English 327 Genre Analysis Chart Fall 2005

Name:

The purpose of this worksheet is to help you analyze a workplace document in order to determine some of the features of it as a genre. The information from part 1 of this worksheet should help you develop a definition of workplace literacy in part two. This definition will be a rough draft of a piece of your project 2 paper on workplace literacy. You will need to include this document with your polished draft of your paper along with the document you are analyzing.

Part 1: Directions

In each column, write a description of that genre feature. Use information from the document itself (e.g. quotes, page numbers, etc.) that clearly demonstrate what you are describing.

Name of Genre: / Description
audience
Who are the audiences for this document?
List primary, secondary, and hidden audiences. What is the author(s) relationship to the audience?
purpose
What is the purpose of this type of document? What actions do people take based on this document? (There can be more than one purpose.)
organization
How is the information in this document organized? Is it persuasive? Argumentative? Informational? Directive?
style
What is the style of the language of this document? Is it highly formal, academic, journalistic, conversational, full of jargon? What features make it so?
format
How is the document formatted? Does it have special characters? Images? Headings? (Note anything that deviates from your standard academic paper.) Why might it be formatted this way?

Part 2: Directions

Review the information that you have above. Then, using your knowledge from the discussions we’ve had about literacy, create a definition of workplace literacy that fits the context of this particular document. You will want to include in the description:

  1. Description of what makes a literate worker (someone who can access, evaluate and use communications in this workplace).
  2. Literate practices (what types of things do literate workers do that demonstrates their literacy)
  3. Genres used (this should focus primarily on the genre you’ve described about. This will be your example that will help you argue that your definition is a valid one)
  4. Process for acquiring literacy (how a worker develops the special literacy needed to be functional in this type of workplace)

Your paper will argue for the accuracy and value of this definition.

Tip: (You may wish to refer to the readings and their various definitions of literacy as well as definitions from your own research for previous class work.)

Definition:

1