English class

ENG 130 Module One Reading Response Template Interviewing the Text

Complete this template by replacing the bracketed text with the relevant information.

Choose the text you will use for your project. Then, explain why you chose that text: [Insert text.]

Identify the topic of the text: [Insert text.]

Identify the genre of the text: [Insert text.]

Describe the writer’s purpose: [Insert text.]

Determine the historical context of the text: [Insert text.]

Determine the cultural context of the text: [Insert text.]

Identify the core idea of the text: [Insert text.]

Identify details of the text that are relevant to the core idea: [Insert text.]

Introduction

These resources will help you learn how to explain a writer’s choices in relation to genre, audience, purpose, and subject. They will also help you learn how to identify an audience for a specific writing situation. 

Required Resources

Click the link(s) to complete the assigned readings within Macmillan Achieve: 

Textbook: How to Write Anything, Chapter 2, “Understand Subgenres” section  This section explores subgenres. Within each major genre, there are specialized variations called subgenres. Within the narrative genre, for instance, there are not just narratives in general but personal narratives, mystery narratives, historical narratives, and so forth. Some of the genres you are learning about in this course include reports, evaluations, and explanations, all of which use analytical skills. This section will help you complete this week’s assignments. As you read, consider the following: 

• How many types of reports have you seen or heard of? 
• How many ways are there to evaluate something have you experienced? 

Textbook: How to Write Anything, Chapter 3  This chapter explores audiences. When you select an audience, you must imagine who needs the information you are gathering for them. Instead of a general “everyone” audience, you need a sense of who can put the information to use, whether in action or in their way of thinking. This chapter will help you complete this week’s assignments and identify the audiences for your project. As you read, consider the following: 

• What attributes should you take into account when selecting an audience? 

Textbook: How to Write Anything, “ Determining Your Audience” section  Knowing your audience and understanding how the audience influences your writing choices are key aspects of writing. This section explores the process of determining the audience for written work. It will help you complete this week’s assignments and identify the audiences for your project. As you read, consider the following: 

• Why is it important to know your audience? 
• What aspects of writing are influenced by the audience’s expectations? 
• What are some questions that can help you determine possible audiences for a written work? 

Video: Introduction to Audience and Writing Situations (2:40)  This video explores audience and writing situations. It may help you complete this week’s assignments and understand the requirements of your project. As you watch, consider the following: 

• How does the culture of the writer form part of the writing situation? 
• What are the elements of a writing situation? 
• How does the audience relate to the writing situation? 

Genre, Audience, and Writing Situation 

This week, you will continue unpacking your selected text by exploring the concepts of genre, audience, purpose, and subject. 

Identifying the genre

Being able to recognize genre is a helpful tool for sorting various kinds of texts and information. Also, once you better understand genre, you can start to unpack the concept of audience and purpose. All three are closely related. 

Imagine you are trying to find an article online about how to fix your kitchen faucet. There are all kinds of videos out there on kitchen faucets; some are instructional, some are trying to sell you something, some are informative. If you want to fix the faucet, you will be looking for a certain kind of article, namely an instructional one. Knowing what you are looking for will help you sort through all the articles to find the one you need. 

Key questions: 

• What kind of writing does the article remind you of? 
• What are some of the typical aspects of this kind of writing? 
• How does the style, format, and tone help you to identify the genre? 

Identifying Audience

Being able to identify both the audience of a piece of writing and your own audience as a writer is an important skill, both in academic settings and in everyday life. 

Think about the instructions for fixing your faucet again. Imagine you find an instructional video on faucet fixing, but it was made by a plumber for plumbers. You may not be a plumber. The video might go too quickly for you, or the instructions might include the use of tools you do not own. Now imagine you find a video made for people without any experience with plumbing. The video might go slower and might describe some alternative tools that are more likely to be found around the house. The genre of these videos is the same, but the audience is different. 

Imagine you have to write an email to your supervisor explaining the need to purchase some equipment. In this case, your literal audience is your supervisor. Now imagine that you have to send the same email to someone who reports to you. How might the email change, based on who you are writing to? 

Every text has multiple audiences. Who do you think the author is writing for? Is there a specific group that the author is trying to convey their message to? 

As you think about audience, consider how the genre might impact the audience. Think about movie genres. What might we assume about the audience of a comedy? What might we assume about the audience of a hard-hitting documentary? What might genre tell us about our audience? 

Finally, think about how the author attempts to connect with the audience. Does the author use facts, colorful stories, humor, citations of credible sources? What strategies does the author employ to draw in the audience and keep them reading? 

Key questions: 

• Who do you think the author is writing for? 
• Is there a specific group that the author is trying to convey their message to? 
• How does the author attempt to connect with the audience? 
• Does the author use facts, colorful stories, humor, citations of credible sources? 
• What strategies does the author employ to draw in the audience and keep them reading? 

