Academic Discourse and Genre

This blog entry will be about the genres included in the Elsevier Journal entry from the previous blog post.

1. How many different kinds of genres seem to be published in this particular issue of the journal you selected? (Remember, genres are usually identifiable by their form, content, techniques and/or social function.)

      There were at least five different genres intertwined into an issue of the Elsevier Journal.  

2. If you don't know the 'official' names for these different genres, come up with names for the yourself. Identify at least three different genres within the journal issue and describe the significant formal differences between the three genres?

~"A multi-genre paper arises from research, experience, and imagination. It is not an uninterrupted, expository monolog nor a seamless narrative nor a collection of poems. A multi-genre paper is composed of many genres and subgenres, each piece self-contained, making a point of its own, yet connected by theme or topic and sometimes by language, images, and content. In addition to many genres, a multi-genre paper may also contain many voices, not just the author's. The trick is to make such a paper hang together." (Romano, Blending Genre, Altering Style)~

Example of the Journal Entry from "Knowledge Management
in dementia care networks: qualitative analysis of successful
 information and support strategies for people with
dementia living at home and their family caregivers" 

• Journal Entry: The genre of "journal entry" is important because this is where the publication was placed for people to read the research essay.  Without the journal as a part of the genre, the research essay may not have been read or discovered by the audiences that it was written for in the first place.  The journal is the gateway to the audiences.  If the people are interested in public health research and discoveries, then the Public Health Journal, Elsevier, would be an appropriate place for a research essay like this to be published. The journals are designed specifically to attract a certain audience, so that is the significant formal difference between this genre and another one.  
• Case Study: The case study is an important genre for this research essay because it shows the analysis and experimental part of the publication that the whole research essay is based off of.  Without the case study genre, there would have been nothing to back up what the researchers were saying in their conclusions and their introductions.  The case study shows the evidence and the scientific part of the exploration of the relationship between the at-home caregiver and the patient through the people that they studied for their case study. 
• Diagram with Explanation and Analysis: There were of course diagrams and graphs to show the information along with words that explain the importance of those.  The significant parts of these diagrams with explanation and analysis is that the evidence and the information of the research essay are clearly presented for the audience in a nice diagram that could be easily interpreted.  However, there are also clear explanations and analyses of why those statistics are an important part of their research for the Public Health Journal. 

3. Now come up with your own definition for each genre (using the name you coined, if you weren't sure what the 'official' name is for the genre). Be sure to explain what you perceive to be the purpose of each genre and how each genre might meet the needs and expectations of a target audience.

• Journal Entry: A booklet filled with several recordings of information that pertain to a similar broad topic.  For example, the Elsevier Journal consists of Public Health information and scientific findings.  The purpose is to inform and explain the importance of these findings.  Journal entries are good for those who are interested in that specific topic at a higher level that one might find in a newspaper or a social media site.  It is scientifically backed information that was highly researched and analyzed.  
• Case Study: A process or a recording of research that detailed amounts of consideration in order to develop evidence for a specific person, group, or situation over a period of time.  The purpose of the case study genre is to be able to show the evidence necessary to back up the scientific claim behind the research and conclusions.  The case study proves what the scientists did to a group, or specific person over a period of time and what these scientists found after their examinations and research.  The case study is targeted to the audiences that want to make sure that the information they are reading and getting is completely legitimate and not just made up.  The audience expects real research and experiments to have been done to prove that their claims are not merely just claims, but proven claims. 
• Diagram with Explanation and Analysis: A simplified drawing/graph that shows the reader the workings of something in a clear and labeled fashion.   In order for the diagram with explanation and analysis genre to work with this journal entry, it was important that the diagram is clearly labeled and easy to understand if the reader wants to just skim the article and get the main facts.  The diagram provides an easy way of accessing the information that is described more in detail in the wordy part of the journal entry, but the diagram makes that information more clear.  It is a graphical/ visual representation of information that pertains to the journal entry itself.  So the target audience are people that are highly educated on the ideas of dementia, in this case, and just want to skim through the essay and get the logistics and statistics of the research that was being conducted.  

Case Study Example from "Knowledge Management in dementia care networks: 
a qualitative analysis of successful information and support strategies for 
people with dementia living at home and their family caregivers"