In academic writing, descriptive and narrative genres are less common than persuasive and expository genres. However, the skills used in these genres may still be utilized in certain approaches or particular assignments.
Descriptive writing uses vivid language to describe a person, place, or event so that the reader can picture the topic clearly in their mind.
Some qualitative research methods call for data collection through such rich descriptions (e.g., phenomenological protocols, narrative re-storying). Although it is unlikely for a student at Saybrook to receive an essay prompt requiring a descriptive approach, the skill is useful for describing personal observations. Note that within academic writing, descriptive writing should remain neutral and use clear and concise wording.
Narrative writing tells the reader about a particular event(s) that took place. Common works of narrative writing include personal essays (such as those found in a blog post), practicum logs, and case reports.
This form of essay writing is less common in graduate level writing within the fields offered at Saybrook University. However, a student may still encounter essay prompts that suggest a narrative approach. For example, a professor may ask you to analyze a theory or concept in light of a personal experience.
Reflection paper.
A reflection paper relies on the writer's anecdotal experiences and personal reflections to convey an idea, an experience, or a concept. Although not dependent on externally derived evidence, such as scholarly literature, reflection papers still require clarity, logical organization, and basic rhetorical skills for effective execution.
For more information on narrative writing, consult the hyperlinks provided below.
Descriptive and narrative writing may be easily confused because both allow the writer to express themselves using more creative and personal methods. While both use similar writing skills, there are some distinct differences. Table 2 provides a description of traits of each genre of writing.
Traits of Descriptive and Narrative Writing
Traits of Descriptive Writing | Traits of Narrative Writing |
Describes scenes, persons, things, or feelings. | Reflects on personal experience. |
Uses sensory details to paint a picture (touch, smell, etc.). | Tells a story. |
Samples: novels, plays, biographies, historical narratives. | Samples: written works about nature, travel, a memory, oneself, others, etc. |
This section provides resources for other common assignments provided within courses at Saybrook University.
Annotated bibliographies.
At Sheridan, you are likely to come across four types of essays. Each essay types has different requirements and produces different outcomes. In this section, you will find descriptions of the four essay types: Expository, Argumentative or Persuasive, Reflective, and Descriptive.
The purpose of an expository essay is to inform, describe, or explain a topic. It requires you to help the reader understand a topic through your own insights and ideas. Using information from credible sources, your essay should provide definitions, facts, explanations, and details about the subject. The essay may also include examples, comparison and contrast and analysis of cause and effect.
Many academic and workplace writing assignments are expository. These topics, for example, often require expository type of writing:
The purpose of an argumentative essay is to persuade readers on a certain point of view, opinion, or position on a topic. It requires you to identify key issues, present the common or existing arguments about the issues, evaluate evidence behind these arguments and argue why your position on the topic is more convincing or stronger than the opposing view. The subject you choose for an argumentative or persuasive essay needs to be debatable.
An argument is an evidence-based opinion supported and explained by sound, credible sources. "To argue in writing is to advance knowledge and ideas in a positive way" (Warkentin & Filipovic, 2019, p. 207). A well-thought-out argument is one that considers facts and various opinions, some of which may be opposing to each other, and analyzes strengths and weaknesses in each. An argumentative essay should not present only evidence on the position you are supporting. It is more convincing when the information presented is not biased towards a position.
This type of essay is more personal because you have to consider or "reflect" upon your own experiences and perspectives on the topic you are writing about.
Experiential reflection is commonly assigned in college courses. It involves reflecting on an experience by connecting theory and practice. For example, in an essay about a field placement experience, you may be asked to assess a theory or concept based on your observations and interactions. This type of writing is common in fields such as social work, health care, and business.
Another type of reflective writing involves examining what shapes your perspectives on an issue. The process helps you examine how your thoughts are shaped by your assumptions and environmental factors and may help you understand and appreciate the experiences of other people. Also, you may be challenged to re-examine your preconceived ideas and judgments.
A descriptive essay allows you to describe something, usually an experience, in details so that the reader can get a good impression of it. Similar to the reflective essay, this type of writing is more subjective although information or data from sources may be incorporated to provide more context and support your descriptions. This type of essays tends to be brief. For example, describe an observation in one to two paragraphs.
Project Types We Cover
Academic Fields & Subjects
By: Angelina Grin
An academic essay is a piece of writing whose focus is to persuade and inform. It achieves these goals by developing ideas and arguments through analysis, evidence, and interpretation. Several essays fall into four major categories: descriptive , expository , argumentative , and narrative essays .
What are the 10 types of essays, what is the most common type of essay, what is an essay format, how many types of essays are there.
There are also different types of essays for elementary, middle school, high school, and higher learning levels like universities and colleges.
While paper writing is part of academic progress, many students do not differentiate the various types of academic essays. Understanding all the paper types makes it easier for the scholar to create a well-organized paper that is understandable to the reader.
The internet makes it easy for students to research and get relevant information, but that is not enough without knowing essay writing styles. Every topic in academic writing falls under a particular type of essay.
The main types of essays include:
There are 4 main types of essays.
Before settling to write any essay paper , it is critical first to answer the question, “what are the different types of essays?” Know their distinguishing features and where to apply each of the essays. Four modes of essay writing are known as the organized, the chronological, the functional, and the cause-effect.
It would also help to understand the different kinds of essay formats since each paper follows a specific format. Check out the main essay types and definitions below.
An argumentative essay focuses on an intensive argument concerning a particular thesis statement . The writer has to take a firm stand on one side of the argument and aim to convince the reader about your thesis by citing pieces of evidence. Your stance on the discussion should be clear near the end of your introduction.
An argumentative essay has three distinguishing features.
Introduction - it captures the reader's attention and prepares them for what to expect. It should present the appropriate topic and clearly outline the writer’s point of view.
The body paragraphs - should present your main ideas in a systematic order. Present your argument and evidence for it to your audience.
Conclusion - construct a summarizing paragraph emphasizing the importance of your argument. You need to create a strong conclusion, and the following tips might help:
Argumentative essays are common in higher learning levels like college and university. It tests your research skills and your ability to defend your position on a given topic.
Academic papers for colleges and universities are more detailed and complicated than the lower levels. It requires you to employ your research techniques in practice. In addition, the knowledge and skills you gain from experience will help you stand by your opinion even after graduation.
Expository refers to the art of describing or explaining something. An expository essay clearly describes a given topic , set of ideas, or process. It provides a balanced view on the topic rather than proving any point. They are more natural than argumentative essays, which rely majorly on research.
It is a type of essay that provides facts and information. It aims to test the scholar’s ability to express themselves or present an explanation on a given topic. You need to consult statistics and find factual examples to write a perfect descriptive essay.
Below are the five main features of an expository essay.
A perfect expository essay structure requires the following components.
Expository writing is the most common kinds of essays for middle and high school levels. These academic essay genres intend to test the student’s understanding of the subject and composition skills.
Expository essay writing styles are helpful in school and teach the student how to express any issue in their own words.
A descriptive essay vividly describes a general situation, object, or place. It mainly involves a more abstract case, like an emotion. It is the most creative of all types of essays. It tests the writer’s ability to use language to convey a memorable image of the object creatively and originally.
These genres of essays are common assignments for students in high school and also for composition classes. A well-structured descriptive piece of writing has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.
Introduction - should establish the purpose of your writing. Also, set the tone of the impression by clearly showing what you want your audience to focus its attention on.
The body - the body includes factual, sensory, and figurative details. It also involves your feelings and thoughts and should be in local order. Use a transition to connect your ideas.
Conclusion - restate the main idea and briefly summarize the ideas in the body.
A descriptive paper equips the writer with the skills to use language figuratively to describe life’s events, both in school and after-school life.
Narration is a story, and therefore a narrative essay involves telling a story . Most of the time, it consists of the narrator’s personal experience. Unlike other essay forms, the narrative gives you room to get creative and unique when telling your story, and you can freely use first-person nouns.
The following are the five distinctive features of a narrative type of essay with examples.
Plot refers to the events and how they follow each other in your story. For instance, you can narrate your first day in college, what happened, and how the events influenced who you are currently.
Setting : it refers to the location and time of the events, for example, at a particular school in the winter of a specific year.
Character : a protagonist drives your story, but you may have some support characters. In this case, you are the protagonist; your support characters could be the people you met on your first day in school.
Conflict is the challenge, problem, or moment of tension the protagonist has to solve or win.
Theme : it is the moral of the narrative or what you learn and want the reader to know. For instance, the challenges you face as a new student and how to counter them.
Narrative essays are common in high school and university composition classes. It places a student in a position to write a personal statement correctly when making applications even after graduation.
Elementary school is the second-lowest level after kindergarten and ranges from grades one to seven.
Learners in these grades are equipped with writing skills in easy essay types and different types of essay formats. The following are some types of academic essays for the elementary school level.
A persuasive essay aims at convincing the reader to take sides or adopt the writer’s opinion. It involves factual pieces of evidence and emotional appeals. A writer can include emotional and moral reasoning to connect with the audience to support a cause or argument.
The basis of a persuasive essay is sound reasoning, relevant facts, and evidence. The following features distinguish a persuasive paper from other types of essay writing styles.
Clear and concise thesis : as a writer, you need to present your thesis in the first paragraph. Clearly define your take on the particular topic.
Introduction : you need to create a strong introduction that captures your readers' attention and presents the ideas of the central issue in question. Clearly communicate the background information of the issue. A strong introduction will persuade the audience to buy the writer’s opinion on the topic.
The body : the body develops the argument in a clear evidential manner. The writer needs to start from known to unknown. Consider the reader’s point of view on the topic before introducing your take as a writer.
Conclusion : a firm conclusion in persuasive writing readdresses the thesis touching on the evidence provided in the essay.
A persuasive paper must meet the following characteristics:
The skills in persuasive writing enable the learner to tackle more complicated different type of essays at higher levels.
It isa type of exposition essay that explains how something works or how to do something. A process essay writer must maintain clarity and organization by following a chronological order. It must have the following elements.
Introduction: it presents the process you will be communicating in your essay.
The body paragraphs should describe the process step-by-step in chronological order. Transitional words will help you to connect one step to the next.
Conclusion: summarize the entire process in your conclusion. For example, learning how to prepare chicken is the best experience anyone can enjoy.
Process essays are common in elementary school, as early as the third grade. They equip the learner with skills and the ability to break down the process of writing and achieve better results in other types of academic essays.
Middle school is like a bridge between elementary and high school. It serves adolescent students in grades five to nine. The higher middle school grades, 7 to 9, are commonly referred to as junior high school grades.
Some types of papers at the elementary level are part of the middle school curriculum, while some high school essays start in middle school. The following are the types of essays in English for middle school.
It is a type of argumentative writing that outlines the relationship between two subjects. In an academic paper for a typical cause and effect essay writing, the writer details how an event, person, or object influences another one directly.
In a school setup, cause and effect essays are meant to teach persuasive writing, logic, and critical thinking. In a professional setting or academic writing, these paper formats are in the form of a research paper, scientific studies, or lab report abstract. In either case, the author explains a phenomenon and attempts to explain its causes.