Identifying the Purpose and Subject

In addition to genre and audience, each text has a purpose and subject. The purpose is often related to genre. For example, the purpose of a comedy is often to entertain. For an analysis essay, the purpose is to provide an explanation of a specific work. The purpose is different from the subject. The subject, also known as the topic, is simply what the text is about. If we are looking at movie comedies, the subject might be a wedding, but the purpose is entertainment. 

Key questions: 

• What is the author trying to do in the article? 
• What is the author’s underlying message? 

Writing Situation

The writing situation is what we have when we combine genre, purpose, subject, and audience. The writer of the text and the context in which it was written also form part of the writing situation. All these elements are present when something is written. Together, they influence both the writing and each other. Thinking about the writing situation of the texts you read will help you better understand the writer’s ideas. Thinking about the writing situation for your own writing will help you make writing choices to meet the needs of your audience. 

Key questions: 

• How is the purpose different from the subject? 
• How are the purpose and the genre related? 
• How are the purpose, subject, and audience related? 

Key Concepts

The following are the key concepts to consider as you work on this module: 

• Genre is the type of writing. A few genres are report, argument, and explanation, but there are also genres in our daily lives, such as film genres. Knowing the genre of a written text helps us to know what to expect. 
  • What might be the genre of the article you chose to analyze? 
• The audience is the group of people who the writing is written for. A text can be intended for multiple audiences. 
  • Who might the writer of the article you chose to analyze have intended to address? 
• The writing situation includes the genre, audience, purpose, and subject. 
  • What was the writing situation of the article you chose to analyze? 

Module Two Reading Response Guidelines and Rubric

Overview

In this assignment, you will continue to work with the text you chose for the project. Like the reading response you completed last week, this activity will guide you in analyzing key aspects of the text. This assignment will prepare you to explain the writer’s choices in relation to the genre of the text and explain the writer’s choices in relation to audience, purpose, and/or subject of the text. It will also prepare you to identify an audience for the second version of your paper, describe the needs of that audience, and describe the needs of the writing situation for the second version of your paper.

Directions

For this assignment, you will address prompts about the audience and writing situation in relation to genre, core idea, and purpose using the template linked in the What to Submit section.

Specifically, you must address the following regarding your chosen text:

1. Identify a possible primary audience of the text.
   1. On the basis of the core idea and purpose of the text, who do you think could be the primary audience of the text?
   2. Remember that in this assignment, you are thinking about who the writer of your chosen text might have intended to address, not the audiences that you will address in your project.
2. Identify other possible audiences for the text.
   1. What are other possible audiences for the text?
3. Explain why both possible audiences (primary and other) are appropriate regarding the genre of the text.
   1. Why are the audiences appropriate considering the genre of the text?
4. Explain why both possible audiences (primary and other) are appropriate regarding the writing situation of the text.
   1. Why are those audiences appropriate considering the writing situation of the text?
5. Describe how the writer attracts and guides the audience.
   1. How does the writer capture the attention of the audience?
   2. How does the writer guide the audience in the text?

What to Submit

Submit your completed Module Two Reading Response Template for grading. Although you will refer to your selected text in your assignment, you will not refer to any sources from outside this course.

Supporting Materials

The following resources will support your work on this assignment:

Student Exemplar: Module Two Reading Response Exemplar This is an example of a completed reading response template for this assignment. You may want to use this as a guide when addressing the rubric criteria for this assignment.

Module Two Reading Response Rubric

Criteria	Proficient (100%)	Needs Improvement (75%)	Not Evident (0%)	Value
Possible Primary Audience	Identifies a possible primary audience of the text	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include identifying a possible primary audience based on the core idea and purpose of the text	Does not attempt criterion	18
Other Possible Audiences	Identifies other possible audiences for the text	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include identifying a different audience from the one identified as the primary audience	Does not attempt criterion	18
Appropriate Regarding Genre	Explains why both possible audiences are appropriate regarding the genre of the text	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include making connections between each possible audience and the genre of the text	Does not attempt criterion	18
Appropriate Regarding Writing Situation	Explains why both possible audiences are appropriate regarding the writing situation of the text	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include making connections between each possible audience and the writing situation of the text	Does not attempt criterion	18
Attracts and Guides the Audience	Describes how the writer attracts and guides the audience	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include describing how the writer captures the attention of the audience or describing how the writer guides the audience in the text	Does not attempt criterion	18
Clear Communication	Consistently and effectively communicates in an organized way to a specific audience	Shows progress towards proficiency, but communication is inconsistent or ineffective in a way that negatively impacts understanding	Shows no evidence of consistent, effective, or organized communication	10
Total:	100%