Understory 2021

Law Office

Throughout this course, I have gained several skills with which to evaluate genres and genre systems going forward. Attention to detail is critical in figuring out why documents are different from one another, and doing so is nothing short of a skill: a skill this class has helped me hone. For example, it isn’t enough to say a doctor’s note and an IKEA instruction manual are different because they serve different purposes. One must pay attention to every aspect of a genre, from the footnotes to page size to font. I drew most of my knowledge by studying and comparing different genres. It’s simple to analyze one genre in a vacuum, but it’s only when you put it next to another, completely different genre that you realize just how many differences there are. My theory of analyzing genres is that it all comes down to the detail and discourse community: details such as genre norms, genre constraints, and texts. However, understanding genres goes far beyond what’s simply on the paper. 

Watching how a genre interacts within its environment plays into how we understand them, from hierarchy to physical and social conditions. Furthermore, genres have a power outside of how we interact with them, but with how they interact with each other through intertextuality. I used to think documents were more or less lifeless, and the only thing to memorize in a discourse community was the actions of the people. However, now I realize there is a whole new level to understanding how people react to every aspect of a genre, not just its content. This will be extremely useful when going into law school and figuring out how documents shape hierarchy and communication, and I can’t wait to start observing and practicing now. 

                                                                  
KATIE BERNHARDT is a senior pursuing a Baccalaureate in English with minors in Creative Writing and Spanish. Selected by Professor Jenkins.

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