Reyes 1

Jessica Reyes

Zack De Piero

Writing 2

27 January 2016

WP1 Final Draft

One Genre, One Topic, Infinite Audiences
A text cannot belong to no genre; it cannot be without a genre. Every text participates in one or
several genres, there is no genre-less text (Derrida). In other words, every single thing you read falls into
a genre, no matter how textual or visual that thing may be. Furthermore, when multiple sources of the
same genre are discussing the same topic, they utilize different techniques and rhetorical devices to appeal
to and be understood by their audiences. Therefore, its imperative for readers to understand the rhetorical
devices being used -- such as tone, context, and format --so that they can see who the intended audience is
for each specific genre and thus be influenced to feel a plethora of different emotions.
In order to decipher the discrepancies within a genre, one must look in further detail at the action
it is used to accomplish and why the author made the choices he or she made to accomplish that action
(Dirk 20). The article titled Understanding the American Obesity Epidemic published by The American

Comment [1]: Reyes, this is an interesting and "heady"

Intro, but I'm wondering what specific genre you'll be
analyzed and through what sources. I'm also
wondering who the specific intended audience is for
each one.

Getting more specific will give me a better "lay of the
land" so I can follow you more deliberately while I'm
reading.

Heart Association, discusses the fact that health issues continue to arise as the rate of obesity increases in

Comment [2]: Is this another way of getting at purpose

and/or exigence?

the United States, where the article Overcoming Obesityand Making it Last published by the U.S.

Comment [3]: This is the first time I realized that I'd be

reading about genres/pieces that cover obesity -- do
you think is "too late"?

News, identifies ways to cope with and overcome obesity. On the other hand, the last article entitled
How to Love and Accept Your Body Unconditionally posted by Mindbodygreen, encourages people to
accept and embrace themselves, regardless of their body size and shape. Even though each of these
online articles are on the topic of obesity, each of the three sources address the topic in a completely
different way in order to better appeal to their specific audience.
The American Heart Associations article was published by a medical professional whose goal is
to inform people of the negative aspects of obesity in hopes of influencing them to live healthier lives. At
the bottom of the website it states Our mission is to build healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases

Comment [4]: You told me the angle of each piece but

not necessarily what audience they're intended to
reach -- you might want to hammer that "who is the
audience?" focus a bit more explicitly.

Reyes 2
and stroke. That single purpose drives all we do. In the article, the use of medical terminology such as
cardiovascular disease and stroke shows the authors professionalism on the subject. Along with that,
the author makes many references to organizations and individual professionals, all of which help to
validate the article and convince readers that the information provided is credible and trustworthy

Comment [5]: This was a bit of an abrupt transition for

me, going from sentence 1 to sentence to here, J-Rey.
You went from bringing in textual evidence about their
mission/purpose to their use of medical jargon, without
much smoothing over in between. How can you get
from the ideas that you laid out in sentence 1 to the
new ones that you're bringing up in sentence 2?
Comment [6]: Also: this textual evidence is great. It
helps me to SEE what you want me to see.

(UnderstandingObesity Epidemic). The author also provides links to share the article to different
social media websites, which helps its audience believe that the mission of their work is truly to inform
society of the obesity epidemic. Similar to the first article, the article titled Overcoming Obesityand
Making it Last was also published by a health professional. The author, Yvette C. Terrie, is a registered
pharmacist whose goal is to provide facts about obesity and how to overcome and live with the disease
(Terrie). Unlike how the first article referenced multiple people and sites, this article mainly seems to
obtain facts from a specific site called Pharmacy Times. Because this article seems to rely on only that
one website, it may lead readers to assume that the information presented is not as credible as they would
like, thus potentially deferring them from reading more. On the other hand, the article How to Love and

Comment [7]: Hmm... I'm wondering what the central

focus of the paragraph is -- based on the topic
sentence, I first thought that I was reading about the
AHA piece. Now I'm reading about the Overcoming
piece.

How do these ideas in this paragraph fit together?
Whatever the answer is, consider making that crystal-
clear in your topic sentence so your reader can
anticipate what's coming up.

You could also consider starting a new paragraph if
you feel like it's too much for 1 paragraph.

Accept Your Body Unconditionally was written by Dr.Kelly Neff, from a completely different
perspective on obesity. Rather than producing a factual based article, Neffs article is more advice and
encouragement based. This article focuses on how to love yourself no matter what and how to empower
yourself with positive thinking(Neff). This website states that their mission is to revitalize the way
people eat, move, and live! Neff is trying to attract readers by appealing to all of the people who have
felt bad about themselves at some point in time and want some words of advice.

Comment [8]: You're giving me a lot of good, useful

information, but I'm wondering just a bit *why* I'm
reading about this. How does this directly relate back
to your main argument? Sometimes you've gotta find
ways to remind your reader *throughout* the paper so
they don't lose focus (and also, so you, the writer, don't
lose focus).

The article Understanding the American Obesity Epidemic is exceptionally effective when
attracting its audience because of its use of advanced vocabulary, visual aids, and unique format. The
audience of this article consists of adults or health care professionals who care about their health and want
to learn about the obesity epidemic and how it affects the human body. The first thing you see when you
pull up the article is a picture of an obese man whose stomach is bulging over his waistband. Immediately
readers are interested, as the image encourages them to not want to look the way the man in the picture
does. The first line of the article is Obesity -- everyone knows its bad and that its everywhere

Comment [9]: So is your main (or part of your main)

argument about the *effectiveness* of certain sources?
Or about how they are each tailored to specific
audiences? Or both?
Comment [10]: I'd steer clear of "things" -- there are so
many other precise words you can be using to
specifically refer to what you want.

