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Jake Van Pelt

Megan Keaton
ENC 2135
6 July 2016

Defining and Understanding Genre

Genre, is categorical classification of poems, movies, books, and other items of the like based on
their content. This is typically the understood meaning of genre when used in an everyday conversation
situation. According to Dirk, people refer to their Genre Knowledge or, their past experiences with
reading and writing similar texts in similar situations, to help orient themselves as to how they should
interpret the information provided by the genre (Dirk 251). In order to understand what a genre is
specifically, Braziller and Kleinfeld state that one must, pay attention to the specific elements that are
common to most examples of the genre (Braziller and Kleinfeld 14). So to better understand what a genre
is, one can think of a genre like a pizza. For example, the features of a pizza that distinguish it from
something like noodles or pasta, is that it is a large crust; that is typically covered in cheese and tomato
sauce; and can have a variety of other toppings like pepperoni or bacon. Yet for something to be what most
consider to be a pizza, all it needs is a flattened piece of dough with at least cheese on it. These features of
the pizza can be likened to the conventions of a genre. With the romantic genre of books, there is typically a
heartfelt tone, lots of romantic imagery, and involves two main characters. Compared to a manual for
something like an appliance, however, there is no tone, everything in the manual directly references the
appliance, and most importantly it informs rather than entertains the reader. From the differences these two
types of writings contain, the unique genre of each can be seen. Genre has three main conventions that are

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typically used in helping to establish what is characteristic of the genre. These are style, design, and
credibility.
To demonstrate how genre is defined, an evaluation of my application for the Bryan Hall LLC shall
be done. The application was written to appeal to the upper (or perhaps lower) management of Florida State
Universitys housing and Living Learning Community administrations. As such, the application has been
written to be concise and professional, as getting into an LLC is a competitive process. Contained within the
application is a detailed account of why I myself believe that I should be allowed to join the Bryan Hall
LLC; hence, it includes accounts of some of my merits like receiving the rank of Eagle Scout after being in
the Cub scout and Boy scout programs for a combined total of thirteen years. With the Bryan Hall LLCs
main purpose of being a program to broaden the horizons of its participants, I also included a rather detailed
account of my time at the Experimental Aircraft Association Convention in Oshkosh Wisconsin During the
summer of 2015. This was included due to the variety of experiences I had while I was there like interacting
with people of the high upper class, meeting people who traveled internationally from places like South
Africa and Australia, getting to learn about potential career option in the realm of aviation, and just getting to
learn about so many different aircraft.
The application is easily identifiable as a professional document meant to answer a
question posed by the Bryan Hall Living Learning Community. It can be identified as such a
document, for the three primary genre convention of style, design, and credibility fit the genre
for an essay meant to try to convince the audience about something. Additionally, the genre
convention of text, or what the actual composition of information within the document is, also
helps to identify the paper as one of the application sort. With the paper being addressed to wellregarded administration staff and considering how the entire document was written to convince
them to let me join a program, the overall genre convention of style is identified as having a

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serious tone. While trying to be serious and concise, the application also needed to contain
sufficient detail to provide support for the argument as to why I should be able to join the Bryan
Hall LLC. As such, the sentences are rather lengthy, often containing two or more independent
clauses and perhaps a few run on sentences providing great detail about my time in Wisconsin
and about other facts concerning my personal life. With regards to design, the application begins
with an introductory statement explaining as to why I am interested in the Bryan Hall LLC. From
here, the text proceeds to the topic of how my horizons of what I wanted to do for a living was
broadened by my experience in Oshkosh, Wisconsin at the Experimental Aircraft Association
Convention. This was done, so as to show how the idea of exploring career options gripped my
interest and hence, justify why the exploration based Bryan Hall LLC caught my eye in the first
place. The overall design of the application includes a sufficient amount of imagery, so as to
better convey my experiences and make it a bit more understandable for the reader, as some of
the claims may have seen a bit farfetched concerning how all that happened was within the span
of a few days. Credibility was fairly crucial to the application, as it is what has to be established
for any of the content of the document to matter to the reader. I went about establishing
credibility by writing with vivid imagery, giving details about my background as an Eagle scout
(a scout is trustworthy is the first word said in the list of what a scout is in the Scout Law), and
expressing genuine interest through my diction and tone throughout the document. The last genre
convention of text helps to firmly establish the genre of the document as one of the application
type. The document is written with its whole idea being to convince the reader about why I wish
to join the Bryan Hall LLC, with this dictating that the content of the passage needs to be
relevant, literal, and sensible.

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Rhetorical situation had a profound effect upon the genre of the document as it laid out
how the document needed to be direct, informative and convincing. Social expectations were the
most influential factor when it came to determining as to how the document was to be structured
as the goal of the document was again, to make an impression on someone so that they would
consider letting me join a limited access program for the fall semester. This also mean that the
content of the passage must be interesting, memorable, and reasonable in helping to make the
decision to accept or reject me for the LLC. The only genre convention that I started to deviate
from was style with regards to the length of my sentences, as they were all rather long but
contained pertinent information. The audience is still a bit vague to me as to what branch of
organization actually read my paper. This, along with the fact that the audience are staff at a
prestigious educational institution, meant that I had to keep the paper professional and
informative only to what could be used to argue for my entry into the Bryan Hall LLC. With
there being a number of submitted applications, my paper needed to be one that would stand out
as none of the applicants really know those who review the application, hence I need to make
mine memorable to keep ahead of my competitors. With the purpose being to make an impact
upon the audience and convince them that I was the type of student they were looking for, it was
crucial that I follow the genre conventions regarding how formal the style of the document was
and the design that the document could not be too long.
After taking into account all the factors, I wrote my paper in the genre of a type of
application. My goals were to convince the reader that I was the right guy and establish a sort of
credibility through my unique experience I recalled in the document. The audience being staff
meant that professional quality was a must, and that I would need to try to convey myself in the

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most genuine way possible, recalling experiences. The overall document was relatively short,
with this being determined by the fact that the audience would be reading a number of these, and
as such, needed to remember mine and really consider how it portrayed me in considering my
qualification for the Bryan Hall Living Learning Community.

Works Cited

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Braziller, Amy, and Elizabeth Kleinfield. The Bedford Book of Genres: A Guide and Reader FSU
edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2014. Print. pg. 14
Dirk, Kerry. Navigating Genres. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. Eds. Charles Lowe and
Pavel Zemliansky. Anderson: Parlor Press, 2010. writingspaces.org. Web. 27 Jun. 2016.