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.

Understanding genre conventions

A genre is a form of communication used to achieve a particular purpose. An annotated bibliography, for example, lists and comments on potential sources for a research project. Over time, genres develop conventions—such as the types of content, rhetorical strategies, and kinds of language used. Most audiences begin to expect those conventional features in the genre. But genres are not cookie-cutter templates. They are flexible and develop over time.

As an academic writer, you’ll encounter genres both familiar and new. Even when a genre at first seems familiar, you may find new expectations or conventions at different levels of education, in different academic disciplines, or even in different classrooms, so you’ll want to look closely at any genre you are considering for a writing project.

Analyzing features of genres

If you are not sure what kind of text you are supposed to write, ask your instructor for clarification and examples. (Some examples may also be available at your school’s writing center.) You may want to find multiple examples so that you can develop a sense of how different writers approach the same writing task. Another strategy is to discuss the assignment with a few classmates or a writing center tutor. You may find the help you need, and you may see that you are not the only one struggling to understand the assignment. Look carefully at the samples to make sure you understand the conventional expectations, and ask questions like these about the genre’s typical features.

Preparing to work in a genre

Think carefully about what you’ll need to do to write successfully in this genre. Plan ahead to allow the amount of time necessary for composing your text, and make sure that you understand limitations—such as delivery time (for a presentation) or word count—for the length of the final product. Consider the media you will need to use, and make sure you have access to any technology required—and any training necessary to use it well. If the genre will require you to conduct interviews, seek permissions, or otherwise contact or collaborate with other people, allow time to find appropriate people and work with them effectively. Do you need to make any other preparations to create a text that fulfills the demands of the genre?

Choosing multimodal genres and media for academic work

Much college writing is still done on paper in traditional genres, but this is changing. You may be asked, or may be able to choose, to create multimodal writing using audio, video, images, and words as well as written-word projects. When you are able to make decisions about media for a project, make sure that your choices are appropriate for your topic, purpose, audience, and genre. You may start off planning to write a traditional print-based academic essay and then discover as you proceed that a different genre or medium may offer more effective ways to communicate your point. One student, Will Rogers, who had been assigned to write an essay about something on campus that most students and faculty took for granted, focused on a giant crane being used in the construction of a new building complex. His research involved finding out all he could about the crane. When he interviewed the crane’s operator, he got hooked: the operator was eighteen and had left his first year in college to take this job. The student found the operator’s story so compelling that he decided that it would work better—and be more powerful—as a video. That way, viewers could actually see the crane operator and hear his voice as he described the decisions he had made. The result: a three-minute documentary called “Crane Man” for which the student did all the writing, filming, and editing.

Translating work from one genre or medium to another

You may be asked to create a work in one genre or medium, such as a print-based research project, and translate it to another type of writing, such as a multimedia presentation, podcast, or scrapbook. Such translations may not be as straightforward as they seem. Just as filmmakers may omit content, streamline plot, and conflate characters when they create a movie version of a book, developing a solid thesis and supporting it effectively may require different strategies if you are turning a paper-based work into a video, a PowerPoint presentation, or some digital form.

Click here to see a student essay converted into a multimedia presentation.

Talking the Talk: Genre names