Navigating Genres By Kerry Dirk: An Analysis Of My Writing Genre

I used to think genre was a category or a label that defined a written piece. My understanding relied exclusively on the format. However, when I read “Navigating Genres”, by Kerry Dirk, I realized how limited my understanding was. In his essay, Dirk wants his audience to challenge the misconceptions of genres in writing. Dirk exposes the reader to see writing through the lenses of genre theory and to conceptualize the benefits of genres in our rhetoric. To achieve this purpose, Dirk addresses two points that are important to highlight. The first one is how a genre functions, and the second one how genres can be applied to our own writing. Ultimately, Dirk teaches us that genre awareness is part of a rhetorical situation and writers can

The most common example of this is the “essay” composed of five body paragraphs. This misconception captures the undynamic nature that students give to a genre. This is a flaw in the way we write and shows our lack of understanding of how a genre function. Another broad, yet illustrative example that demonstrates this misconception is prose in literature. Although the prose is considered a genre, it can take shape in the form of essays, speeches, sermons, or interpretations. This example shows how a genre, as defined by Dirk, influences the decision made by the writer. In other words, a prose will vary in its format, tone, intended audience, and even rhetorical moves, but it all depends on what the author wants to accomplish. In the case of a speech, we have a shared idea of how it should look: perhaps a catchy introduction, a few paragraphs and a conclusion. The tone, however, can be funny, serious, or any other type of emotion that the author wants his audience to feel. If the author wants his audience to laugh, he would probably use jokes. The point is, genres create a framework where the writer’s decisions influence a response from the

In this case, I’m viewing my writing through the lenses of genre theory and not just formulated features that we are used to. This leads to one key reflection I had: writing is not a set of rules we have to follow, but rather a response to how we approach a situation by using our writing as a tool. This reminds me of the rule high school teachers penalize students for doing, using the word “I”. There is nothing wrong with doing this, as long as it meets the rhetorical situation. Genres teach us the level of freedom we can make as writers. To illustrate this, an example to comes to my mind is Facebook posts. These posts have established conventions that their intended audience understands. It would be illogical to write a thesis statement and post it as a Facebook post because the variation in genre results in lack of understanding from our audience. However, I can make efficient decisions when posting, depending on my purpose, without implementing new genres. I can adjust my tone or diction and other elements to fit the context of this situation. More interesting, I can apply this concept to other types of writing and successfully meet my purpose by recognizing the appropriate response to a different