Journal 4

After reading the blog post by Devitt, I now have a different and clearer understanding of the role of genre in creating or reading texts. Generally speaking, genres are comparable to categories. Genres are a tool for grouping things based on certain similarities. However, genre can go further than that and Devitt made that extremely clear in her writing. Genres can be formed differently by every person depending on context or their specific background, and can ultimately change the way people think about certain texts and situations. When reading or composing texts, one might draw conclusions based on genres rather than every little bit of information put forth. This narrows the thought process of a reader or writer because they are grouping information together and possibly forming patterns in their mind.

Genres can definitely effect the purpose and audience of a text as well. Genres can be used as a label for texts. For example a writing piece may be labeled “fiction.” If an audience see’s the word fiction besides the title of a text, but only likes reading non-fiction, then they may skip past that text. This can be positive and negative. This genre effect could be seen as positive because it filters out the audience who don’t care to read the piece, but also negative because someone who doesn’t normally read fiction will choose not to read the text even though it could be something they end up liking.

This idea of genre used as labels also helps explain genres impact on circulation. Many writing pieces are circulated and processed by their genres, so it is important to carefully select the genre of a text. For example, magazine websites separate their content by categories or genres, such as “beauty,” “fashion,” ”culture,” etc. Someone who is simply interested in fashion will automatically go to the fashion section and read the articles under that genre. Thus, it’s important to think about the audience you’re trying to reach when you select your genre because it can change the type of views and feedback you receive. Positive feedback by the right viewers on an online magazine means shares, and shares means increased circulation.