In case it’s helpful, you can download a PDF version of this prompt here: Final Genre Project Prompt PDF
In the Genre Analysis/”How to” essay, we spent some time coming to understand the importance of genre in terms of purpose, audience, content, and structure. You not only crafted a discussion that used concepts of genre to explain to someone else how to write in that genre, you also wrote in a genre that was new to you. In other words, you used one genre to explain to others how to write in a different genre. In the REP Project, you not only conducted research about a place, but you learned how to write in two different genres about that research. We are now going to bring all of this together and turn toward you implementing that type of genre awareness as a writer more thoroughly.
For this final project, you are going to write about and reflect on a place of your choosing using a genre of your choosing. What you include in your project will be determined by the genre that you select, but your final product should be informed by research (that you’ve probably already done most of) and should demonstrate a keen understanding of how the genre itself influences not only the content, but also the tone, structure, format, language, audience, and purpose of the text.
There are 2 parts to this project:
- The Genre Project
- First draft due by class Wednesday, 12/2 (in your individual folder)
- Final draft due by end of day Monday, 12/7
- The Reflection
- Optional first draft due by class Wednesday, 12/2 (in your individual folder)
- Final draft due by end of day Monday, 12/7
Genre Project
(Final Draft due by the end of the day Monday, 12/7 in your individual folder)
As stated above, for this final project, you will be writing about a place using a genre of your own choosing. What you include in your project will be determined by the genre that you select, but your final product should be informed by the research you did in the annotated bibliography and synthesis (or comparable research about another place), and it should demonstrate a thorough understanding of how the genre itself influences not only the content, but also the tone, structure, format, language, audience, and purpose of the text.
While the length of your project may vary greatly depending upon the genre you choose, ultimately, the project itself should include at least 1200 words.
The Research
Every genre in writing necessitates research. Sometimes this is academic research, sometimes it is perusing sources online, sometimes it is through lived experiences or conversations with others. Regardless of the genre that you choose to write in, your project should be informed by some type of research about the place that you’re writing about. With this in mind, you should use the research that you conducted for the annotated bibliography and literature review to help inform your final project.
Please note: How you incorporate the research depends on the genre that you select. If, for example, you choose to write about your place in an academic genre, then you’ll want to cite using traditional academic conventions (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.) and include a Works Cited page. If, however, you choose to write about your place in a non-academic genre, then, following the conventions of that genre, you would not cite your sources. Instead, you’ll include a Works Consulted page. (This looks exactly like a Works Cited page, but has a different name.) We’ll talk more about this over the next couple of weeks…
The Reflection
(Final Draft due by the end of the day on Monday, 12/7 in your individual folder)
With the genre project, you will also be incorporating a reflection that explains the choices you made with your writing. That is, you will write a 800-1000 word explanation (either single or double-spaced) of how you wrote your piece in this genre, how you considered your audience, how you structured it and why, the language that you used, the influences you had, how you followed the conventions of that genre, etc. The purpose of this is to do a type of analysis of your own writing—to not only demonstrate your awareness of the genre but to also help your reader better understand the choices that you made. (This reflection can be written informally, in a conversational manner and format, but it should be cohesive and use paragraph structure.)