There are different essay structures for each type of paper. Below are the structure and main features of a cause-and-effect essay.
Introduction: the introduction should give background information about the topic to the context of your essay. To make a solid introduction, avoid cliché phrases and words.
Body: the body paragraphs include a topic sentence and supportive sentences. A topic sentence introduces the paragraph's main idea and captures the reader’s attention to the supporting sentences. Support sentences give persuasive facts.
Conclusion: summarize the content of your essay in conclusion. Please do not introduce any new information at this point. You can re-state your thesis in the introduction. Listing the causes in your essay body is another alternative way of creating a solid conclusion for the cause-and-effect essay.
It is an essay genre where the student has to investigate and expound on an idea. The scholar then examines the evidence and clearly presents an argument on the same idea. Accomplishing this requires comparison and contrast, definition, or cause and effect analysis.
The features of exposition or expository writing include the following.
Informative: the main point of expository text is to give information.
Clarity: the writer needs to use words that communicate what the text is talking about.
Text organization: an excellent exposition should retain its focus on the topic and outline the events in chronological order.
Impersonal: it does not encourage the use of the first person but instead uses the second-person pronouns “you.”
Unbiased: an exposition aims at providing information and does not openly disclose the author’s opinion.
The structure below holds an exposition together.
A statement of the thesis should be clear, concise, and defined.
The Introduction gives a clear link or transition between the introduction and the body. The body paragraphs should concentrate on the main idea of your writing to maintain clarity and direction all through the essay. It should be creative and factual, logical, or statistical evidential support. Create a solid conclusion by readdressing your thesis in light of some of the evidence in the body.
High school teachers introduce more complex essays to students than those in middle school. Some of the papers in high school progress to the college level. Below are some essays for high school students.
A reflective means you have to reflect on your own experiences. A reflective essay requires the writer to communicate their thoughts and feelings about a specific person, situation, or place in their point of view. Many scholars confuse a reflective paper with a narrative essay.
A reflective piece of writing includes an introduction, body, and conclusion.
Introduction: you need to be specific about what you reflect upon in your paper. Make the reader understand your position in the subject you are assessing.
The body: each paragraph in the body must start with a topic sentence. Speak your thoughts and experiences concerning the topic. You may include a thesis and statements if you are writing an academic paper.
Conclusion: it requires a precise articulation of your thoughts and feelings to create a solid conclusion.
It is an essay writing style that incorporates critical thinking, reading, and writing to communicate to the audience. The writer identifies a piece of art or literature and tries to analyze the author or artist’s thoughts. It focuses on the writer’s opinion, thesis, and argument using logical reasoning and citing evidence.
The significant parts of a critical analysis essay include an outline, introduction, body, and conclusion.
The outline: think critically about what you are writing about. Outline the main ideas in bullet form.
Introduction: the introduction should state the aim of the initial author of the work you are writing about. Make the introduction as engaging and captivating as possible to capture your reader’s attention.
Body: focus on the ideas in your outline and introduction. Each body paragraph should tackle a single notion for flow and consistency.
These tips 👇 will help a writer create a captivating critical analysis essay.
The highest level of essays applies to college and university scholars. The following are some of the paper types for college.
It is an essay style that shows the differences and similarities between two subjects or more. It is a perfect way of showing what unites or separates two subjects or objects, especially if people tend to confuse them.
Compare and contrast essay has some similarities to other paper types, but it has the following distinguishing features:
Thesis: Carefully pick the subjects you want to compare. If it is not given in the question, you have to be keen to select the one you can handle comfortably.
Organization: These essays follow a specific paper structure. The essay format includes an introduction, body, and conclusion.
Introduction: you need to elaborate on your thesis or the subject you will be discussing.
Body: it is the central part of your paper. It would be best to list the differences and similarities between your subjects of discussion here.
Conclusion: summarize and clearly wrap up your points.
There are three ways a writer can approach a compare and contrast essay:
Other essay types for college include research and definition. Reflective papers are also part of the college curriculum.
The four major types of essays include argumentative, descriptive, narrative, and expository. Expository and argumentative aim at giving clear points and information, while narrative and descriptive test the writer’s creativity.
There are more types of essays besides the four major categories. Below are ten of these essays.
An argumentative paper is the most common essay type. It tests the writer’s research skills and ability to present their position on a particular subject. It is common at the college level.
An essay format is a series of guidelines that influence how you arrange your academic paper. It includes:
There are many different types of papers to write, but there are four major ones. The essays are subdivided according to their complexity and students’ level of education.
Learning the different types of essays in English language is the first step toward being an excellent writer. You will be able to differentiate each type with its format, writing style, and structure.
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EVANS OCHIENG
Every section of this article was helpful. It gave me knowledge on the definition essays that can be used with data, to criticize, and how to include sources in my pages. From the popular forms of essays, to what you should include in each section, this was really great.
Angelina Grin, the author, is constantly on point; I follow her articles, and they are usually part of my resources for references when I'm assigned tasks. I like how she summarizes bulky topics and manages to illustrate them using pristine examples. I enjoyed reading every single part of this article.
Harriet L.J.
My teacher told me to examine the benefits of writing different storytelling essays. I now know which type is best to argue my point on any subject matter. It was really helpful and I now feel confident in my college work.
The concept behind a literary analysis essay is for writers to detail everything from the storyline and the idioms to every literary tool used in a piece of literature. It gives readers full experience even if they've yet to read the work.
I was struggling with writing a narrative essay. This article helped to explain how to write different essays and improve the quality of my written work.
While reading this article, I learned the need for the inclusion of sensory details in essays. With literary analysis of any specific topic, you can easily spot the author's writing process.
I was looking for help to explore what an analytical essay and critical essay are to improve my grade band.
Descriptive essays are very critical essays because you need to use words to give your readers an insight into your mind. Thank you for the awesome guidelines.
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In university, writers must be prepared to write in a number of different genres, or categories of academic writing, each of which has its own purpose, requirements, and audience expectations. This section provides general information on genres common to academic writing, such as case studies, proposals, argumentative writing, book reviews, literature reviews and more.
Updated June 14, 2022 by Digital & Web Operations, University Relations ( [email protected] )
Learning outcomes.
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
The writing genre for this chapter incorporates a variety of modalities. A genre is a type of composition that encompasses defined features, follows a style or format, and reflects your purpose as a writer. For example, given the composition types romantic comedy , poetry , or documentary , you probably can think easily of features of each of these composition types. When considering the multimodal genres, you will discover that genres create conventions (standard ways of doing things) for categorizing media according to the expectations of the audience and the way the media will be consumed. Consider film media, for example; it encompasses genres including drama, documentaries, and animated shorts, to name a few. Each genre has its own conventions, or features. When you write or analyze multimodal texts, it is important to account for genre conventions.
A note on text: typically, when referring to text, people mean written words. But in multimodal genres, the term text can refer to a piece of communication as a whole, incorporating written words, images, sounds, and even movement. The following images are examples of multimodal texts.
Multimodal genres are uniquely positioned to address audiences through a variety of modes , or types of communication. These can be identified in the following categories:
Linguistic text : The most common mode for writing, the linguistic mode includes written or spoken text.
Visuals : The visual mode includes anything the reader can see, including images, colors, lighting, typefaces, lines, shapes, and backgrounds.
Audio : The audio mode includes all types of sound, such as narration, sound effects, music, silence, and ambient noise.
Spatial : Especially important in digital media, the spatial mode includes spacing, image and text size and position, white space, visual organization, and alignment.
Gestural : The gestural mode includes communication through all kinds of body language, including movement and facial expressions.
Multimodal composition provides an opportunity for you to develop and practice skills that will translate to future coursework and career opportunities. Creating a multimodal text requires you to demonstrate aptitude in various modes and reflects the requirements for communication skills beyond the academic world. In other words, although multimodal creations may seem to be little more than pictures and captions at times, they must be carefully constructed to be effective. Even the simplest compositions are meticulously planned and executed. Multimodal compositions may include written text, such as blog post text, slideshow text, and website content; image-based content, such as infographics and photo essays; or audiovisual content, including podcasts, public service announcements, and videos.
Multimodal composition is especially important in a 21st-century world where communication must represent and transfer across cultural contexts. Because using multiple modes helps a writer make meaning in different channels (media that communicate a message), the availability of different modes is especially important to help you make yourself understood as an author. In academic settings, multimodal content creation increases engagement, improves equity, and helps prepare you to be a global citizen. The same is true for your readers. Multimodal composition is important in addressing and supporting cultural and linguistic diversity. Modes are shaped by social, cultural, and historic factors, all of which influence their use and impact in communication. And it isn’t just readers who benefit from multimodal composition. Combining a variety of modes allows you as a composer to connect to your own lived experiences—the representation of experiences and choices that you have faced in your own life—and helps you develop a unique voice, thus leveraging your knowledge and experiences.
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Genres of writing.
We use the term genres to describe categories of written texts that have recognizable patterns, syntax, techniques, and/or conventions. This list represents genres students can expect to encounter during their time at Duke. The list is not intended to be inclusive of all genres but rather representative of the most common ones. Click on each genre for detailed information (definition, questions to ask, actions to take, and helpful links).
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A research paper is the culmination and final product of an involved process of research, critical thinking, source evaluation, organization, and composition. It is, perhaps, helpful to think of the research paper as a living thing, which grows and changes as the student explores, interprets, and evaluates sources related to a specific topic. Primary and secondary sources are the heart of a research paper, and provide its nourishment; without the support of and interaction with these sources, the research paper would morph into a different genre of writing (e.g., an encyclopedic article). The research paper serves not only to further the field in which it is written, but also to provide the student with an exceptional opportunity to increase her knowledge in that field. It is also possible to identify a research paper by what it is not.
A research paper is not simply an informed summary of a topic by means of primary and secondary sources. It is neither a book report nor an opinion piece nor an expository essay consisting solely of one's interpretation of a text nor an overview of a particular topic. Instead, it is a genre that requires one to spend time investigating and evaluating sources with the intent to offer interpretations of the texts, and not unconscious regurgitations of those sources. The goal of a research paper is not to inform the reader what others have to say about a topic, but to draw on what others have to say about a topic and engage the sources in order to thoughtfully offer a unique perspective on the issue at hand. This is accomplished through two major types of research papers.
Argumentative research paper:
The argumentative research paper consists of an introduction in which the writer clearly introduces the topic and informs his audience exactly which stance he intends to take; this stance is often identified as the thesis statement . An important goal of the argumentative research paper is persuasion, which means the topic chosen should be debatable or controversial. For example, it would be difficult for a student to successfully argue in favor of the following stance.
Perhaps 25 years ago this topic would have been debatable; however, today, it is assumed that smoking cigarettes is, indeed, harmful to one's health. A better thesis would be the following.
In this sentence, the writer is not challenging the current accepted stance that both firsthand and secondhand cigarette smoke is dangerous; rather, she is positing that the social acceptance of the latter over the former is indicative of a cultural double-standard of sorts. The student would support this thesis throughout her paper by means of both primary and secondary sources, with the intent to persuade her audience that her particular interpretation of the situation is viable.
