Genre Analysis in Dissertation – Purpose and Benefits

Photo of author
Written By Andrew Smith

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur pulvinar ligula augue quis venenatis. 

Undergraduate students think that writing a dissertation is all about reading and paraphrasing text to complete the words required to make a dissertation. This is not the case in reality. Dissertation composition is actually an extensive writing task asking students to learn the grammatical rules, know the purpose of writing different sections and get full command of the analytical approaches. This article aims to introduce you to a relatively less common type of analysis- Genre Analysis in dissertation, so you can become an academic writing expert.

Genre- An overview:

As far as genre analysis is concerned, it is important to first understand the meaning of the term ‘genre’. Basically, the term ‘genre’ refers to the different texts that share the same features. It is organised in a similar way to target the same group of a community. Textbooks, scholarly articles, lab reports, and dissertations are different genres of academic writing, though the genre may also be in audio or video content. More specifically, if you are fond of reading or watching horror novels or movies, then ‘horror’ is the category that directly refers to the genre of the content.

Genre Analysis:

After reviewing the meaning of the word ‘genre’, it will become easy for you to understand the concept of genre analysis. It is basically the process of identifying a genre’s organisation, audience, language, and purpose. In order words, it is the process of understanding the discourse community concepts. Both multimedia and traditional review of documents are part of this analysis. Thus, when we conduct this type of analysis in academics, we look at the different forms of text in different discourse communities.

Purpose:

The main purpose of this analysis is to identify the themes of writing. Different genres of writing demand writers to write in a different style or tone. Let’s take the example of a dissertation which comprises five chapters. Though the purpose of all these chapters is to note down the highlights of a research project, we still need to adopt different writing styles or tones, and genre analysis is helpful in drafting each section appropriately.

Benefits:

Genre analysis gives great advantages to the researchers; it allows the readers to understand how the form and perception of content can be maximised by the style of presentation of information. In Dissertation Writing Birmingham, though the main topic of discussion remains the same throughout the thesis, it still helps researchers draft different chapters signifying different aspects and serving different purposes in different styles.

Ways to conduct Genre analysis:

To begin with the genre analysis, you must have a valid template that can be obtained by consulting authentic dissertation writing services. Reviewing more than one piece of a dissertation based on the same genre can help you achieve some extra miles. If you are conducting a whole dissertation by conducting genre analysing tasks, then the steps to follow will be different. This task asks you to consider two different genres on the same topic of interest. It includes the techniques to differentiate between different genres and know the distinguishing factors between them. To start on the process, you should make four different matrices to compare and contrast the content, structure, rhetorical issues, and style. However, dealing with the following questions will help you know how to take the right start.

  • Who is the intended audience?
  • Who will be the discourse community?
  • What does an audience actually want to know?
  • What is the purpose of presenting information in each genre?
  • How much time an audience is agreed to spend with the information presented in different genres?

After deciding on the purpose of the task, the next step must be to focus on its four different matrices.

  • Rhetorical issues: It is the brief description of pathos, logos, and ethos. In simple words, taking the emotions, credibility, and authenticity concerns into consideration are among the most important issues to cater here.
  • Structure: It refers to the way in which the information is shaped by using appropriate words. Simply, it helps you to understand how genres are organised to convey messages.
  • Style: It is all about knowing the tone ideal to convey a message. It may include identifying whether the style is formal or informal.
  • Synthesis: The conclusion is based on answers to all the above-mentioned aspects. It also involve to add a comment on the discourse of the genre.

Final Thoughts:

In a nutshell, conducting genre analysis refers to a process that passes through multiple stages. States include choosing two or more genres, making a list of questions, giving a conclusion, and keeping the tone formal throughout the dissertation. To know more about the genre analysis, you must stay connect with us to read upcoming blogs.

More

Leave a Comment