Genre Analysis 1

Genre Analysis: Student Debt

Jorge Ortiz
The University of Texas at El Paso
Dr. Donovan
English 1312: Research and Critical Writing















Genre Analysis 2
Genre Analysis
Student debt has become one of the most difficult problems in the United States when
pursuing higher education. The amount of student debt has surpassed one trillion dollars and is
rising every year. The average student that takes out a loan for college will end up having to pay
back about twenty-seven thousand dollars. It is very easy for a student to accept a ten thousand
dollar loan when going to college, but over time that loan can haunt you for a long time. The
question of who or what is the cause of this student debt? arises from these numbers. This can
lead people to search for articles, videos, news, etc. about the current situation to get a better
understanding.
In todays world there are many types of resources available to inform yourself about big
issues going on. For example, one of the most abundant resources is articles, like Ripping Off
Young America: The College-Loan Scandal by Matt Taibbi from the Rolling Stones. More
recently presentations and videos have began to rise to the same level like One Trillion Dollars,
Student Debt and Higher Education: Greg Gottesman at TEDxSeattle. Both address the same
issue but in different forms and style. To know which genre does a better job it is important to
look at the intended audience and purpose, structure, and use of rhetoric.
The intended audience for a topic like student debt is mostly always going to be similar
regardless of the style the information is presented. In this case the targeted audience is college
students, economists, politicians, and the public. The main reason that one can confirm this is the
audience is by the genres themselves. The article has a lot of information and has anecdotes that
try to persuade his audience to fight and give attention to this problem. In the presentation, the
speaker uses many statistics that will encourage students to look into loans, economist to look
into this growing concern, politicians to try a new approach legally, and the public to give more
Genre Analysis 3
light on this issue. It is highly doubtful that many current students will actually feel the need to
look up student debt or actually read, or watch, things over student debt. Still the author and
presenter target this audience because they want these students to know what they are getting
into when taking out a loan. Economist and politicians are also targets in both of these genres for
the reason that they can influence a decision to change the current way student debt is looked.
Lastly, the general public, which aims for the middle class, are also targets for they are the main
ones getting affected by this problem. When two genres bring up a number like One trillion or
38 million are in student debt it can convince many people that Student loans arent hope.
Theyre despair.
The purpose of both of these genres is also very similar in that they both try to do the
same thing: inform about the current situation of student debt. It can be argued that they have
some persuasion in the form that they want people to support their view. The main thing that one
will take out from both of these is raised awareness and knowledge on student debt and the
importance of it. The presentation does this more smoothly than the article. It is mainly because
the speaker only takes about twelve minutes to get his point across. Meanwhile, the article is
lengthy and the actual purpose can get missed or overlooked due to skimming. The way the
video gets its point across is in a quick and formal matter using some economic words that most
people watching can understand. On the other hand, the article is a mixture of formal and
informal; it is published on a well-known site by a successful author but it uses language some
may find offensive. It also does include a bit of special terms in political and economic terms that
most readers will know. Overall, both have some differences mainly on delivery of their point
but both want to do the same thing, inform about student debt and persuade the audience on its
negative effects.
Genre Analysis 4
Looking at both of these genres the main difference is in the structure and delivery of
them. The obvious difference is that one is a written article and the other is a presentation. Thus,
the structure of the article is done in a professional matter and the delivery can be kind of tedious
to the reader. Since this is in article from a Rolling Stones magazine, it has a limitation on how
long the article can be and what can actually be placed in it. The article uses information and
examples to get its point across to the audience. These examples range from current in-debt
students/graduates and the information comes from previous statements (like government
discussions) about student debt. In contrast, the presentation has a different approach in
delivering its information. The presenter uses many visuals and charts to help keep his audience
entertained to his speech and to help get his point across. Similarly, the presentation does have
limits dealing with the length. The video does do a better job in the structure and delivering to
the audience than that of the article.
Discourse of this type, regardless of genre, employs rhetorical appeals to persuade its
audience. First from these rhetoric elements is the pathos in both genres. The article does an
amazing job at sending a message directly to the readers by using real-world anecdotes about
people that are in a huge hole because of student debt. After reading the article, the reader
experiences sadness, anger, disappointment, etc. by getting first hand accounts of lives ruined by
student debt and information on how bad this situation has gotten. Meanwhile, the video also has
appeal that can affect people themselves it is not as great as the article. The presentation only
gives one personal account, that produces mainly sadness, but the use of pathos is very little. As
far as it goes with emotional appeal, the article has a more personal and appealing sense than the
video.
Genre Analysis 5
The two genres share a similar approach with logos. They use examples that overall show
how negative the effect of student loans is on issues ranging from personal to federal. The article
uses many anecdotes by using personal examples to prove the overall point. The video does use
an anecdote in a sense but it backs up its claims with facts and data. The genres do show good
use of logos and it is mostly similar but the video does a better job since it provides more
reasoning.
The last of these rhetorical elements, but just as important, is ethos. This is element is
used differently in these sources but has a similar effect in providing credibility. As stated
before, the article has many personal experiences on the issue that help the author support his
claim. Furthermore, the author himself is a credible source from all of his experience as an
author and winner of a National Magazine Award for commentary. On the other hand, the
presenter backs up the majority of his speech by using his credentials (he teaches
entrepreneurship at the University of Washington, and is serving in ten different boards mainly
as marketing chair), charts and graphs that show the growing problem of the debt, and his
expression of goodwill. In this rhetoric element, both genres have plenty of ethos and it is hard to
determine which can be more credible than the other. For this reason, both make the audience
feel like they are reading/watching something they can trust.
Depending on which genre a person chooses to get informed on the issue of student debt,
both the article and video do a great job. It can be difficult to say that one is more influential than
another, but the presentation would probably attract more people because of its time, structure
and deliver, and entertainment while informing. The article is a great piece of information but it
can be a bit tedious and difficult to finish. For this reasons the presentation does a better job in
informing on student debt.
Genre Analysis 6
Refrences
Gottesman, G. (2013). One trillion dollars, student debt and higher education. TEDxSeattle.
Video retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IEkncWZffY
Taibbi, M. (2013). Ripping off young America: The college-loan scandal. Rolling Stone.
Retrieved from http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/ripping-off-young-america-
the-college-loan-scandal-20130815