Analytical research paper:
The analytical research paper often begins with the student asking a question (a.k.a. a research question) on which he has taken no stance. Such a paper is often an exercise in exploration and evaluation. For example, perhaps one is interested in the Old English poem Beowulf . He has read the poem intently and desires to offer a fresh reading of the poem to the academic community. His question may be as follows.
His research may lead him to the following conclusion.
Though his topic may be debatable and controversial, it is not the student's intent to persuade the audience that his ideas are right while those of others are wrong. Instead, his goal is to offer a critical interpretation of primary and secondary sources throughout the paper--sources that should, ultimately, buttress his particular analysis of the topic. The following is an example of what his thesis statement may look like once he has completed his research.
This statement does not negate the traditional readings of Beowulf ; instead, it offers a fresh and detailed reading of the poem that will be supported by the student's research.
It is typically not until the student has begun the writing process that his thesis statement begins to take solid form. In fact, the thesis statement in an analytical paper is often more fluid than the thesis in an argumentative paper. Such is one of the benefits of approaching the topic without a predetermined stance.
In this blog, we will discuss the different types of writing genres. Every genre of writing has its mindset and set of expectations. Genres are the tool for creativity and provide various perspectives to tell your story in different ways.
As a writer, your work will fit into a certain genre whether you want it or not, and that is purely based on what you are creating. On one side, some work may fit into one Genre. On the other hand, some may have different genres.
There are three different types of writing genres that we will take a look at in this blog. We have separated writing genres like Professional Writing, Literary Writing, and, lastly, Academic Writing.
If you’re wondering which one is right for you then this is the right place for you.
Here we will discover different writing genres that you need to know!
So, without further ado, let’s dive into it!
Table of Contents
They Help Writers Sort Out Their Ideas and Feelings : When writers know what kind of writing they are doing, they can use the rules of that kind of writing to help them organize their writing. This can speed up the writing process and help writers make work simpler and more sense.
They Help People Know What to Expect From a Piece of Writing : When a reader knows the genre of a piece of writing, they can guess what they know about it to guess what the piece is about. This can help people read faster and better understand what they are reading.
They Help Writers Connect With the People Who Read Their Work : When writers choose the right type for their readers, their writing is easier to understand and more interesting to read. This can help writers connect with their readers and reach their goals for dialogue.
Aside From These General Benefits: there are other reasons to use different types of writing. For example, expository writing can help writers explain complicated ideas clearly, while descriptive writing can help writers paint detailed pictures in the minds of their readers. Narrative writing can help writers tell stories that entertain and teach, while persuasive writing can help writers persuade readers to do something.
They Can Help a Writer Find His or Her Voice : By trying different types of writing, writers can find the type that fits their style and attitude the best. This can help writers find their style, which will help them connect with their readers.
They Can Help Writers Come Up With Better Ideas : Writers can stretch their creative skills and develop new ideas if they try to write in different styles. This can make writers more creative and help them develop more original ideas.
They Can Help Writers Get Better at What They Do : Writers can improve their skills by learning the rules of different types of writing. This can help writers write better and make their work look more polished.
In the end, there are different types of writing because they are used for different things. If writers know the rules for each type, they can choose the right one for their purpose and audience. This will help them write in a clear, powerful, and interesting way.
The writing Genre is mostly called the name of Literary Genre. It is a type of narrative that can be used or written. Mostly, it is used for one purpose only to share emotions, ideas, and news with other people. Writing Genre is used to tell the story interestingly.
Writing within each Genre will reflect a whole new story and share several features like rhyme, image, and stylistic devices. The main focus of each Genre is to describe the events, theory, and several ideas in certain ways. In other words, the aim of each writing genre is how the elements are conveyed and described.
Three main types of Writing Genres are as follows:
Social media .
Social Media is a growing genre in business communication. The level of discussion in social media may vary depending on the topic and audience. Well-considered successful post on social media to help understand how it’s used to reach a wider target audience.
It can be both formal and informal. A perfectly written business letter shows the reader why it is important. If you want successful communication, then a structured approach is very important.
Well, Memos provide a clear summary, and the most crucial information is given at the beginning, but Paper Memos are no longer used nowadays. A positive tone is used to help the reader understand what the author is trying to say, making it appropriate for the users.
In the past, memos were considered the best business correspondence. The Main Guideline of the memo still exists, even if the median of the paper memo has been changed.
Meeting Minutes include dates, times, attendees, and location. This is the standard format of Meeting Minutes. It is also important to record the most crucial details to avoid any misunderstanding later.
As a result, there are many ways involved in recording meeting minutes. The minutes should be uniform with the location and names. Unnecessary information should be avoided so that it can not cause any difficulty later.
This is the end of the Professional writing genre. Now we move to the Literary writing genre, and lastly, we will continue with the Academic Genre.
Mystery .
This Genre is mostly associated with crime, mainly murder, but it does have to be. Any story which involves the unraveling of a secret or mystery would be considered within this Genre.
This Genre often describes a criminal investigation or legal case. Well, the most popular novel is The Sherlock Holmes Story. Mystery novels are a genre that typically has a problem to solve.
Category of Mystery Genre:
Literary nonfiction is all about real events and people. Nonfiction can be found in magazines like The Atlantic, The New York, and Harper’s Magazine.
This type of Genre is associated with creating feelings of fear and dread. Some of you might think of this Genre as full of “blood and gore”. Anything which creates negative feelings about something will come under the category of Horror.
Horror is the genre of film, literature, and TV shows. The main aim of the horror genre is to create fear.
Gothic novels are an example of ancient horror literature. On the other hand, Stephen King is considered the father of modern horror literature. Well, nowadays, new writers have pushed the boundaries of horror stories. Writers include John Langan, Stephen Graham Jones, and many more.
In the Historical Genre, the story takes place in the past. Sometimes real people are included to interact with the fictional character to create a sense of realism.
This Genre deals with the love stories between two people. The element of romance can be found in many types of literature. Romance has been there since ancient times, but time travels so fast, and the paranormal romances have become more popular nowadays.
As the name suggests, Science Fiction is the genre that deals with science and technology in society. Science fiction is a special type of Genre that includes elements of time travel, futuristic societies, and space. People often call Science Fiction ( Sci-Fi ) .
Magical realism is a type of literature in which the real world is depicted with an influence of magic and fantasy. In magical realism, the stories may occur in the real world but with some supernatural elements. Magical realism has close ties with Latin American Authors. Magical realism is used by literature from around the globe.
Fantasy novels are fiction stories that are set in imaginary universes. This Genre is inspired by folklore and mythology that is enjoyed by both children and adults
Dystopian novels are about futuristic and oppressive societies. In other words, the Dystopian novel features some political and social unrest. It can help us examine real types of fear like mass surveillance by the government.
Graphic Fiction is the category of Graphic Novels and Comic Books.
Well, this type of Genre may fit into any number of genres. In Short stories, there is only one plot to it, no subplot in this Genre.
Tall Tales stories are not realistic or don’t try to become realistic.
Analytical writing.
In Analytical writing, the author has a chance to include persuasive writing. A common layout uses the structure of methods, results, introduction, summary, and discussion.
Professional Writing is a wide category that includes emails, studies, reports, business letters, and summaries. If you are writing for a client, then it is beneficial for you to follow the style rule of the company.
Argumentative writing is a type of academic essay. In this, the writer breaks down an idea into its parts and then offers evidence for each part. This writing is mostly based on understanding and reading fiction or nonfiction texts.
Argumentative writing has three sections:
Descriptive writing .
In Descriptive writing, the author writes about every aspect of the person, place, or event and describes all aspects in detail.
Example of Descriptive Writing:
Expository writing is used to educate the reader. So the main goal of expository writing is to teach the reader rather than entertainment.
Example of Expository Writing:
Narrative Writing is used to tell people what happens somewhere or with someone. Narrative Writing includes Fiction and nonfiction. Whereas nonfiction is based on real events, and fiction writing is completely made up.
Example of Narrative Writing:
Persuasive writing is used to convince the reader about something. This type of writing is written when the author has a strong opinion on something. It is used to encourage people to take action regarding any issue.
Example of Persuasive Writing:
Read more about writing styles: Different Types Of Writing Styles
Now you know the different types of writing genres and their most used forms. So which Genre or form is close to you, and which one do you use the most. In this blog, we provide you with a short guide to types of writing genres, with the most common Genre that you should know.
I hope you like it!
Q1.what are the seven styles of writing.
The seven most common types of essay writing Narrative Descriptive Expository Persuasive Compare Reflective Personal
The three major genres are: Drama Poetry Prose
When I fall in love, it will be forever.
Common examples of genre, common examples of fiction genre.
Here are some common examples of genre fiction and their characteristics:
Famous examples of genre in other art forms, examples of genre in literature.
As a literary device, the genre is like an implied social contract between writers and their readers. This does not mean that writers must abide by all conventions associated with a specific genre. However, there are organizational patterns within a genre that readers tend to expect. Genre expectations allow readers to feel familiar with the literary work and help them to organize the information presented by the writer. In addition, keeping with genre conventions can establish a writer’s relationship with their readers and a framework for their literature.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow , Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out , brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
The formal genre of this well-known literary work is Shakespearean drama or play. Macbeth can be sub-categorized as a literary tragedy in that the play features the elements of a classical tragic work. For example, Macbeth’s character aligns with the traits and path of a tragic hero –a protagonist whose tragic flaw brings about his downfall from power to ruin. This tragic arc of the protagonist often results in catharsis (emotional release) and potential empathy among readers and members of the audience .
All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy . I had to fight my brothers. I had to fight my cousins and my uncles. A girl child ain’t safe in a family of men. But I never thought I’d have to fight in my own house. She let out her breath. I loves Harpo, she say. God knows I do. But I’ll kill him dead before I let him beat me.
To keep your marriage brimming With love in the loving cup, Whenever you’re wrong, admit it; Whenever you’re right, shut up.
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What are literary genres? Do they actually matter to readers? How about to writers? What types of literary genres exist? And if you're a writer, how do you decide which genre to write in?
To begin to think about literary genres, let's start with an example.
Let's say want to read something. You go to a bookstore or hop onto a store online or go to a library.
But instead of a nice person wearing reading glasses and a cardigan asking you what books you like and then thinking through every book ever written to find you the next perfect read (if that person existed, for the record, they would be my favorite person), you're faced with this: rows and rows of books with labels on the shelves like “Literary Fiction,” “Travel,” “Reference,” “Science Fiction,” and so on.
You stop at the edge of the bookstore and just stand there for a while, stumped. “What do all of these labels even mean?!” And then you walk out of the store.
Or maybe you're writing a book , and someone asks you a question like this: “What kind of book are you writing? What genre is it?”
And you stare at them in frustration thinking, “My book transcends genre, convention, and even reality, obviously. Don't you dare put my genius in a box!”
What are literary genres? In this article, we'll share the definition and different types of literary genres (there are four main ones but thousands of subgenres). Then, we'll talk about why genre matters to both readers and writers. We'll look at some of the components that people use to categorize writing into genres. Finally, we'll give you a chance to put genre into practice with an exercise .
