In addition to your assignment and your writing situation, think about the tools you can use to write and design your document. In some cases, you might lack the tools necessary to create a particular genre. Lack of access to a particular type of software or a computer or tablet powerful enough to run that software might work against a decision to develop a multimodal essay or a Web page. Similarly, lack of access to a color printer might work against creating a colorful brochure or flyer.

Your choice of genre might also be influenced — in a more positive way — by what you know how to do. If you have experience using desktop publishing programs such as Microsoft Publisher or Adobe InDesign, you’ll have far more options for creating a polished print or digital document. Similarly, you can create Web pages if you know how to use a Web editing program such as Adobe Dreamweaver or are familiar with online Web page creation tools such as Google Sites.

As you consider your writing resources, keep in mind the wide range of documents that can be created using widely available word-processing and presentation tools such as Word, Pages, Keynote, and PowerPoint. These programs include templates that you can use to create a variety of genres.