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Adrienne McChrystal
Megan Keaton
ENC 2135
5 August, 2016
Project 3: Reflection
Since the beginning of this class my definition of genre has become more encompassing
and complex. Starting this class I thought genre was just used to organize books, movies, and
music. I was partially correct, but genre stretches to include many other compositions not just
books, movies, and music. Classification is really more of the focus of rhetorical situation. We
use the rhetorical situation to answer who and why we are composing. This ultimately
determines which genre we will use to compose our text. Prior to this class I assumed that an
author chose which genre they wanted to use, then wrote according to those conventions. During
Project 3 I learned that it is crucial to evaluate the rhetorical situation before choosing the genre
you will use. This step is important because the genre and its conventions, if randomly chosen,
may not suit your audience or purpose. For example, if I wanted to contact my grandma I would
not send her a Facebook message. I wouldnt do this because she doesnt have an account, so the
genre would not be appropriate for my specific audience. If I were to evaluate the rhetorical
situation beforehand it would have been evident that I should avoid using social media, and
consider composing a letter or giving her a phone call. BY considering the rhetorical situation
before choosing the genre, I would be considering the most appropriate way to reach my
audience.
The Prezi presentation I created focused on different aspects of genre conventions.
Composing this presentation made me realize that my audience must have some background
knowledge of genre before diving into its conventions. This is why I chose to begin by defining
genre, so my audience would be well equipped to understand the remainder of the information.
Within my definition of genre I used two terms that may not have been familiar to the audience,

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rhetorical situation and genre conventions. I realized that I should also define these terms if I
wanted my audience to truly understand the full extent of my presentation. After defining both
terms my pathway focused on genre conventions. I fell this was appropriate because we were
required to create two genres, so I used each to focus on a key term within the course beside
genre. The introduction to my presentation shows the audience a wide angle view of the pathway,
encompassing each branch. This was the first time the viewer would have seen that the
presentation focuses on one term more then the other. From the definitions I transitioned to the
different elements that makeup genre conventions style, design, tone, mode, and medium.
Each time I started to explain a new aspect of genre or its conventions, I tried to focus on
key concepts. This helped me build a strong foundation for the audiences definition of genre to
build from. If I did not explain one factor of the pathway well I knew I would risk losing my
audience due to confusion. When trying to explain concepts I had been learning for five weeks, I
found it difficult to cram it all into just two presentations. This is another reason that each genre
composition focused on one key term, to keep the focus narrow. I decided that it was up to me to
choose what points should be most highlighted, which would ultimately mold the audiences
view of genre. I found the easiest way to explain the information was through definitions and
examples.
The definitions were used in the introduction for genre, rhetorical situation, and genre
conventions. I used examples to give my presentation a more applicable feel. I made sure to
include examples that my audience would understand like textbooks, websites, wedding vows, emails, songs, etc. Throughout this composition I realized how much an author caters to their
audience.
My other genre composition was a comic strip. My main struggle with this was similar to
the presentation, determining which concepts earned a spot in a panel. This was more difficult to
decide in the comic strip because I felt that it should not continue through more than twelve

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panels. By having a limited view of how long a comic strip should be I left out information that
was needed for my audience to clearly grasp the concepts I was presenting. Originally I did not
fully explain how both audience and purpose influence the composers choice of genre, instead I
predominately focused on purpose.
Other than choosing which information should be included and which to leave out, the
comic strip was relatively simple to create. I thought of choosing a genre without assessing the
rhetorical situation as a random selection, like the action of spinning a wheel. I believe
comparing the two made the information easier to comprehend. When trying to fully understand
a new concept it helps me to apply more abstract concepts as if they were real-life experiences.
A major point I took away from this project was that it is very difficult to condense six
weeks of information into just two compositions. My situation can be compared to shortening a
term from six to twelve weeks. Ive come to realize that I relied on the audience to be extra
attentive when viewing my genre compositions to retain each piece of information. This was
because I felt each detail included had earned a spot in my compositions.