Introduction Literary Genres Definition Why Genre Matters (to Readers, to Writers) The 4 Essential Genres 100+ Genres and Subgenres The 7 Components of Genre Practice Exercise
Ready to get started? Let's get into it.
Let's begin with a basic definition of literary genres:
Literary genres are categories, types, or collections of literature. They often share characteristics, such as their subject matter or topic, style, form, purpose, or audience.
That's our formal definition. But here's a simpler way of thinking about it:
Genre is a way of categorizing readers' tastes.
That's a good basic definition of genre. But does genre really matter?
Literary genres matter. They matter to readers but they also matter to writers. Here's why:
Think about it. You like to read (or watch) different things than your parents.
You probably also like to read different things at different times of the day. For example, maybe you read the news in the morning, listen to an audiobook of a nonfiction book related to your studies or career in the afternoon, and read a novel or watch a TV show in the evening.
Even more, you probably read different things now than you did as a child or than you will want to read twenty years from now.
Everyone has different tastes.
Genre is one way we match what readers want to what writers want to write and what publishers are publishing.
It's also not a new thing. We've been categorizing literature like this for thousands of years. Some of the oldest forms of writing, including religious texts, were tied directly into this idea of genre.
For example, forty percent of the Old Testament in the Bible is actually poetry, one of the four essential literary genres. Much of the New Testament is in the form of epistle, a subgenre that's basically a public letter.
Genre matters, and by understanding how genre works, you not only can find more things you want to read, you can also better understand what the writer (or publisher) is trying to do.
Genre isn't just important to readers. It's extremely important to writers too.
In the same way the literary genres better help readers find things they want to read and better understand a writer's intentions, genres inform writers of readers' expectations and also help writers find an audience.
If you know that there are a lot of readers of satirical political punditry (e.g. The Onion ), then you can write more of that kind of writing and thus find more readers and hopefully make more money. Genre can help you find an audience.
At the same time, great writers have always played with and pressed the boundaries of genre, sometimes even subverting it for the sake of their art.
Another way to think about genre is a set of expectations from the reader. While it's important to meet some of those expectations, if you meet too many, the reader will get bored and feel like they know exactly what's going to happen next. So great writers will always play to the readers' expectations and then change a few things completely to give readers a sense of novelty in the midst of familiarity.
This is not unique to writers, by the way. The great apparel designer Virgil Abloh, who was an artistic director at Louis Vuitton until he passed away tragically in 2021, had a creative template called the “3% Rule,” where he would take an existing design, like a pair of Nike Air Jordans, and make a three percent change to it, transforming it into something completely new. His designs were incredibly successful, often selling for thousands of dollars.
This process of taking something familiar and turning it into something new with a slight change is something artists have done throughout history, including writers, and it's a great way to think about how to use genre for your own writing.
Before we talk more about the types of genre, let's discuss what genre is not .
Genre is not the same as story type (or for nonfiction, types of nonfiction structure). There are ten (or so) types of stories, including adventure, love story, mystery, and coming of age, but there are hundreds, even thousands of genres.
Story type and nonfiction book structure are about how the work is structured.
Genre is about how the work is perceived and marketed.
These are related but not the same.
For example, one popular subgenre of literature is science fiction. Probably the most common type of science fiction story is adventure, but you can also have mystery sci-fi stories, love story sci-fi, and even morality sci-fi. Story type transcends genre.
You can learn more about this in my book The Write Structure , which teaches writers the simple process to structure great stories. Click to check out The Write Structure .
This is true for non-fiction as well in different ways. More on this in my post on the seven types of nonfiction books .
Now that we've addressed why genre matters and what genre doesn't include, let's get into the different literary genres that exist (there are a lot of them!).
Just as everyone has different tastes, so there are genres to fit every kind of specific reader.
There are four essential literary genres, and all are driven by essential questions. Then, within each of those essential genres are genres and subgenres. We will look at all of these in turn, below, as well as several examples of each.
An important note: There are individual works that fit within the gaps of these four essential genres or even cross over into multiple genres.
As with anything, the edges of these categories can become blurry, for example narrative poetry or fictional reference books.
A general rule: You know it when you see it (except, of course, when the author is trying to trick you!).
The core question for nonfiction is, “Is it true?”
Nonfiction deals with facts, instruction, opinion/argument reference, narrative nonfiction, or a combination.
A few examples of nonfiction (more below): reference, news, memoir, manuals, religious inspirational books, self-help, business, and many more.
The core question for fiction is, “Is it, at some level, imagined?”
Fiction is almost always story or narrative. However, satire is a form of “fiction” that's structured like nonfiction opinion/essays or news. And one of the biggest insults you can give to a journalist, reporter, or academic researcher is to suggest that their work is “fiction.”
Drama is a genre of literature that has some kind of performance component. This includes theater, film, and audio plays.
The core question that defines drama is, “Is it performed?”
As always, there are genres within this essential genre, including horror films, thrillers, true crime podcasts, and more.
Poetry is in some ways the most challenging literary genre to define because while poetry is usually based on form, i.e. lines intentionally broken into verse, sometimes including rhyme or other poetic devices, there are some “poems” that are written completely in prose called prose poetry. These are only considered poems because the author and/or literary scholars said they were poems.
To confuse things even more, you also have narrative poetry, which combines fiction and poetry, and song which combines poetry and performance (or drama) with music.
Which is all to say, poetry is challenging to classify, but again, you usually know it when you see it.
Next, let's talk about the genres and subgenres within those four essential literary genres.
Genre is, at its core, subjective. It's literally based on the tastes of readers, tastes that change over time, within markets, and across cultures.
Thus, there are essentially an infinite number of genres.
Even more, genres are constantly shifting. What is considered contemporary fiction today will change a decade from now.
So take the lists below (and any list of genres you see) as an incomplete, likely outdated, small sample size of genre with definitions.
Sorted alphabetically.
Action/Adventure. An action/adventure story has adventure elements in its plot line. This type of story often involves some kind of conflict between good and evil, and features characters who must overcome obstacles to achieve their goals .
Chick Lit. Chick Lit stories are usually written for women who interested in lighthearted stories that still have some depth. They often include romance, humor, and drama in their plots.
Comedy. This typically refers to historical stories and plays (e.g. Shakespeare, Greek Literature, etc) that contain a happy ending, often with a wedding.
Commercial. Commercial stories have been written for the sole purpose of making money, often in an attempt to cash in on the success of another book, film, or genre.
Crime/Police/Detective Fiction. Crime and police stories feature a detective, whether amateur or professional, who solves crimes using their wits and knowledge of criminal psychology.
Drama or Tragedy. This typically refers to historical stories or plays (e.g. Shakespeare, Greek Literature, etc) that contain a sad or tragic ending, often with one or more deaths.
Erotica. Erotic stories contain explicit sexual descriptions in their narratives.
Espionage. Espionage stories focus on international intrigue, usually involving governments, spies, secret agents, and/or terrorist organizations. They often involve political conflict, military action, sabotage, terrorism, assassination, kidnapping, and other forms of covert operations.
Family Saga. Family sagas focus on the lives of an extended family, sometimes over several generations. Rather than having an individual protagonist, the family saga tells the stories of multiple main characters or of the family as a whole.
Fantasy. Fantasy stories are set in imaginary worlds that often feature magic, mythical creatures, and fantastic elements. They may be based on mythology, folklore, religion, legend, history, or science fiction.
General Fiction. General fiction novels are those that deal with individuals and relationships in an ordinary setting. They may be set in any time period, but usually take place in modern times.
Graphic Novel. Graphic novels are a hybrid between comics and prose fiction that often includes elements of both.
Historical Fiction. Historical stories are written about imagined or actual events that occurred in history. They usually take place during specific periods of time and often include real or imaginary characters who lived at those times.
Horror Genre. Horror stories focus on the psychological terror experienced by their characters. They often feature supernatural elements, such as ghosts, vampires, werewolves, zombies, demons, monsters, and aliens.
Humor/Satire. This category includes stories that have been written using satire or contain comedic elements. Satirical novels tend to focus on some aspect of society in a critical way.
LGBTQ+. LGBTQ+ novels are those that feature characters who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or otherwise non-heterosexual.
Literary Fiction. Literary fiction novels or stories have a high degree of artistic merit, a unique or experimental style of writing , and often deal with serious themes.
Military. Military stories deal with war, conflict, combat, or similar themes and often have strong action elements. They may be set in a contemporary or a historical period.
Multicultural. Multicultural stories are written by and about people who have different cultural backgrounds, including those that may be considered ethnic minorities.
Mystery G enre. Mystery stories feature an investigation into a crime.
Offbeat/Quirky. An offbeat story has an unusual plot, characters, setting, style, tone, or point of view. Quirkiness can be found in any aspect of a story, but often comes into play when the author uses unexpected settings, time periods, or characters.
Picture Book. Picture book novels are usually written for children and feature simple plots and colorful illustrations . They often have a moral or educational purpose.
Religious/Inspirational. Religious/ inspirational stories describe events in the life of a person who was inspired by God or another supernatural being to do something extraordinary. They usually have a moral lesson at their core.
Romance Genre. Romance novels or stories are those that focus on love between two people, often in an ideal setting. There are many subgenres in romance, including historical, contemporary, paranormal, and others.
Science Fiction. Science fiction stories are usually set in an imaginary future world, often involving advanced technology. They may be based on scientific facts but they are not always.
Short Story Collection . Short story collections contain several short stories written by the same or different authors.
Suspense or Thriller Genre. Thrillers/ suspense stories are usually about people in danger, often involving crimes, natural disasters, or terrorism.
Upmarket. Upmarket stories are often written for and/or focus on upper class people who live in an upscale environment.
Western Genre. Western stories are those that take place in the west during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Characters include cowboys, outlaws, native Americans, and settlers.
From the BISAC categories, a globally accepted system for coding and categorizing books by the Book Industry Standards And Communications group.
Antiques & Collectibles. Nonfiction books about antiques and collectibles include those that focus on topics such as collecting, appraising, restoring, and marketing antiques and collectibles. These books may be written for both collectors and dealers in antique and collectible items. They can range from how-to guides to detailed histories of specific types of objects.
Architecture. Architecture books focus on the design, construction, use, and history of buildings and structures. This includes the study of architecture in general, but also the specific designs of individual buildings or styles of architecture.
Art. Art books focus on visual arts, music, literature, dance, film, theater, architecture, design, fashion, food, and other art forms. They may include essays, memoirs, biographies, interviews, criticism, and reviews.
Bibles. Bibles are religious books, almost exclusively Christian, that contain the traditional Bible in various translations, often with commentary or historical context.
Biography & Autobiography. Biography is an account of a person's life, often a historical or otherwise famous person. Autobiographies are personal accounts of people's lives written by themselves.
Body, Mind & Spirt. These books focus on topics related to human health, wellness, nutrition, fitness, or spirituality.
Business & Economics. Business & economics books are about how businesses work. They tend to focus on topics that interest people who run their own companies, lead or manage others, or want to understand how the economy works.
Computers. The computer genre of nonfiction books includes any topics that deal with computers in some way. They can be about general use, about how they affect our lives, or about specific technical areas related to hardware or software.
Cooking. Cookbooks contain recipes or cooking techniques.
