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Every genre has conventions which illustrate how writing techniques make each genre

unique. These characteristics serve as the footing for how a story will play out, from what

perspective it will be told, and the overall messages that will be found within in the writing. The

purpose of this writing project is to analyze the genre conventions from an original piece of

writing, and through the use ofby using different language styles, derive a new body of work. To

In order to do this, an understanding of why an authors uses these certain conventions is

necessary. Upon scouring the internet for articles that stood out, I discovered a story on CNN’s

website that fit the direction I wanted to pursue. “McConnell unveils bill to combat youth

tobacco use by raising purchase age to 21” is an online news article that details the results of a

Senate floor vote regarding electronic nicotine devices. So wWhile deciding how I would

incorporate new genre conventions in my writingworking on the translation, I decided to

preserveretain the original rhetorical style of athe newspaper article. “McConnell unveils bill to

combat youth tobacco use by raising purchase age to 21”. To translate the articleInstead, I

changed certain elements of only the subject matter of the article, which in turn changed the

audience while keeping the online newspaper format. The original piecearticle, which was an

informative columnpiece, now depicts a is now a satirical article that stylistically mirrorsmirrors

the style of works found on The Onion. Formatted: Font: Italic

Upon scouring the internet’s vast amount of sources, I discovered anthe article on the

CNN’s website which matched my proposal for the translationI would translate. I wanted to

build my writing fromstart with a real news story that had roots in societal issues because of the

principle that satire commonly regards is based upon current world events and happenings. The

unaltered article gave a brief account of thewas focused on a restriction ofban of tobacco devices,

which are very popular throughout today’s youth cultureamong people my age. I concluded that I
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would translate this article because I am constatly surrounded byhaved prior knowledge about

teenagers and vapes, which gave me an abundance of materialand there is was a lot of things to

poke fun at. Once I commitedhad finalized my decision to writinge my translation based on this

article, I had to identify the characteristics of the article that I would remain in my updated

article, and what I would choose to omit from the final draft utilize. USC writing professor Mike

Bunn summarizes this process, sayingwhen he says that “it’s probably impossible (and definitely

too time consuming) to identify all of the choices the author made and all techniques an author

used, so it’s important to prioritize while reading. Knowing what you’ll be writing yourself can

help you prioritize.”1 .This quote highlights the importance of understandingbeing aware writing

conventions while reading in order to determineunderstand whyall possible howconventions that

authors some are incorporated into went into writingtheirthe writing, and why others have no

place in the genre. Using this knowledge at advice, I read the original article, notingnoticing that

it has all the genre conventions of a normal online newspaper article: short paragraphs, quotes,

pictures, a headline, and a lead paragraph, and a few related articles with links. Because the

translation would remainstill be a newspaper article, all of the aforementioned characteristics

would have to behad to be included. In my translation, I included a bold title, a introduction

paragraph with a small summary, multiple quotes, related advertisements with accompanying

pictures, and varying paragraph lengths. But, it would stray from the original rhetorical genreThe

difference is because of within the the content and delivery style of jokesdelivery and the

content.

SIt is known that satirical pieces target an audience of people who read to be

intellectually amused. I understood that I would have to follow the genre conventions of a satire

1
Mike Bunn, “How to Read Like a Writer,” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing 2 (2011): Page
78
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in order for my satirical piece to be accepted by the intended group. This is evident because, in

Kerry Dirk’s “Navigating Genres” article, when he claims that “people do not label a particular

story as a joke solely because of formal features but rather because of their perception of the

rhetorical action that is occurring.”2. This means that consumers of satire expect that these

specific conventions willto be embedded in the articles they readin the work because they find

those aspects most attractive. So before writing my new article, I read multiple articles from the

well known satirical media company The Onion to get a better understanding of how the

authorsy ensuremade their articles are humorous and well received by readers. The genre

conventions that are noticiblyI found that were present in all of the articles arewere the use of

irony, exaggeration, and ridicule. I would go on to incorporate this into my translated story, as

well as keeping a few pieces of information from the original article. I used false testimonies to

highlight the polarized opinions of young people who use vapes. I also kept multiple quotes

from Mitch McConnell because it gave the article a sense ofan official newspaper authenticity,

and I wanted my story to be as authentic as a satirical news article could be.

My new story adopted elements from the original CNN piece, but at the same timebut

completely takesnges a new course. First and foremost, the targetedintended audience is no

longer those who read to be intellectually enlightenedthose who read the news to learnthe

American public who reads the news for the. It is now directed at a younger demographicgroup

who enjoys humorous and lighthearted articles. I felt that this article would stick out to them

because many young people are constantly surrounded by these because of the cultural relevance

of electronic nicotine devices, and because it makes fun of them without being too crude. For the

audience who reads this but is not looking to be entertained by satire, the article incorporates real

2
Kerry Dirk, “Navigating Genres,” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing 1 (2010): Page 253
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quotes from politicians, has real statistics about teenage vaping, all whileand still coverings a real

issue plaguing the nation. AndBut while it does use real quotes, I added fake quotes from

teenagers defined bywith extremeexaggerated opinions to highlight the ignorance and

stubbornness of young people. TAnd while there are aspects to this story that are evidently

fictitious, but were included toit follows conventions that strengthen thea work of satirical

elementse of the story. All of these componentselements were included to bolster the formalities

of satire and make the overall story more interesting to the reader.

Overall, this project has helped me to understand how the conventions of genre create

frameworks for specific types of writing. They are usedand help to create proper fitting

narratives and ultimately dictate theinto any category of writing to which every story belongs.

During the process of genre translation, I discoveredlearned that simple rhetorical devices can

completely alter the intendedreader’s perception of the written pieces. That being said,

understanding the crucial conventions of when reading a story is essential to being able to create

a work inof the same style. And in this case,Through the use of satirical elementshyperbole,

transformed a simple news article can be transformed into a mockery of society’s values, all

through the use of different writing practicesfor the amusement of that very society. .

Works Cited

Bunn, Mike. “How to Read Like a Writer.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing 2 (2011).

Dirk, Kerry. “Navigating Genres.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing 1 (2010).