Caudle 1 Alyssa Caudle 9/23/13 Professor Wolcott ENC 1102 Genre Analysis: Engineering Societies Membership Applications The

style of genre varies among all the different communities around the world and the reason it varies is due to culture, language, and rhetorical situations. These different styles can be found or detected in a piece of text relating or belonging to a specific community. The texts could range from applications to news articles, to blueprints, etc. From the text of application, there are several reasons why this piece of text works for the situation provided and how it creates another, and so on. The application form could serve many purposes as to get hired for a job, to being accepted to an organization or college. I have taken a sample of these applications from three separate engineering-based societies. These engineering organizations are very academic and they pertain to that specific region of professional engineering. Because it is professional and representative, it has some standards in order to become a member to the society. However, aside from the fact that the society has standards, they also want as many people as possible to be able to join, just the right kind of people that theyre looking for. Therefore there is a situation and with the fact that the society wants membership to be dynamic, it is a repeating rhetorical situation, causing a genre (Devitt 573). The genre can be pulled out of the text of the application, showing how it is the perfect candidate for the solution to the situation. The three society applications all show the similar patterns for the same purpose with respect to the setting, the topic, the participants, and the features. First, to get an understanding of genre and how it is detected in these pieces of text, a definition of genre is needed. Genre is a typical way of responding to a repeated rhetorical

Caudle 2 situation that has developed over time that, in turn, creates rhetorical situations (Devitt 576). This definition corresponds directly to these genre texts because many people want to join the society and the society wants to know the background of applicants for their qualifications. They may also want to know the applicants background for the societys inventory of peoples profiles to share what information shows the qualifications of a member that is active and participates in the organization for future reference of acceptance. So, an application was created to make the joining easier for everyone, making the applicant feel the need to want to fill out the application and possibly feel uncomfortable to give out their information or nervous of the extent of their qualifications for their acceptance. The claim that these applications make the joining easier for everyone is supported by their setting and the participants of the setting. The forms are online from the engineering organizations website. These websites, as well as anything on the websites including each of the samples I am using, are open to the public with no specific literacy requirement because the societies want as many people as possible to join. The joining process and navigating to the application page was incredibly simple. All I had to do was click on join/become a member on the home page of the website and then fill out the application from the link, generating the situation where the applicant feels the need to complete the form. To get a full understanding of the situation that the genre generates, the topic is necessary to define. The topic of these applications in all three of the organizations was just general information about the applicant such as basic, personal, and contact information for such thing as a profile (Appendix A, B, C). The applicants are asked about, as well, their educational background and their work affiliations to see the extent of the applicants qualifications (Appendix A, B, C). This implies that most of the features of these applications are relative.

Caudle 3 The features of the texts follow very similar patterns. One of these patterns is the appeal to logos, or the use of logic in the piece of text. In this case, they are not just similar, but are looking for the exact same type of information from the applicant. All three of the applications require factual, general information, as well as background information, and they advertise with facts about the growing of the organization as to reassure the applicant that the society is legitimate and the one that should be chosen. This is shown by the example from Appendix A with, Watch a video on how to join SWE, Joining is like friending 26,000 women at once. These applications are extensions of the advertising that doesnt really appeal too much to pathos, which is the use of emotion in the piece of text. They go to the extent of saying that this is a great way to get involved if you want to meet a whole lot of people and make friends, but mainly just facts about the growth of membership and the successes that the society has achieved. With reference to the applications, it just shows that the board of the organization is interested in general information and educational background. Therefore, the result of these appeals is that the decision is solely based on qualification, not the kind of person one is which helps the problem of finding a new, strong, useful member without all of the extra unnecessary variables. Continuing on the topic of feature, there is also an appeal to ethos which is the writers credibility to the text, how much authority the writer has. The author of the form/application is most likely someone of high ranking/qualification in the organization, maybe on the board of society (leadership positions) because with the information that they want to know, it will probably cross one of them to get the membership approved. This person knows what requirements are needed and is limiting active membership based on these requirements to have the right people for the right position in the membership. The applicant will most likely realize

Caudle 4 that the specific website for the organization is legitimate and has credibility because there is evidence of professionalism with the logo of the organization and the copyright symbol with the year at the bottom of the webpages, as well as terms and agreements to finish the application process (Appendix B, C). This will positively reassure the applicant on their decision to join, which is a secondary goal of the organization, as they need attraction to their society to achieve their main goal of dynamic active membership. The structure of these texts determines much about the genre. The texts are organized into sections and within each section, there is important information. This format shows the applicant that the form is easy to fill out and shows the parts in which the organizations are most interested. The parts of these organizations formats are that each section header is in bold, all of the important information is either denoted by red font(Appendix B), red asterisks (Appendix A), or blue asterisks (Appendix C), blank answer boxes, drop-down boxes, general information, and educational background information (Appendix A, B, C). The combination of these parts shows the applicant that they should focus on the colored portions of the application and that they need to share their general and educational background information to be a part of and accepted in the organization. Moreover, the whole genre detected from the texts is effective and solves the problem of the rhetorical situation. By the material previously expressed, one can see that the genre is open to the public but at the same time, very selective and greatly professional. This strictly logicbased process serves the purpose of allowing the engineering organizations to determine the acceptance of the growing applications for membership within the organization. It also lets the applicant express everything he/she can to list every relevant accomplishment and interest strictly within the bounds of the needs of the organization. This is determined by the settings,

Caudle 5 participants, topics, and the features of each of the texts and what each of those focuses tell the reader about the genre.

Caudle 6 Works Cited Appendix A: Society of Women Engineers. Sep. 23, 2013. Web. <https://live.connect.daxko.com/CommandDispatch.aspx?cmd=Portal.Login&context=04 7999ff-c737-440d-8e6d-34d6b522e383&state=Start&cookieCheck=true> Appendix B: American Society of Civil Engineers. 1996-2013. Sep. 23, 2013. Web. <https://secure.asce.org/ebusiness/JoinASCE/ASCECustomerRegistration.aspx> Appendix C: Association for Computing Machinery: Advancing Computing as a Science & Profession. 2010. Sep. 23, 2013. Web. <https://campus.acm.org/public/qj/quickjoin/qj_control.cfm?promo=PWEBTOP&form_t ype=Student> Devitt, Amy J. "Generalizing about Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept." College Composition and Communication. Vol. 44, No. 4. Dec. 1993. pp. 573-586. Print.