Crafts & Hobbies. How-to guides for crafts and hobbies, including sewing, knitting, painting, baking, woodworking, jewelry making, scrapbooking, photography, gardening, home improvement projects, and others.
Design. Design books are written about topics that include design in some way. They can be about any aspect of design including graphic design, industrial design, product design, fashion, furniture, interior design, or others.
Education. Education books focus on topics related to teaching and learning in schools. They can be used for students or as a resource for teachers.
Family & Relationships. These books focus on family relationships, including parenting, marriage, divorce, adoption, and more.
Foreign Language Study. Books that act as a reference or guide to learning a foreign language.
Games & Activities. Games & activities books may be published for children or adults, may contain learning activities or entertaining word or puzzle games. They range from joke books to crossword puzzle books to coloring books and more.
Gardening. Gardening books include those that focus on aspects of gardening, how to prepare for and grow vegetables, fruits, herbs, flowers, trees, shrubs, grasses, and other plants in an indoor or outdoor garden setting.
Health & Fitness. Health and fitness books focus on topics like dieting, exercise, nutrition, weight loss, health issues, medical conditions, diseases, medications, herbs, supplements, vitamins, minerals, and more.
History. History books focus on historical events and people, and may be written for entertainment or educational purposes.
House & Home. House & home books focus on topics like interior design, decorating, entertaining, and DIY projects.
Humor. Humor books are contain humorous elements but do not have any fictional elements.
Juvenile Nonfiction. These are nonfiction books written for children between six and twelve years old.
Language Arts & Disciplines. These books focus on teaching language arts and disciplines. They may be used for elementary school students in grades K-5.
Law. Law books include legal treatises, casebooks, and collections of statutes.
Literary Criticism. Literary criticism books discuss literary works, primarily key works of fiction or memoir. They may include biographies of authors, critical essays on specific works, or studies of the history of literature.
Mathematics. Mathematics books either teach mathematical concepts and methods or explore the history of mathematics.
Medical. Medical books include textbooks, reference books, guides, encyclopedias, and handbooks that focus on fields of medicine, including general practice, internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, and more.
Music. Music books are books that focus on the history, culture, and development of music in various countries around the world. They often include biographies, interviews, reviews, essays, and other related material. However, they may also include sheet music or instruction on playing a specific instrument.
Nature. Nature books focus on the natural world or environment, including natural history, ecology, or natural experiences like hiking, bird watching, or conservation.
Performing Arts. Books about the performing arts in general, including specific types of performance art like dance, music, and theater.
Pets. Pet books include any book that deals with animals in some way, including dog training, cat care, animal behavior, pet nutrition, bird care, and more.
Philosophy. Philosophy books deal with philosophical issues, and may be written for a general audience or specifically for scholars.
Photography. Photography books use photographs as an essential part of their content. They may be about any subject.
Political Science. Political science books deal with politics in some way. They can be about current events, historical figures, or theoretical concepts.
Psychology. Psychology books are about the scientific study of mental processes, emotion, and behavior.
Reference. Reference books are about any subject, topic, or field and contain useful information about that subject, topic or field.
Religion. These books deal with religion in some way, including religious history, theology, philosophy, and spirituality.
Science. Science books focus on topics within scientific fields, including geology, biology, physics, and more.
Self-Help. Self-help books are written for people who want to improve their lives in some way. They may be about health, relationships, finances, career, parenting, spirituality, or any number of topics that can help readers achieve personal goals.
Social Science. Focus on social science topics.
Sports & Recreation. Sports & Recreation books focus on sports either from a reporting, historical, or instructional perspective.
Study Aids. Study aids are books that provide information about a particular subject area for students who want to learn more about that topic. These books can be used in conjunction with classroom instruction or on their own.
Technology & Engineering. Technology & engineering nonfiction books describe how technology has changed our lives and how we can use that knowledge to improve ourselves and society.
Transportation. Focus on transportation topics including those about vehicles, routes, or techniques.
Travel. Travel books are those that focus on travel experiences, whether from a guide perspective or from the author's personal experiences.
True Crime. True Crime books focus on true stories about crimes. These books may be about famous cases, unsolved crimes, or specific criminals.
Young Adult Nonfiction. Young adult nonfiction books are written for children and teenagers.
These include genres for theater, film, television serials, or audio plays.
As a writer, I find some of these genres particularly eye-roll worthy. And yet, this is the way most films, television shows, and even theater productions are classified.
Action. Action genre dramas involve fast-paced, high-energy sequences in which characters fight against each other. They often have large-scale battles, chase scenes, or other high-intensity, high-conflict scenes.
Horror. Horror dramas focus on the psychological terror experienced by their characters. They often feature supernatural elements, such as ghosts, vampires, werewolves, zombies, demons, monsters, and aliens.
Adventure. Adventure films are movies that have an adventurous theme. They may be set in exotic locations, feature action sequences, and/or contain elements of fantasy.
Musicals (Dance). Musicals are dramas that use music in their plot and/or soundtrack. They may be comedies, dramas, or any combination.
Comedy (& Black Comedy). Comedy dramas feature humor in their plots, characters, dialogue, or situations. It sometimes refers to historical dramas (e.g. Shakespeare, Greek drama, etc) that contain a happy ending, often with a wedding.
Science Fiction. Science fiction dramas are usually set in an imaginary future world, often involving advanced technology. They may be based on scientific facts but do not have to be.
Crime & Gangster. Crime & Gangster dramas deal with criminals, detectives, or organized crime groups. They often feature action sequences, violence, and mystery elements.
War (Anti-War). War (or anti-war) dramas focus on contemporary or historical wars. They may also contain action, adventure, mystery, or romance elements.
Drama. Dramas focus on human emotions in conflict situations. They often have complex plots and characters, and deal with serious themes. This may also refer to historical stories (e.g. Shakespeare, Greek Literature, etc) that contain a sad or tragic ending, often with one or more deaths.
Westerns. Westerns are a genre of American film that originated in the early 20th century and take place in the west during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Characters include cowboys, outlaws, native Americans, and settlers.
Epics/Historical/Period. These are dramas based on historical events or periods but do not necessarily involve any real people.
Biographical (“Biopics”). Biopics films are movies that focus on real people in history.
Melodramas, Women's or “Weeper” Films, Tearjerkers. A type of narrative drama that focuses on emotional issues, usually involving love, loss, tragedy, and redemption.
“Chick” Flicks. Chick flicks usually feature romantic relationships and tend to be lighthearted and comedic in nature.
Road Stories. Dramas involving a journey of some kind, usually taking place in contemporary setting, and involving relationships between one or more people, not necessarily romantic.
Courtroom Dramas. Courtroom dramas depict legal cases set in courtrooms. They usually have a dramatic plot line with an interesting twist at the end.
Romance. Romance dramas feature love stories between two people. Romance dramas tend to be more serious, even tragic, in nature, while romantic comedies tend to be more lighthearted.
Detective & Mystery. These dramas feature amateur or professional investigators solving crimes and catching criminals.
Sports. Sports dramas focus on athletic competition in its many forms and usually involve some kind of climactic tournament or championship.
Disaster. Disaster dramas are adventure or action dramas that include natural disasters, usually involving earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, or other disasters.
Superhero. Superhero dramas are action/adventure dramas that feature characters with supernatural powers. They usually have an origin story, the rise of a villain, and a climactic battle at the end.
Fantasy. Fantasy dramas films are typically adventure dramas that feature fantastical elements in their plot or setting, whether magic, folklore, supernatural creatures, or other fantasy elements.
Supernatural. Supernatural dramas feature paranormal phenomena in their plots, including ghosts, mythical creatures, and mysterious or extraordinary elements. This genre may overlap with horror, fantasy, thriller, action and other genres.
Film Noir. Film noir refers to a style of American crime drama that emerged in the 1940s. These dramas often featured cynical characters who struggled, often fruitlessly, against corruption and injustice.
Thriller/Suspense. Thriller/suspense dramas have elements of suspense and mystery in their plot. They usually feature a character protagonist who must overcome obstacles while trying to solve a crime or prevent a catastrophe.
Guy Stories. Guy dramas feature men in various situations, usually humorous or comedic in nature.
Zombie . Zombie dramas are usually action/adventure dramas that involve zombies.
Animated Stories . Dramas that are depicted with drawings, photographs, stop-motion, CGI, or other animation techniques.
Documentary . Documentaries are non-fiction performances that attempt to describe actual events, topics, or people.
“Foreign.” Any drama not in the language of or involving characters/topics in your country of origin. They can also have any of the other genres listed here.
Childrens – Kids – Family-Oriented . Dramas with children of various ages as the intended audience.
Sexual – Erotic . These dramas feature explicit sexual acts but also have some kind of plot or narrative (i.e. not pornography).
Classic . Classic dramas refer to dramas performed before 1950.
Silent . Silent dramas were an early form of film that used no recorded sound.
Cult . Cult dramas are usually small-scale, independent productions with an offbeat plot, unusual characters, and/or unconventional style that have nevertheless gained popularity among a specific audience.
This list is from Harvard's Glossary of Poetic Genres who also has definitions for each genre.
Dramatic monologue
Epithalamion
Light verse
Occasional verse
Verse epistle
Now that we've looked, somewhat exhaustively, at examples of literary genres, let's consider how these genres are created.
What are the elements of literary genre? How are they formed?
Here are seven components that make up genre.
As you consider these elements, keep in mind that genre all comes back to taste, to what readers want to consume and how to match the unlimited variations of story with the infinite variety of tastes.
In the end, both readers and writers should use genre for what it is, a tool, not as something that defines you.
Writers can embrace genre, can use genre, without being controlled by it.
Readers can use genre to find stories or books they enjoy while also exploring works outside of that genre.
Genre can be incredibly fun! But only if you hold it in tension with your own work of telling (or finding) a great story.
What are your favorite genres to read in? to write in? Let us know in the comments!
Now that we understand everything there is to know about literary genres, let's put our knowledge to use with an exercise. I have two variations for you today, one for readers and one for writers.
Readers : Think of one of your favorite stories. What is the literary genre of that story? Does it have multiple? What expectations do you have about stories within that genre? Finally, how does the author of your favorite story use those expectations, and how do they subvert them?
Writers : Choose a literary genre from the list above and spend fifteen minutes writing a story using the elements of genre: form, audience, conventions and tropes, characters and archetypes, setting and time periods, story arcs, and common elements.
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Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).
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So how big does an other-genre element need to get before you call your book “cross-genre”? Right now, I’m writing a superhero team saga (which is already a challenge for platforms that don’t recognize “superhero” as a genre, since my team’s powers lie in that fuzzy land where the distinction between science and magic gets more than a little blurry), so it obviously has action/adventure in it, but it’s also sprouting thriller and mystery elements. I’m wondering if they’re big enough to plug the series to those genres.
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Many people often see a genre as the sum of textual features; for instance, a lab report includes an introduction, a description of methods, one or more sections on results and discussion, and a conclusion. Scholars in genre theory, however, suggest that there is more to genre. A genre, which includes such textual features, is also part of a genre set, and the genre set is called up by a disciplinary community’s worldview. What do the genre sets suggest about the disciplinary community’s values and beliefs? What is considered significant enough to research, and why? What constitutes valid data and sound logic, and consequently, which research methods are preferred? The answers to these questions vary, of course, depending on the discipline, but the commonality of the following genres also suggests some common values across the university.
