace, and public contexts. Throughout the text, Guided Readings provide opportunities to analyze the rhetorical situations and conventions of common public and academic genres, while Guided Process sections follow the decisions that five real students made as they worked in multiple genres and media. With a range of readings from short visual arguments to longer, more complex pieces, the Reader gives students a wealth of sources, models, and inspiration for their own compositions. Now available with Launchpad for The Bedford Book of Genres, the second edition offers a compelling digital option with a complete, interactive, assignable e-book.

Genre studies and genre approaches to literacy instruction continue to develop in many regions and from a widening variety of approaches. Genre has provided a key to understanding the varying literacy cultures of regions, disciplines, professions, and educational settings. GENRE IN A CHANGING WORLD provides a wide-ranging sampler of the remarkable variety of current work. The twenty-four chapters in this volume, reflecting the work of scholars in Europe, Australasia, and North and South America, were selected from the over 400 presentations at SIGET IV (the Fourth International Symposium on Genre Studies) held on the campus of UNISUL in Tubarão, Santa Catarina, Brazil in August 2007—the largest gathering on genre to that date. The chapters also represent a wide variety of approaches, including rhetoric, Systemic Functional Linguistics, media and critical cultural studies, sociology, phenomenology, enunciation theory, the Geneva school of educational sequences, cognitive psychology, relevance theory, sociocultural psychology, activity theory, Gestalt psychology, and schema theory. Sections are devoted to theoretical issues, studies of genres in the professions, studies of genre and media, teaching and learning genre, and writing across the curriculum. The broad selection of material in this volume displays the full range of contemporary genre studies and sets the ground for a next generation of work.