Genre

Genre Defined Genre is defined as a type of writing that writers can use to accomplish a certain goal and reach a particular audience. When you are given a specific assignment, you must study what the assignment is asking you to do very carefully. In doing so, you will have a better start in learning what genre you should use in response do what it may ask. You may be assigned a specific genre to write with, or you will be left to decide what works best on your own. Regardless of what genre you must use, you always need to consider your purpose of what you are writing, and what kind of audience you are trying to reach.

When there is no genre given.
When you are given the assignment, and it does not include what genre to use, you must go back to reread what the question is asking you and try to find some clues or key words that can lead you to the right genre to use. If you are still not sure, and the prompt leaves you with no hints, there are a few questions you can ask your self to solve your problem.

What is the topic of the question asked?
If you turn back to the question being asked, does it include in the question what you are supposed to talk about? For example, if the topic of the question is to chose whether you are for or against something, chances are, you are going to be arguing your point. On the other hand, another example could be to compare two like characters, you will want to analyze the similarities and the differences between the two, and compare them. Its a good idea to look at the topic of your assignment for some key words or hints towards a genre.

What is your purpose of writing this essay?
In choosing your genre, you need to know what you purpose is in writing this response. Some genres can be very flexible so it is important to know what you are expected to write about. For example, if you are asked to try to convince readers to go or buy something of yours, you would want to use a persuasive writing in order to do so. When you are given this assignment, you could also do a report on what you are trying to sell, to give more information on what the product is rather then just saying your opinions about what you are trying to convince the audience. In doing a report, you have to do some research and have some reliable evidence to back it up. So be careful in identifying what the purpose of the assignment is before you start to brainstorm.

Who is the audience?
Audience is a big contender for writing. You can often find who your audience is by reading the question. Knowing who you are writing to, can change the way you write this essay as a whole. If you are just asked to simply respond to a prompt and include some information from the story, it is a lot easier because you and the reader are on the same page and are looking off of the same prompt. So in that case you would write in Narrative. "A story is taken as a synonym of narrative. A narrative or story is told by a narrator who may be a direct part of that experience and he or she often shares the experience as a first-person narrator. Sometimes he or she may only observe the events as a third-person narrator and gives his or her verdict."(http://literarydevices.net/argument/)When you are asked to write something for someone that is higher in demand than you, like an engineering firm, you may need to do an essay analyzing what they expect you to know.

http://literary devices.net/argument Lunsford,Andrea, Michal Brody, Lisa Ede, Beverly J. Moss, Carol Clark Papper, Keith Walters. Everyone's an Author with Readings. New York: Norton,2013