In what follows, you’ll find the most common genres that make up most research disciplines’ genre sets. Even as these genres are usually written by graduate students and faculty, I encourage you to also consider how undergraduates are invited into the discipline when asked to write brief or otherwise altered versions of these genres.
Abstract: An abstract is a brief summary of one’s research and, if done well, will tempt readers to read more. The abstract may address the following: What is the research topic, and what does the discipline already know about this topic? What is the writer’s research question, and how will this build on existing knowledge? And how will the writer go about answering that research question? An abstract often needs to abide by strict length requirements (usually one paragraph).
Proposal or Prospectus: A proposal makes a case for one’s research project and is basically an elaborated abstract. The writer will typically (a) introduce her research question, (b) provide a rationale for why the project is needed (often based on past research), (c) describe the methods used to answer the question, (d) discuss practical matters like a timeline or budget (especially if applying for funds), and (e) conclude with the significance of the project. Each proposal, like all writing, should be tailored to its purpose and audience. The length of proposals ranges from a few pages to over thirty pages. Researchers may write proposals to justify dissertation research, to present in a conference, to earn fellowship or grant funds to pursue the research, to garner honors from a professional association, or to get a book published. A major challenge is to forecast the significance of the research before one has fully done the research.
Personal Statement: For researchers, a personal statement narrates how one’s academic inquiry has led up to her current research; the writer needs to present herself as a scholar who contributes to the discipline. Details can help the writer set herself apart from others; such details can include the questions driving the research, the projects and publications that bear out these questions, the awards and other distinctions granted to her based on such research, and so on. When revising personal statements, writers will often work hard to make seemingly separate details fit into a neat narrative and also replace vague assertions with descriptive detail.
Book Review: A book review in an academic journal will discuss the book’s relevance to a particular area of research; this is different from book reviews published in popular media. The writer will typically (a) discuss how the book responds to a pressing question in the field (possibly aligning the book with other books addressing that question), (b) give a synopsis of the book, (c) elaborate on interesting sections whether for the sake of critique or praise, and (d) point to strengths and weaknesses. A related genre is the review essay, where several books may be reviewed together. In the end, a reader of a book review will want to know what she will gain from reading the book.
Literature Review: A literature review is generally a synthesis of research on a given topic. A writer will begin by collecting research on that topic, then classify the research into subgroups (e.g., according to, for instance, dimensions of that topic or methodology or date), and then figure out her purpose. Why would a researcher write a literature review? The first reason is simply to learn about the topic. The second reason (and this is usually the challenge) is to identify a niche from which the writer can then launch her own research; maybe there’s a gap in the research, or maybe we need to explore an offshoot of earlier studies. The challenge is to not only summarize research but to stitch the research together under the writer’s purpose, which is often to assert a new research need. Note: Some disciplines refer to literature reviews as review articles (not to be confused with the book review mentioned above).
Candidacy Exam: Graduate study typically begins with coursework and proceeds with candidacy exams, a research proposal to justify the dissertation, and then dissertation research and writing. During graduate study, students learn to participate in the disciplinary community, so the writing completed for coursework can be seen as early versions of the genres above. The exam, which happens midway through a PhD program, can vary depending on the department; the exam is generally akin to the literature review and possibly the research proposal, too.
Dissertation or Thesis: A dissertation is the culmination of the graduate student’s research and may amount to several hundred pages. While the structure of a dissertation can vary widely, the writer will usually follow through on the questions initiated by the proposal. (a) What’s the research project (introduction)? (b) What’s the rationale for the project (literature review)? (c) How did the writer research this question (methods)? (d) How well does the writer describe and analyze data valued by the discipline (data and discussion)? (e) What’s the significance of this project (conclusion)? Some dissertations actually organize the chapters according to these questions, but this is not necessarily the case. Writers of dissertations will generally be challenged by the sheer volume of the project; sustaining a large project requires intellectual endurance and agility.
Conference Presentation & Poster: Each discipline—as well as specializations within that discipline—will hold conferences where researchers will share their work with one another. In order to participate in a conference, a researcher must submit a conference proposal, which usually has length restrictions. The conference will often include presentations and, at science conferences, posters. A researcher will need to consider how she will present her argument orally and even visually; the research must be clear and succinct enough that those who are within the field but are coming across the research for the first time will find the research accessible and compelling.
Journal Article & Book Chapter: An article presents one’s research in a persuasive manner by calling up the strategies of the genres discussed above. The writer will typically (a) introduce her research question, (b) provide a rationale for why the project is needed (often based on past research), (c) describe the methods used to answer the question, (d) present and analyze data, and (e) conclude with the significance of the project. Each article should be tailored to the specific journal’s interests. After completing the article, the writer submits the completed manuscript to a journal editor who may also solicit reviews from other researchers in that field; this can be an extremely competitive process, especially if the journal is a top-tier publication. Then, the editor will decide to accept the article, ask for revisions, or reject the article. (Note: This is why academic articles tend to be reliable sources even if they can be critiqued.) Oftentimes, a writer may be so immersed in the research completed for the article that she can benefit from broad questions about audience, clarity, and structure. These big picture questions can then lead her to deepen her analyses and resulting claims.
Book or Research Monograph: A book intended for an academic audience addresses the same concerns of the article, but the project needs to be rich enough to merit the length of a book. The book may be a revision of the dissertation and, like the dissertation and journal articles, challenges a writer’s intellectual endurance and agility.
[Prepared by former Writing Center Director, Haivan Hoang, November 2008]
Writing in the Disciplines (Various Genres)
Critique Writing
Literature Reviews
Job and Fellowship Applications
Research Writing
Science Writing
Writing for the Web
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This chapter uses John Swales’ definition of discourse community to explain to students why this concept is important for college writing and beyond. The chapter explains how genres operate within discourse communities, why different discourse communities have different expectations for writing, and how to understand what qualifies as a discourse community. The article relates the concept of discourse community to a personal example from the author (an acoustic guitar jam group) and an example of the academic discipline of history. The article takes a critical stance regarding the concept of discourse community, discussing both the benefits and constraints of communicating within discourse communities. The article concludes with writerly questions students can ask themselves as they enter new discourse communities in order to be more effective communicators.
Last year, I decided that if I was ever going to achieve my lifelong fantasy of being the first college writing teacher to transform into an international rock star, I should probably graduate from playing the video game Guitar Hero to actually learning to play guitar. [1] I bought an acoustic guitar and started watching every beginning guitar instructional video on YouTube. At first, the vocabulary the online guitar teachers used was like a foreign language to me—terms like major and minor chords, open G tuning, and circle of fifths. I was overwhelmed by how complicated it all was, and the fingertips on my left hand felt like they were going to fall off from pressing on the steel strings on the neck of my guitar to form chords. I felt like I was making incredibly slow progress, and at the rate I was going, I wouldn’t be a guitar god until I was 87. I was also getting tired of playing alone in my living room. I wanted to find a community of people who shared my goal of learning songs and playing guitar together for fun.
I needed a way to find other beginning and intermediate guitar players, and I decided to try a social media website called “Meetup.com.” It only took a few clicks to find the right community for me—an “acoustic jam” group that welcomed beginners and met once a month at a music store near my city of Sacramento, California. On the Meetup.com site, it said that everyone who showed up for the jam should bring a few songs to share, but I wasn’t sure what kind of music they played, so I just showed up at the next meet-up with my guitar and the basic look you need to become a guitar legend: two days of facial hair stubble, black t-shirt, ripped jeans, and a gravelly voice (luckily my throat was sore from shouting the lyrics to the Twenty One Pilots song “Heathens” while playing guitar in my living room the night before).
The first time I played with the group, I felt more like a junior high school band camp dropout then the next Jimi Hendrix. I had trouble keeping up with the chord changes, and I didn’t know any scales (groups of related notes in the same key that work well together) to solo on lead guitar when it was my turn. I had trouble figuring out the patterns for my strumming hand since no one took the time to explain them before we started playing a new song. The group had some beginners, but I was the least experienced player.
perienced player. It took a few more meet-ups, but pretty soon I figured out how to fit into the group. I learned that they played all kinds of songs, from country to blues to folk to rock music. I learned that they chose songs with simple chords so beginners like me could play along. I learned that they brought print copies of the chords and lyrics of songs to share, and if there were any difficult chords in a song, they included a visual of the chord shape in the handout of chords and lyrics. I started to learn the musician’s vocabulary I needed to be familiar with to function in the group, like beats per measure and octaves and the minor pentatonic scale . I learned that if I was having trouble figuring out the chord changes, I could watch the better guitarists and copy what they were doing. I also got good advice from experienced players, like soaking your fingers in rubbing alcohol every day for ninety seconds to toughen them up so the steel strings wouldn’t hurt as much. I even realized that although I was an inexperienced player, I could contribute to the community by bringing in new songs they hadn’t played before.
Okay, at this point you may be saying to yourself that all of this will make a great biographical movie someday when I become a rock icon (or maybe not), but what does it have to do with becoming a better writer?
You can write in a journal alone in your room, just like you can play guitar just for yourself alone in your room. But most writers, like most musicians, learn their craft from studying experts and becoming part of a community. And most writers, like most musicians, want to be a part of community and communicate with other people who share their goals and interests. Writing teachers and scholars have come up with the concept of “discourse community” to describe a community of people who share the same goals, the same methods of communicating, the same genres, and the same lexis (specialized language).
John Swales, a scholar in linguistics, says that discourse communities have the following features (which I’m paraphrasing):
I’ll use my example of the monthly guitar jam group I joined to explain these six aspects of a discourse community.
The guitar jam group had shared goals that we all agreed on. In the Meetup.com description of the site, the organizer of the group emphasized that these monthly gatherings were for having fun, enjoying the music, and learning new songs. “Guitar players” or “people who like music” or even “guitarists in Sacramento, California” are not discourse communities. They don’t share the same goals, and they don’t all interact with each other to meet the same goals.
The guitar jam group communicated primarily through the Meetup.com site. This is how we recruited new members, shared information about when and where we were playing, and communicated with each other outside of the night of the guitar jam. “People who use Meetup.com” are not a discourse community, because even though they’re using the same method of communication, they don’t all share the same goals and they don’t all regularly interact with each other. But a Meetup.com group like the Sacramento acoustic guitar jam focused on a specific topic with shared goals and a community of members who frequently interact can be considered a discourse community based on Swales’ definition.
Once I found the guitar jam group on Meetup.com, I wanted information about topics like what skill levels could participate, what kind of music they played, and where and when they met. Once I was at my first guitar jam, the primary information I needed was the chords and lyrics of each song, so the handouts with chords and lyrics were a key means of providing critical information to community members. Communication mechanisms in discourse communities can be emails, text messages, social media tools, print texts, memes, oral presentations, and so on. One reason that Swales uses the term “discourse” instead of “writing” is that the term “discourse” can mean any type of communication, from talking to writing to music to images to multimedia.
