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Genre-Analysis Rough Draft Workshop

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A good genre analysis quickly breaks down the different components any genre of writing (content, style, purpose, organization) and effectively describes the look, feel, and function of a typical example from that genre.  A good genre analysis should give your readers a robust understanding of what this genre looks like and does (its typical patterns), which means it may use specific examples, but most effectively summarizes and generalizes about the content, style, purpose, and organization of that genre while also acknowledging the possibility of different approaches to this genre (patterns).

Reading for content:

  1. Discovery: what have you learned about this genre based on this analysis?
  2. Controlling ideas: what is the main thing the writer wants to say, the point of the paper, the primary claim about this particular genre?
  3. Patterns: what is the claim or interpretive statement about the significance of the genre patterns?

Reading for doing:

  1. Based on this analysis, create an outline for a typical science blog.
  2. Does this outline effectively encapsulate the writer’s controlling idea or primary claim?

Reading for editing:

Now that you’ve had a chance to read through it, highlight (or underline or “comment” or cut and paste) any sentences you feel need revising in some way.