1. What is the definition of genre, according to the scholars that Dirk quotes (Lloyd Bitzer, Amy Devitt, and Carolyn Miller)?
2. What two things do you need to identify in a text in order to understand its genre?
3. You bring your knowledge of past genres (like writing 5-paragraph essays in high school) to new situations (like writing essays for this class), using that knowledge to help you decide how to approach new tasks.
Given this knowledge, what kinds of knowledge about essay writing do you bring to this latest writing assignment (the problem essay)? Have you ever written anything similar?
4. Kerry Dirk concludes that "Learning about genres and how they function is more important than mastering one particular genre; it is this knowledge that helps us to recognize and to determine appropriate responses to different situations" (259). Given this advice, how might you approach writing in a new genre and situation in the future?
Readings on Writing, Volume 1, a peer-reviewed open textbook series for the writing classroom, and is published through Parlor Press.