Throughout this semester, I have learned more about genre than I have my entire educational career. I have been challenged to view genre in a different light and consider the boundaries in which it entails. I have approached the definition of genre with an open mind and have even changed my mind to what genre means to me. Genre is no longer bound to what it I usually defined it as, to categorize objects or items into groups. With a new, broader definition I can apply genre to anything in my daily life by representing or categorizing a composition. Genre can tell a lot about a piece of work, they way it is presented, performed, and constructed. Similarly, the rhetorical situation is equally important as it is the context in which you compose, the type of genre you choose, and that greatly affects your audience.

     In my first paper, I hadn’t had a tight grasp on the varying definition of genre and while I still believe in the argument I made in my first paper, after reading it again, I have gained a new perspective. Transferring this knowledge to my second and third papers, I can see a tremendous difference in my approach to the subject. For my second paper, I chose to research Silicon Valley and whether or not the tech-capital brings as many benefits and resources as other tech-capitals of the world. In my third paper, I created a composition to use three different types of genre to relay the information of my second paper in a different manner. This was a very difficult task as you must heavily consider the rhetorical situation and how it will affect your audience before choosing which genres to use.

     I eventually chose to use a brochure, a satirical article and a poster to coincide with three different perspectives most people take on Silicon Valley. The brochure was used to target and represent those who positively perceive Silicon Valley, the satirical article was chosen for those who see Silicon Valley in a negative light, and the poster was used to balance out the two views. Before choosing which genres I wanted to use to depict the perspectives, I used several assignments to help prepare myself.

     In choosing my research topic and how to divide the genre remediations, I heavily referred to journal #4 to go back to why I had the interest to write about technology and Silicon Valley. Likewise, the research proposal helped me organize the paper as well as recognize the perspective pattern that many of my sources were taking. Lastly, one of the most beneficial assignments was the genre scenarios activity we did in class. By composing a piece of work for different and various scenarios, it quickly brought to my attention the importance of writing to a specific audience. Although the in class assignments aided me in my direction and preparation for my second and third papers, some outside works helped me in a broader field. A film presentation I created earlier in the semester focused on the genre of film and gave me another scenario to apply my newfound definition of genre and see how genre can relate outside of our class.

     Overall, ENC 2135 has reinforced many of the writing skills I have learned over the course of my school years, but most importantly has introduced to me the importance of the genre and the rhetorical situation of composing. Throughout my lifetime I will be writing whether it is research papers, essay, reports, or articles and the concepts I have learned will transfer to everything that I continue to do. I will benefit for the rest of my college years by remembering genre and the importance of audience.