One of the most common ways discourse communities share information and meet their goals is through genres. To help explain the concept of genre, I’ll use music since I’ve been talking about playing guitar and music is probably an example you can relate to. Obviously there are many types of music, from rap to country to reggae to heavy metal. Each of these types of music is considered a genre, in part because the music has shared features, from the style of the music to the subject of the lyrics to the lexis. For example, most rap has a steady bass beat, most rappers use spoken word rather singing, and rap lyrics usually draw on a lexis associated with young people. But a genre is much more than a set of features. Genres arise out of social purposes, and they’re a form of social action within discourse communities. The rap battles of today have historical roots in African oral contests, and modern rap music can only be understood in the context of hip hop culture, which includes break dancing and street art. Rap also has social purposes, including resisting social oppression and telling the truth about social conditions that aren’t always reported on by news outlets. Like all genres, rap is not just a formula but a tool for social action.
The guitar jam group used two primary genres to meet the goals of the community. The Meetup.com site was one important genre that was critical in the formation of the group and to help it recruit new members. It was also the genre that delivered information to the members about what the community was about and where and when the community would be meeting. The other important genre to the guitar jam group were the handouts with song chords and lyrics. I’m sharing an example of a song I brought to the group to show you what this genre looks like.
This genre of the chord and lyrics sheet was needed to make sure everyone could play along and follow the singer. The conventions of this genre—the “norms”—weren’t just arbitrary rules or formulas. As with all genres, the conventions developed because of the social action of the genre. The sheets included lyrics so that we could all sing along and make sure we knew when to change chords. The sheets included visuals of unusual chords, like the Em7 chord (E minor seventh) in my example, because there were some beginner guitarists who were a part of the community. If the community members were all expert guitarists, then the inclusion of chord shapes would never have become a convention. A great resource to learn more about the concept of genre is the essay “Navigating Genres” by Kerry Dirk in volume 1 of Writing Spaces .
To anyone who wasn’t a musician, our guitar meet-ups might have sounded like we were communicating in a foreign language. We talked about the root note of scale, a 1/4/5 chord progression, putting a capo on different frets, whether to play solos in a major or minor scale, double drop D tuning, and so on. If someone couldn’t quickly identify what key their song was in or how many beats per measure the strumming pattern required, they wouldn’t be able to communicate effectively with the community members. We didn’t use this language to show off or to try to discourage outsiders from joining our group. We needed these specialized terms—this musician’s lexis—to make sure we were all playing together effectively.
If everyone in the guitar jam was at my beginner level when I first joined the group, we wouldn’t have been very successful. I relied on more experienced players to figure out strumming patterns and chord changes, and I learned to improve my solos by watching other players use various techniques in their soloing. The most experienced players also helped educate everyone on the conventions of the group (the “norms” of how the group interacted). These conventions included everyone playing in the same key, everyone taking turns playing solo lead guitar, and everyone bringing songs to play. But discourse community conventions aren’t always just about maintaining group harmony. In most discourse communities, new members can also expand the knowledge and genres of the community. For example, I shared songs that no one had brought before, and that expanded the community’s base of knowledge.
When I was an undergraduate at the University of Florida, I didn’t understand that each academic discipline I took courses in to complete the requirements of my degree (history, philosophy, biology, math, political science, sociology, English) was a different discourse community. Each of these academic fields had their own goals, their own genres, their own writing conventions, their own formats for citing sources, and their own expectations for writing style. I thought each of the teachers I encountered in my undergraduate career just had their own personal preferences that all felt pretty random to me. I didn’t understand that each teacher was trying to act as a representative of the discourse community of their field. I was a new member of their discourse communities, and they were introducing me to the genres and conventions of their disciplines. Unfortunately, teachers are so used to the conventions of their discourse communities that they sometimes don’t explain to students the reasons behind the writing conventions of their discourse communities.
It wasn’t until I studied research about college writing while I was in graduate school that I learned about genres and discourse communities, and by the time I was doing my dissertation for my PhD, I got so interested in studying college writing that I did a national study of college teachers’ writing assignments and syllabi. Believe it or not, I analyzed the genres and discourse communities of over 2,000 college writing assignments in my book Assignments Across the Curriculum . To show you why the idea of discourse community is so important to college writing, I’m going to share with you some information from one of the academic disciplines I studied: history. First I want to share with you an excerpt from a history course writing assignment from my study. As you read it over, think about what it tells you about the conventions of the discourse community of history.
This assignment requires you to play the detective, combing textual sources for clues and evidence to form a reconstruction of past events. If you took A.P. history courses in high school, you may recall doing similar document-based questions (DBQs).
In a tight, well-argued essay of two to four pages, identify and assess the historical significance of the documents in ONE of the four sets I have given you.
You bring to this assignment a limited body of outside knowledge gained from our readings, class discussions, and videos. Make the most of this contextual knowledge when interpreting your sources: you may, for example, refer to one of the document from another set if it sheds light on the items in your own.
This assignment doesn’t just represent the specific preferences of one random teacher. It’s a common history genre (the documentary analysis) that helps introduce students to the ways of thinking and the communication conventions of the discourse community of historians. This genre reveals that historians look for textual clues to reconstruct past events and that historians bring their own knowledge to bear when they analyze texts and interpret history (historians are not entirely “objective” or “neutral”). In this documentary analysis genre, the instructor emphasizes that historians are always looking for what is not said but instead is implied. This instructor is using an important genre of history to introduce students to the ways of analyzing and thinking in the discourse community of historians.
Let’s look at another history course in my research. I’m sharing with you an excerpt from the syllabus of a history of the American West course. This part of the syllabus gives students an overview of the purpose of the writing projects in the class. As you read this overview, think about the ways this instructor is portraying the discourse community of historians.
A300 is designed to allow students to explore the history of the American West on a personal level with an eye toward expanding their knowledge of various western themes, from exploration to the Indian Wars, to the impact of global capitalism and the emergence of the environmental movement. But students will also learn about the craft of history, including the tools used by practitioners, how to weigh competing evidence , and how to build a convincing argument about the past.
At the end of this course students should understand that history is socially interpreted, and that the past has always been used as an important means for understanding the present. Old family photos, a grandparent’s memories, even family reunions allow people to understand their lives through an appreciation of the past. These events and artifacts remind us that history is a dynamic and interpretive field of study that requires far more than rote memorization. Historians balance their knowledge of primary sources (diaries, letters, artifacts, and other documents from the period under study) with later interpretations of these people, places, and events (in the form of scholarly monographs and articles) known as secondary sources . Through the evaluation and discussion of these different interpretations historians come to a socially negotiated understanding of historical figures and events.
More generally, your papers should:
Just like the history instructor who gave students the documentary analysis assignment, this history of the American West instructor emphasizes that the discourse community of historians doesn’t focus on just memorizing facts, but on analyzing and interpreting competing evidence. Both the documentary analysis assignment and the information from the history of the American West syllabus show that an important shared goal of the discourse community of historians is socially constructing the past using evidence from different types of artifacts, from texts to photos to interviews with people who have lived through important historical events. The discourse community goals and conventions of the different academic disciplines you encounter as an undergraduate shape everything about writing: which genres are most important, what counts as evidence, how arguments are constructed, and what style is most appropriate and effective.
The history of the American West course is a good example of the ways that discourse community goals and values can change over time. It wasn’t that long ago that American historians who wrote about the West operated on the philosophy of “manifest destiny.” Most early historians of the American West assumed that the American colonizers had the right to take land from indigenous tribes—that it was the white European’s “destiny” to colonize the American West. The evidence early historians used in their writing and the ways they interpreted that evidence relied on the perspectives of the “settlers,” and the perspectives of the indigenous people were ignored by historians. The concept of manifest destiny has been strongly critiqued by modern historians, and one of the primary goals of most modern historians who write about the American West is to recover the perspectives and stories of the indigenous peoples as well as to continue to work for social justice for Native Americans by showing how historical injustices continue in different forms to the present day. Native American historians are now retelling history from the perspective of indigenous people, using indigenous research methods that are often much different than the traditional research methods of historians of the American West. Discourse community norms can silence and marginalize people, but discourse communities can also be transformed by new members who challenge the goals and assumptions and research methods and genre conventions of the community.
Understanding what a discourse community is and the ways that genres perform social actions in discourse communities can help you better understand where your college teachers are coming from in their writing assignments and also help you understand why there are different writing expectations and genres for different classes in different fields. Researchers who study college writing have discovered that most students struggle with writing when they first enter the discourse community of their chosen major, just like I struggled when I first joined the acoustic guitar jam group. When you graduate college and start your first job, you will probably also find yourself struggling a bit with trying to learn the writing conventions of the discourse community of your workplace. Knowing how discourse communities work will not only help you as you navigate the writing assigned in different general education courses and the specialized writing of your chosen major, but it will also help you in your life after college. Whether you work as a scientist in a lab or a lawyer for a firm or a nurse in a hospital, you will need to become a member of a discourse community. You’ll need to learn to communicate effectively using the genres of the discourse community of your workplace, and this might mean asking questions of more experienced discourse community members, analyzing models of the types of genres you’re expected to use to communicate, and thinking about the most effective style, tone, format, and structure for your audience and purpose. Some workplaces have guidelines for how to write in the genres of the discourse community, and some workplaces will initiate you to their genres by trial and error. But hopefully now that you’ve read this essay, you’ll have a better idea of what kinds of questions to ask to help you become an effective communicator in a new discourse community. I’ll end this essay with a list of questions you can ask yourself whenever you’re entering a new discourse community and learning the genres of the community:
Dirk, Kerry. “Navigating Genres.” Writing Spaces , vol. 1, edited by Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky, Parlor Press, 2010, pp. 249–262.
Guitar Hero . Harmonics, 2005.
Meetup.com . WeWork Companies Inc., 2019. www.meetup.com.
Melzer, Daniel. Assignments Across the Curriculum: A National Study of College Writing . Logan, UT: Utah State UP, 2014.
Swales, John. Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings . Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990.
Twenty One Pilots. “Heathens.” Suicide Squad: The Album , Atlantic Records, 2016.
Young, Neil. “Heart of Gold.” Harvest , Reprise Records, 1972.
Overview and teaching strategies.
This essay can be taught in conjunction with teaching students about the concept of genre and could be paired with Kerry Dirk’s essay “Navigating Genres” in Writing Spaces , volume 1. I find that it works best to scaffold the concept of discourse community by moving students from reflecting on the formulaic writing they have learned in the past, like the five-paragraph theme or the Shaffer method, to introducing them to the concept of genre and how genres are not formulas or formats but forms of social action, and then to helping students understand that genres usually operate within discourse communities. Most of my students are unfamiliar with the concept of discourse community, and I find that it is helpful to relate this concept to discourse communities students are already members of, like online gaming groups, college clubs, or jobs students are working or have worked. I sometimes teach the concept of discourse community as part of a research project where students investigate the genres and communication conventions of a discourse community they want to join or are already a member of. In this project students conduct primary and secondary research and rhetorically analyze examples of the primary genres of the discourse community. The primary research might involve doing an interview or interviews with discourse community members, conducting a survey of discourse community members, or reflecting on participant-observer research.
