Academic Writing
Genres in academic writing
Introduction
Students are asked to write many different kinds of texts. Depending on your subject, these could be essays, laboratory reports, case-studies, book reviews, reflective diaries, posters, research proposals, and so on and are normally referred to as genres. These different genres, though, can be constructed from a small range of different text types.
If, for example, you are asked to write an essay to answer the following question:
Discuss possible solutions to the problem of international credit control.
You could answer it in the following way:
- Define credit control, say what it is and give an example;
- Explain why international credit control is a problem in business today, and support your explanation by evidence from your reading;
- Describe some possible solutions to the problem of credit control in an international context. Again support your suggestions with evidence from your reading;
- Describe the advantages and disadvantages of each of the possible solutions;
- Decide which solution you would prefer and give reasons.
So in order to answer the question you need to be able to write texts to do the following:
- Define
- Give an example
- Explain why
- Support your explanation with evidence
- Describe a solution
- Describe advantages and disadvantages
- Choose
- Explain why
Bruce (2008) calls these various texts cognitive genres, but I have called them Rhetorical Functions: see: Writing Functions.
Here, we will pull together these different functional text types to show how the larger genres (or part genres) you are expected to write can be constructed from these shorter functional texts.
But, first you need to decide which genre you are expected to write. Which genre am I expected to write? Which Genre?
- Essays – Writing Essays
- Reports – Writing Reports
- Case Studies – Writing Case-Studies
- Research proposals – Writing Proposals
- Book reviews – Writing Reviews
- Brief research reports – Writing Brief Reports
- Literature reviews – Writing Literature Reviews
- Reflective writing – Writing Reflections
- Introductions – Writing Introductions
- Research methods – Writing Research Methods
- Research results – Writing Research Results
- Research discussions – Writing Research Discussions
- Writing conclusions – Writing Conclusions
- Research abstracts – Writing Abstract
- Research report titles – Writing titles
- Research dissertations & theses – Writing Dissertations & Theses