Reyes 3
(Understanding Obesity Epidemic). Because the author uses this as the introductory line, readers can
assume that the statement has a significant value and that the article will focus on obesity in a negative
light. The format of the article is unique in the sense that it is separated into titles and subtitles and there
are bullet points used. The subtitles make it very clear what is going to be discussed in each section and
the bullet points allow for readers to follow along easily. Also the use of links within the article allow for
readers to advance their knowledge in certain areas, as they wish.
The second article, published by the U.S. News also captivates its audience by using visual aids
and a follows a similar structure to the first article. As the first thing that appears in this article is also an
image of an obese man with a splurging belly, you can see that the author Terrie, also depicts obesity
negatively. However, unlike the first article, the first sentence in this article is Even a modest weight loss
can improve overall health (Terrie) That being said, it is evident that a different appeal is being
approached in this article. Where the American Heart Associations articles first sentence outright calls
obesity bad, Terries first sentence is more positive, suggesting that every bit of hard work contributing
to a persons individual weight loss is very much worth it, as they are ultimately improving their health
with each pound lost. The structure of this article mirrors the first article in the way that it also uses
subtitles and bullet points to effectively express information. This article starts with subtitles such as
Identifying Overweight and Obesity and Health Risks and ends with the subtitle Lifestyle Measures
to Achieve and Maintain Weight Loss. In summation, although this paper is also a majority
fact/evidence based, towards the end there is a shift to a more personal and encouraging tone, providing
readers with logical advice on how to incorporate weight loss into everyday routine.
The last article, How to Love and Accept Your Body Unconditionally uses pathos, an appeal to
emotion, to entice readers. The authors targeted audience is overweight people who are learning to
accept their bodies. The first thing the audience sees when looking at the article is an image, but rather
than having a negative connotation towards obesity, this image is an overweight woman smiling, showing
that she embraces her body and is happy with herself. The article starts with the author expressing that
even she has struggled at times with accepting her body. She states that she knows shes not alone here

Comment [11]: J-Rey, Im wondering if your paper

would benefit from re-structuring the organization.
Instead of

-Source #1
-Source #2
-Source #3

Could your paper/argument unfold a more
integrated/interwoven way if you did something like:

-Idea #1 (and then incorporate sources 1, 2, 3)
-Idea #2 (and then incorporate sources 1, 2, 3)
-Idea #3 (and then incorporate sources 1, 2, 3)?
Comment [12]: Great! I like how you're comparing
these two and the conventions that that are similar and
dissimilar.

Reyes 4
and then goes on to give advice about how to love and accept yourself. Here, Neff is gaining the reader's
interest because they now know this is about a real person and their experience, rather than just some
facts on the topic of obesity. Neff is conveying her story in a personal, conversational tone and makes the
readers feel as if she is talking to them one on one. An example of this is when she states, I am good
enough just as I am, and SO ARE YOU. By encouraging people and making them feel good about
themselves, Neff keeps her readers engaged and wanting to read more.
These articles belong to the same genre; however, they make their audience feel three entirely
different ways. In each case, readers were left feeling the exact way that the authors intended, and that
was due to the structure and context of their writing, which included choice of diction, the use of logos or
pathos, and the manipulation of readers emotions. For example, the health/professional article used facts
and logic to appeal to readers, leaving them feeling knowledgeable on the topic of obesity, where the
personal article attracted readers through emotion, leaving them feeling good about themselves and ready
to start accepting their bodies. In Kerry Dirks article, Navigating Genres, she emphasizes that the
audience of a piece of text and what the author wants their audience to think after reading is an enormous
aspect of the entire writing process. That being said I think its imperative to learn genre because it helps
writers shape the way that they put their thoughts on paper and target a specific audience. With this in
mind, I think that the exigence and purpose of the writer is a huge part of how a piece of text affects a
reader overall, not just the genre itself. In the articles that were reviewed, the language used, information
stated, and images portrayed all played a role in defining the genre as well as how the text affected the
audience. These articles show aspects that are specific to their genre, and successfully send their intended
message to their readers.

Comment [13]: A couple of thoughts:

1, Nice use of an "An example of this is..." Examples
are key.

2, I'm wondering if you could make this tone more of a
integrated thread for this paper -- i.e., how does tone
shift across all three sources, and what kind of
rhetorical impact does that have? What clues can we
gather from the source's tone that'll give us insights into
the audience?

Reyes 5

Works Cited

Derrida, Jacques. Gene Theory. Flashcards. Quizlet, n.d. Web.

Dirk, Kerry. Navigating Genres. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. Vol. 1. 2010. Print.
Neff, Kelly. "How to Love & Accept Your Body Unconditionally." Mindbodygreen. 12 May 2014. Web.
20 Jan. 2016. (google docs was being weird and it wouldn't let me indent this one...)

Terrie, Yvette. "Overcoming Obesity -- and Making It Last." U.S. News. 20 Oct. 2014. Web. 18
Jan. 2016.
Understanding the American Obesity Epidemic. Understanding the American Obesity
Epidemic. American Heart Association, 17 Jan. 2016. Web.