Inevitably, some students have trouble differentiating between a discourse community and a group of people who share similar characteristics. Students may assert that “college students” or “Facebook users” or “teenage women” are a discourse community. It is useful to apply Swales’ criteria to broader groups that students imagine are discourse communities and then try to narrow down these groups until students have hit upon an actual discourse community (for example, narrowing from “Facebook users” to the Black Lives Matter Sacramento Facebook group). In the essay, I tried to address this issue with specific examples of groups that Swales would not classify as a discourse community.
Teaching students about academic discourse communities is a challenging task. Researchers have found that there are broad expectations for writing that seem to hold true across academic discourse communities, such as the ability to make logical arguments and support those arguments with credible evidence, the ability to use academic vocabulary and write in a formal style, and the ability to carefully edit for grammar, syntax, and citation format. But research has also shown that not only do different academic fields have vastly different definitions of how arguments are made, what counts as evidence, and what genres, styles, and formats are valued, but even similar types of courses within the same discipline may have very different discourse community expectations depending on the instructor, department, and institution. In teaching students about the concept of discourse community, I want students to leave my class understanding that: a) there is no such thing as a formula or set of rules for “academic discourse”; b) each course in each field of study they take in college will require them to write in the context of a different set of discourse community expectations; and c) discourse communities can both pass down community knowledge to new members and sometimes marginalize or silence members. What I hope students take away from reading this essay is a more rhetorically sophisticated and flexible sense of the community contexts of the writing they do both in and outside of school.
The following are activities that can provide scaffolding for a discourse community analysis project. To view example student discourse community analysis projects from the first-year composition program that I direct at the University of California, Davis, see our online student writing journal at fycjournal.ucdavis.edu .
To introduce students to the concept of discourse community, I like to start with discourse communities they can relate to or that they themselves are members of. A favorite example for my students is the This American Life podcast episode that explores the Instagram habits of teenage girls, which can be found at https://www.thisamericanlife.org/573/status-update . Other examples students can personally connect to include Facebook groups, groups on the popular social media site Reddit, fan clubs of musical artists or sports teams, and campus student special interest groups. Once we’ve discussed a few examples of discourse communities they can relate to on a personal level, I ask them to list some of the discourse communities they belong to and we apply Swales’ criteria to a few of these examples as a class.
One goal of my discourse community analysis project is to help students see the relationships between genres and the broader community contexts that genres operate in. However, thinking of writing in terms of genre and discourse community is a new approach for most of my students, and I provide them with heuristic questions they can use to analyze the primary genres of the discourse community they are focusing on in their projects. These questions include:
You could choose to have the focus of students’ discourse community projects be as simple as arguing that the discourse community they chose meets Swales’ criteria and explaining why. If you want students to dig a little deeper, you can ask them to come up with research questions about the discourse community they are analyzing. For example, students can ask questions about how the genres of the discourse community achieve the goals of the community, or how the writing conventions of the discourse community have changed over time and why they have changed, or how new members are initiated to the discourse community and the extent to which that initiation is effective. Some of my students are used to being assigned research papers in school that ask them to take a side on a pro/ con issue and develop a simplistic thesis statement that argues for that position. In the discourse community analysis project, I push them to think of research as more sophisticated than just taking a position and forming a simplistic thesis statement. I want them to use primary and secondary research to explore complex research questions and decide which aspects of their data and their analysis are the most interesting and useful to report on in their projects.
Understanding Discourse Communities Copyright © 2020 by Dan Melzer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
Here's who has performed at the second night of the democratic national convention.
Sidney Madden
Rapper Common (R) and musician Jonathan McReynolds perform during the second day of the Democratic National Convention on August 20, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images hide caption
The NPR Network will be reporting live from Chicago throughout the week bringing you the latest on the Democratic National Convention .
Patti LaBelle and Common soundtrack the second night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention with performances that span generations and genres.
PLUS: Turn down for ... what?! Lil Jon helps Georgia delegation announce votes for Harris
The South Side, Chicago-hailing rapper energized the crowd of Night 2 at the convention center, performing his 2024 track “Fortunate,” adapting his lyrics to incorporate a message about Vice President Kamala Harris and being assisted on the chorus by gospel singer Jonathan McReynolds. “I thank God for this moment in time where Kamala Harris will change the world for the better with love, hope and grace,” the rapper-activist declared.
The Grammy and Academy Award-winning rap star is no stranger to the Democratic party or the White House. In 2016, “The People” wordsmith made history by performing the first and only Tiny Desk Concert within the estate.
ICYMI: Here's who performed (and who got bumped) on the first night of the DNC
Patti LaBelle also graced the stage to perform, welcomed with a standing ovation from the crows. The “New Attitude” singer, who has sung professionally for over six decades, performed her 1978 ballad “You Are My Friend” during the In Memoriam segment of the evening. The living legend conjured emotion from the crowd as she belted the lyrics, reminding fans why she’s often referred to as the “Godmother of Soul” by contemporaries and critics.This set by LaBelle comes 20 years after her last showing at the Democratic National Convention, when she dazzled a Boston audience with a cover of Sam Cooke’s freedom anthem “Change Is Gonna Come” at the 2004 DNC .
Common and LaBelle follow up a curated selection of artists from Monday night at the political gathering , country acts Mickey Guyton and Jason Isbell.
➡️ WATCH: Common: Tiny Desk Concert At The White House
➡️ WATCH: Super group August Greene: Tiny Desk Concert
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Writing 101: The 8 Common Types of Essays. Whether you're a first-time high school essay writer or a professional writer about to tackle another research paper, you'll need to understand the fundamentals of essay writing before you put pen to paper and write your first sentence.
An essay is a focused piece of writing designed to inform or persuade. There are many different types of essay, but they are often defined in four categories: argumentative, expository, narrative, and descriptive essays. Argumentative and expository essays are focused on conveying information and making clear points, while narrative and ...
The four main types of writing. In many of the online resources you'll find about the types of essays, you'll find references to the four main types of writing: Persuasive. Descriptive. Narrative. Expository. These aren't four specific types of essays, but four distinct methods of communicating an essay's theme.
Within the field of writing, there are four main genres: descriptive, persuasive, expository, and narrative. When generating a piece of academic writing, the author may utilize skills from any of the four genres, and within each of these categories, specific types of academic assignments may be presented. This page provides an overview of each ...
This handout includes a brief introduction to the following genres of essay writing: The Modes of Discourse—Exposition, Description, Narration, Argumentation (EDNA)—are common paper assignments you may encounter in your writing classes. Although these genres have been criticized by some composition scholars, the Purdue OWL recognizes the ...
AI Tools to enhance your academic writing. SciSpace Copilot - AI research assistant. Literature Review. Paraphraser. AI Detector. Citation Generator. Academic writing includes different types of essays for students. This article gives a short summary of the 7 types of essays you often find in academic writing.
Though you're likely not to encounter every single type of essay that exists, sometimes it's necessary to know about them. Learn about 15 different types here.
An essay is a paper that discusses, describes or analyzes one topic. It can discuss a subject directly or indirectly, seriously or humorously. It can describe personal opinions, or just report information. An essay can be written from any perspective, but essays are most commonly written in the first person (I), or third person (subjects that can be substituted with the he, she, it, or they ...
Within the field of writing, there are four main genres: descriptive, persuasive, expository, and narrative. When generating a piece of academic writing, the author may utilize skills from any of the four genres, and within each of these categories, specific types of academic assignments may be presented. This page provides an overview of each ...
The purpose of an argumentative essay is to persuade readers on a certain point of view, opinion, or position on a topic. It requires you to identify key issues, present the common or existing arguments about the issues, evaluate evidence behind these arguments and argue why your position on the topic is more convincing or stronger than the opposing view.
Expository writing is the most common kinds of essays for middle and high school levels. These academic essay genres intend to test the student's understanding of the subject and composition skills. Expository essay writing styles are helpful in school and teach the student how to express any issue in their own words. 3) Descriptive Essay
AU is Canada's Open University, offering open and flexible distance learning with world-class online courses, undergraduate and graduate degree programs, and professional development options. Your guide for genres common to academic writing, with examples for each.
Multimodal genres are uniquely positioned to address audiences through a variety of modes, or types of communication.These can be identified in the following categories: Linguistic text: The most common mode for writing, the linguistic mode includes written or spoken text.. Visuals: The visual mode includes anything the reader can see, including images, colors, lighting, typefaces, lines ...
Genres of Writing. We use the term genres to describe categories of written texts that have recognizable patterns, syntax, techniques, and/or conventions. This list represents genres students can expect to encounter during their time at Duke. The list is not intended to be inclusive of all genres but rather representative of the most common ...
A research paper is the culmination and final product of an involved process of research, critical thinking, source evaluation, organization, and composition. It is, perhaps, helpful to think of the research paper as a living thing, which grows and changes as the student explores, interprets, and evaluates sources related to a specific topic.
Argumentative writing is a type of academic essay. In this, the writer breaks down an idea into its parts and then offers evidence for each part. ... Most Common Types of Writing Genres That You Should Know Descriptive Writing . In Descriptive writing, the author writes about every aspect of the person, place, or event and describes all aspects ...
Writing genres (more commonly known as literary genres) are categories that distinguish literature (including works of prose, poetry, drama, hybrid forms, etc.) based on some set of stylistic criteria. Sharing literary conventions, they typically consist of similarities in theme/topic, style, tropes, and storytelling devices; common settings ...
Common Examples of Genre. Genres could be divided into four major categories which also have further sub-categories. The four major categories are given below. ... Prose: It could be further categorized into sub-genres or sub-categories such as essays, narrative essays, descriptive essays, autobiography, biographical writings, and so on.
LGBTQ+. LGBTQ+ novels are those that feature characters who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or otherwise non-heterosexual. Literary Fiction. Literary fiction novels or stories have a high degree of artistic merit, a unique or experimental style of writing, and often deal with serious themes.
Graduate study typically begins with coursework and proceeds with candidacy exams, a research proposal to justify the dissertation, and then dissertation research and writing. During graduate study, students learn to participate in the disciplinary community, so the writing completed for coursework can be seen as early versions of the genres above.
Writing in the Disciplines (Various Genres) Brief Guides to Writing in the Disciplines from Harvard University - Includes downloadable writing guides for History, Philosophy, English, and Psychology; Genres of Writing from Duke University - Offers guides for the many genres you may encounter while writing in college, including annotated bibliographies, creative writing, ethnography ...
A great resource to learn more about the concept of genre is the essay "Navigating Genres" by Kerry Dirk in volume 1 of Writing Spaces. A Specific Lexis (Specialized Language) ... It's a common history genre (the documentary analysis) that helps introduce students to the ways of thinking and the communication conventions of the discourse ...
Patti LaBelle and Common will soundtrack the second night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention with performances that span generations and genres.
A Guide to 14 Literary Genres. Fiction refers to a story that comes from a writer's imagination, as opposed to one based strictly on fact or a true story. In the literary world, a work of fiction can refer to a short story, novella, and novel, which is the longest form of literary prose. Every work of fiction falls into a sub-genre, each with ...