Journal 4

Genre is very important when composing a text because the genre that you choose will greatly influence what audience you reach and what message you are trying to portray. After looking across the different texts that we have used for out projects, it seems that genre choice is a crucial point in the writing process. For instance, some of us chose posts from social media sites. This genre may not be as effective for reaching senior citizens or very young children, yet this genre is appealing and very effective for the young adult and adult demographic. Also, choosing the correct genre is important in regards to circulation and distribution. Online genres may be able to reach a much wider span of people than a print document that is only published in America. With the access to technology that we have now in today’s society, genres are able to have a much greater influence on the population if the correct genre is chosen. Every message and text has a different purpose, whether it is to persuade or to inform or to even tell a story. Just as they have different purposes, they all require different genres that best suit the message they are giving. When we are composing pieces, we may choose to be more straight forward and to the point when using genres such as resumes or office notes. Whereas if we were writing a novel, the vocabulary chosen would be much more eloquent and would include much more detail and embellishment. The style that we write in is not always effective across all genres, we must find the correct genre that not only encompasses the correct audience in which we are trying to reach but also fits the style of the writing and accurately distributes the message. The artifacts that I chose for my project were helpful in allowing me to see how many different genres can be used to portray the same women’s rights movement ideas, yet they are all meant to target different audiences. Choosing a genre is a very expressive task and is meant for the composer to have more control over who and what they are conveying with their message.