Explain the conventions of the forum post and use an example from the source to illustrate what you explain.

Learning Goal: I’m working on a writing discussion question and need a sample draft to help me learn.

Genres and genre conventions are socially constructed, by the production of and consumption of the same kinds of documents over a long enough period of time. Over time, writers and audiences develop expectations of the genre and then the writing of that genre continues to evolve to meet those expectations. Think back to our texting example and the abbreviations — that convention has been socially constructed, by users of the genre (those who send and receive texts) over time (starting in the early 1990s and continuing to evolve) and with various purposes and contexts. There are many other examples of genre conventions

A good example is recipe writing Links to an external site., which goes back centuries (Links to an external site.).. Features of recipes we take for granted, such as ingredient lists, numbered steps, and standardized units of measurement were not parts of the oldest recipes Links to an external site.. Those features of the written recipe genre became popular over time (as recipes were shared and published for larger audiences) and readers started to expect all the necessary information in a recipe to achieve the desired result. The common features and expectations mentioned in the recipe and text message examples are the conventions of a particular genre of writing. For this assignment, you’ll be identifying some of these conventions for a given genre.

It’s not as simple as categorizing genres according to type and expectations, although it’s most often how we understand genre. But genres can shift in expectation (text messaging has evolved, for some users, from full sentences and punctuation to abbreviations and emojis). Genres can overlap in film, writing, music, literature, photography, and more (a popular romantic-comedy or “rom-com” merges the movie genres of romance and comedy, and the Scary Movie series merged horror and comedy; in music there are many examples, such as Beyonce’s recent use of Madonna’s Vogue sample). Knowing that genres are sometimes difficult to label or categorize helps a writer assess a genre with more accuracy and develop a genre for a specific need by blurring the lines if necessary. Understanding genres involves knowing why — why the need, why that particular audience, why the context dictates this or that — and writers can only be successful with their genre choice when they understand that genres are not stable, but always changing to reflect a society that evolves or adapts to many factors. As we humans grow, as our technology changes, so do the genres we use in all our rhetorical situations.

For this assignment, you’ll be identifying some of these conventions for a given genre. You will use each of the sources below (reading and videos) to answer the questions in this assignment. It will be helpful to think about the questions before you review each source.

READING

Consider this forum post from MIT Links to an external site.as a genre, and pay attention to its specific conventions.

VIDEOS

In the following two videos, the discussion about genre and conventions is related to the movie industry, which is familiar to us as consumers of media even if we haven’t seen the movies that are used as examples.

“Steve Neale’s Genre Theory Explained”Links to an external site.

“When Harry Met Sally – Breaking Genre Conventions”Links to an external site.

ASSIGNMENT

In about 250 to 500 words, respond to the following:

1. Explain the conventions of the forum post and use an example from the source to illustrate what you explain.
2. Why have communities who use online forums adopted these conventions, for the most part?
3. What are some genre conventions of film, as outlined in the first video, and what is the balance between conforming to conventions and breaking those conventions so that the genre evolves?
4. How do genre conventions establish expectations for audiences?
5. Can you apply the thinking from these sources about genre conventions in film to a writing genre you might consider for your project? Is there a genre you might consider as conforming to conventions? Is there another that might ignore or subvert those conventions but still reach its audience? List one genre that conforms and one that might not, and explain why.