Mariel Melchor

RWS 1302
M-1:30pm
Fill in each matrix that follows for both of your genres as a way of inputting and organizing the content of
the body of your analysis.

Genre # 1: US Tuition Too High in Comparison to Europe

Name the intended audience(s) and discourse
Audience and Purpose
community/communities for this genre.
This genre is intended for college students
who are considering a degree in any higher
education systeme.g. a degree in
kinesiology or a PhD in Physical Therapy.
What does the audience already know and
what do they need to know?
The audience already knows that tuition in the
U.S. is continuously rising, leaving graduate
students with great amounts of debt. What
they need to know is that in other countries,
such as those in Europe, tuition is free in
some institutions, or it is substantially lower
than in any college of the U.S.
How much time will the audience spend with
each genre? (For example, if one of your
genres is a YouTube video, you must allow
enough time for your audience to watch the
video. If you are analyzing a written document,
write the amount of time it took you to read it).
For this specific genre, the audience should
take about ten minutes to fully read and
analyze the article. The audience should pay
close attention to the different key points being
made in order to compare education systems
in the U.S. with those in Europe.
What was the purpose (to inform, persuade
and/or entertain) of this genre?
The purpose of this article is mainly to inform
college students about what other alternatives
there are to education. However, one must
also consider the cost of living in another
country.
How formal is the language?
The language is moderate, meaning it is not
too informal nor is it too formal. It is
understandable, meaning anyone should be
able to read it and fully understand it.

What specialized vocabulary is used?

The vocabulary used refers mainly to MA
(Masters of Arts degree) or any other types of
degrees and higher education systems.
Tuition is also a frequently used term, and so
is debt.
What other language features do you notice?
(Text, type, font, color, visual elements, etc.)
The text, font, and color are all consistent
throughout the text. However, other languages
can be found (in Spanish), as well as other
countries that are mentioned. The title of the
article is in black bold letters. A visual is
provided; it is a picture of a dollar bill on top of
a euro bill.
Rhetorical Issues

How does the genre establish (or

attempt to establish) its credibility
with the audience?
The article attempts to establish its
credibility by providing statements
from students who are enrolled in
higher education programs in other
countries and from those enrolled in
the same programs but in the U.S.
Tuition cost is incredibly different
tuition doesnt even exist in some
European universities.
What emotions is the genre
attempting to evoke from its
audience?
An emotion that can be evoked from
American students when reading this
article can be sadness, confusion,
stress, worry, regret, and may even
lead to less motivation. When
reading it from the European
perspective, however, it is the
complete oppositestudents must
feel relief (that education is free or
affordable), happiness, and might
even feel more motivated to attain a
higher education.
What types of evidence are used to
support claims? Is it valid and
reliable? If you think there is no
evidence, what is used to help

support the information presented?

There are numbers presented in
order to support the claims being
made, which state that education in
Europe is less expensive than in the
U.S. The article presents tuition cost
for a year in Europe in euros and in
U.S. dollars, and vice versa.
Are there limitations placed on the
information because of the genre?
Does it have more freedom to
express what it needs to because of
the genre?
Since it is a written genre, I believe
that it expresses many ideas and you
can see the substantially different
figures presented. However, it does
lack visual representation of the
differences.
How does the structure facilitate its
purpose?
The article is not too long, therefore
it is made much more simple to read
and understand. The length of the
article and the supporting details that
are added make it a less complex
article. Therefore, more college
students will want to read this article
and become fully engaged.
How is the information organized to
convey its message?
The information is organized in small
paragraphs, using short sentences.
These sentences include personal
anecdotes from students both in
America and in Europe who are being
affected by college tuition, either
being left in debt or debt-free after
attending college.
Genre # 2: Scholarslip: A Documentary About the Student Debt Crisis
Audience and Purpose

Name the intended audience(s) and discourse

community/communities for this genre.
This video/documentary is intended for
students who are considering attending
college. It shares anecdotes of students who

cannot afford it, so they have to take up to 5

loans per year just to attend undergraduate
school. Now imagine graduate school?
What does the audience already know and
what do they need to know?
The audience already knows the increasing
cost of tuition in the United States, but they do
not know how much debt they will be left in
after they acquire their degree.
How much time will the audience spend with
each genre? (For example, if one of your
genres is a YouTube video, you must allow
enough time for your audience to watch the
video. If you are analyzing a written document,
write the amount of time it took you to read it)
To fully watch this video and understand the
message it is conveying, the audience needs
approximately 26 minutes. Such time is needed
mainly because three different anecdotes are
presented along with statistical facts and
information on the subject.
What was the purpose (to inform, persuade
and/or entertain) of this genre?
The purpose of this video is to inform college
students about what it really means to attend
collegemost importantly, the cost of attending
college and whether or not one will be able to
pay for the debt that is left after graduating.
How formal is the language?
The language is not too formal because it is
told from regular students perspectives. They
all use a diction that is understandable by
almost anyone who views this video.
What specialized vocabulary is used?
Representatives from Arizona State University
are interviewed for this documentary, and they
use statistical terms, and other universityrelated terms such as tuition cost, debt, and
education.
What other language features do you notice?
(Text, type, font, color, visual elements, etc.)
Not much text is used, except for some article

visuals that are presented. However, the video

itself presents many visual elements and
different types of tones in the voices of the
interviewees.

Rhetorical Issues

How does this genre establish (or attempt to

establish) its credibility with the audience?
This video attempts to establish its credibility
by presenting its audience with statistical
evidence about how college has increased
over decades. It also presents information
about how the amount of money students take
out in loans has also doubled over the years.
The documentary also makes it more
appealing to college students by providing
three personal anecdotes from three different
students who are currently enrolled in college.
What emotions is the genre attempting to
evoke from its audience?

Structure and Delivery

I mainly believe that students will feel less

motivated to attend college if they will be left
with a degree that will not be about to pay the
debt left after they have attended college.
Furthermore, sadness, confusion, stress,
worry, and regret may also be felt by students
who watch this documentary.
What types of evidence are used to support
claims? Is it valid/reliable? If you think there is
no evidence, what is used to help support the
information presented?
I believe that the statistics provided, such as
that students who come from families who
make an annual income of $150,000 have a
75% chance of graduating with a higher
education degree versus those students who
come from a family with an annual income of
$30,000 or less which have a 25% chance of
graduating with that same higher education
degree, are reliable claims. The three
anecdotes, once again, are also prime reliable
sources because they come from students
who are living the student debt crisis.
Furthermore, the ASU representatives also
provide credible information that they have
acquired by working with students at their
university.
How is the information organized to convey its

message?
The information is organized by providing facts
and evidence of the student debt crisis that is
seen in the U.S. They also present statistics
and visuals of such evidence found in respect
to the issue. Several interviews to students
and university staff are also used to convey
the primary message of this genre.
Are there limitations placed on the information
because of the genre? Does it have more
freedom to express what it needs to because
of the genre?
Since this genre is a documentary, it has more
freedom to express information through
visuals along with vocal explanations to them.
How does the structure facilitate its purpose?
The structure of this documentary consists of
presenting background information on the
issue, then presenting factual statistics and
information with personal anecdotes from
students being affected by this student crisis
inserted in between these segments.
What other language features do you notice?
(Text, type, font, color, visual elements, etc.)
The text is kept neutral and consistent
whenever it does appear, although there isnt
much text that appears throughout the
documentary. The colors that appear are
common colors found in our every day
environment.