Analyzing My Genre

I took a look at two similar genres as possiblities of the style my public argument would be written in. I think I will write a mixture of the super formal, in depth, factually written that the articles in the Economist resemble and the slightly less formal, more personable writing of the New York Times editorial section. These two genres are fitting for my style of writing and I want to emulate two genres that have produced a lot of good writing and important subjects.

Purwanto, Yan Arief. "Journalist on duty" 09/19/2007 via flickr.com Attribution-Alike 2.0 Generic

Example 1.

Example 2.

Example 3.

Example 4.

Example 5.

Social Context:

• The genre is typically set in a news driven and fact based world. The editorial portions of the New York Times is written to provide opinions from respected individuals about divisive topics. While the Economists writes analytical articles about important political and economic leaders, events that have an impact on on the economy and any future events that may impact economic security.
• The subject of the New York Times can be anything but is typically regulated to US news, World news, Political news, Economic news and topics concerning science. While the Economist speaks about all the subjects above it puts an economic analytical spin on their articles.
• This genre is used by journalists to get their work out to the masses. The readers are informed, educated, educated individuals interested in the news and the economy.
• This genre is used on a monthly to daily basis to convey the news to its readers. The people who reader the New York Times and the Economist are using to be more informed and in some cases make investment decisions based off of a subject they read about in the two mediums.

Rhetorical Patterns of the Genre

• The content included is a mixture of facts from both sides of the argument, quotes from leaders of the different factions involved in the argument and analysis of the situation through the viewpoint of the author or authors. What is typically excluded is uninformed opinions about the topic for example there is little mention of social media posts from insignificant people about a certain subject.
• The most prevalent rhetorical appeal in the Economist is logos. The articles are shaped around providing factual evidence to convince the reader of a certain analysis of a situation. Little emotional appeal is used probably due to the English writing style. The New York Times editorials, however, the style and rhetorical appeals that are used in the writing really depends on the writer and their is a lot of variation between editorials.
• In both genres the text open up in a similar way. They present the subject and delve into the meat of the subject and their opinion or analysis of the subject. The conclusion in the New York Times articles is a little more pronounced and long winded for the most part while the Economist has simple, concise conclusions to the articles.
• The sentences obviously vary throughout all the examples. Simple, complex and complex compound sentences are used by the authors of both genres to convey their point. So not a lot of difference in style between the two. The New York Times editorials is for the most part active in telling the reader their opinion; while, the analysis of the Economist uses is subdued and implicit. There is a lack of exclamation points and rhetorical questions in both genres do to the professional tone both institutions demand from their writing.
• The word choice is professional but easy to understand. There is definitely a lack of ten dollar words which makes it easy for a casual reader to understand even though the sentence structure can be complex. The word choice is formal but not academic in the Economist and in the New York Times the editorials can be humorous at times but formal as well. 

Analyze What those Patterns Reveal about the Social Context of the Genre

• Both genres include world news events in the political, economic and scientific realms of life but for the most exclude popular culture analysis or opinions and only on rare occasions do an article on a pop star.
• The writers encourage analysis, understanding and want their readers to engage in the text especially in the editorials for the New York Times.
• There is a knowledge of economic understanding assumed when reading the Economist and the New York Times editorials can assume the reader agrees with their political views depending on the writer those views can be different but it is mostly a liberal lean.
• The most valuable content for the Economist is economic policy and political policy changing to affect the economy. The least valuable is pop culture happenings such Ariana Grande dumps her boyfriend, etc. The most valuable content for the New York Times is any political, economic, social or any other type of problem that is important and an individual needs to write an opinion piece about. Again, unimportant pop culture happenings are rarely written about as they are not important.