1. Wrt 105: practices of academic writing
Dr. Rusty Bartels
Friday, September 28th, 2018
Week 5, Day 3

2. Overview
Overview
Dirk
Process
Situation
Freewrite
Wrap-up

3. Dirk There are two topics that I want us to be focusing on from Dirk:
The first is his transparency in talking about his own writing process for this essay.
The second, is his argument that genres respond to situations, and are developed according to recurring situations.

4. Dirk - Process 2 paragraphs P250-251:
We will divide into groups of 2-4. Each group will be assigned either: genre, purpose, audience, context
You will use his conversations on those two pages to answer the following questions as they pertain to your focus:
What questions is he asking himself? What are his considerations?
How does he talk about his decisions? What are examples of his choices in the text?

5. Dirk - Process In your small groups…
Do you remember a time when you had to write in a new, unfamiliar genre?
What was that experience like for you?
What questions did you have about it?
What was your strategy?
Before you switch slides!!
I also want us to see a connection with Heilker:
Heilker too talked about approaching new genres
But for him, one of the things that he focused on was the way that he himself had to shift and change as a person. Not only did he have to think about how to approach this newness, but he also saw was that that would change him in some way.

6. Dirk - Situation
Genres develop as responses to recurring situations Example: State of the Union

7. Ex: State of the Union
Genres: The State of the Union was not always a genre that existed.
Purpose: the constitution lays out the requirement that The President:
“shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” Article II, Section 3, Clause 1.
Audience: congress is the only body required to be addressed…but as a government document, it is (or should be) available to everyone.
Context: the social, historical, & political context of each address is different, and that includes the media context. And of course, the media context influences the perceptions of the President’s audience. With the advent of live- broadcast first of radio then of TV, the general American public could now hear/view the President’s report

8. Dirk - Situation Clip from The West Wing:
TKxu-oxue8
SOME NOTES:
This is a work of fiction. I cannot vouch for the complete 100% accuracy of their depiction of the SOTU process and preparation.
But, it does highlight the ways that the genre of the SOTU functions, its purpose, its context, and for me most interestingly, the multiple audiences that the SOTU speaks to.

9. Dirk - Situation
As a genre responds to a situation, it does so with a purpose.
That purpose is often accompanied by a goal.
Since a genre can have multiple audiences (as we see alluded to in the West Wing clip), so too can those multiple audiences bring multiple purposes and multiple goals to a piece.

10. Freewrite
Pick a specific community that you are a part of: your major, sports team, dorm, student club/organization, religious community, larger identity/community group, etc.
Answer the following questions:
What are some recurring situations that you encounter as a member in that community?
For example: feeling too sick to attend class; Coach’s pre-game pep talk; worship/holiday service
What do those situations look like? How would you describe it?
Is there consistency in structure? Content? Something else?

11. Wrap-up
Today we:
Used Dirk to think about the role that process and situation play in producing genres.
Next time:
Reading: Wiggens & Bowers
Exploring Memes as Genres
This will be the first published-in-a-journal academic article that we read this semester. It will be longer, and denser. BUT, it gives us a concrete look into how we can undertake a genre analysis.