You no doubt are familiar with the word genre in terms of movies (comedy, action, horror) or music (hip-hop, folk, punk rock). But genre is also used to describe forms of writing, such as research projects, personal narratives, and lab reports. Genres and media are not the same—the genre of a research project or promotional flyer might be created using either digital or print media, for example—but some genres are tied closely to specific media, so the two categories are related.

The pages in this section will ask you to think about genre and media choices for your academic writing.

Note: Many students find it easier to focus if they work through the lesson in full-screen view (click on the double-sided arrow at the top right of this page ).