"The word genre comes from the French word gender, which means 'kind' or 'type.' Genres are most often associated with literature but can also apply to functional texts, speech, learning, social interactions, and cultural constructs..." (from the Salem Press Encyclopedia)
Genres you might consider (not exhaustive!!)
**Many of these are links to descriptions or examples of the genre**
Advertisement | Bildungsroman | Biographical Summary | Blog Post | Book Review | Brochure/pamphlet
Cause and Effect Essay | Children’s Book | Close Reading | Constitution (organizational) | Creative Nonfiction
Dialogue | Diatribe | Dissertation | Dramatic Scene | Elegy | Essay | Ethnography | Eulogy
Fable | Film Review | Grant Proposal | Historical Document Analysis
Hymn | Incantation | Instruction Booklet | Journal Article | Lab Report | Law | Lament | Lesson Plan | Liner Notes | Listicle
Manifesto | Memo | Memoir | Menu | Microfiction/Vignette | Newsletter | Newspaper/Magazine (article, editorial, interview, obituary, column, photo-essay, etc.)
Parody | Performance Evaluation | Personal Statement | Photo Essay (with text) | Poetry (ballad, free verse, ode, sestina, slam/spoken word, sonnet, etc.) | Polemic
Recipe | Rhetorical Analysis | Satire | Scientific Report | Script (commercial, screenplay, skit) | Syllabus | Tall Tale | Ted Talk | Textbook Chapter
Travelogue | User’s/Owner’s Manual | Visual Analysis | White Paper | Web Page
So, beyond this guide, what can we do for you? We can help you tackle these elements of your assignment:
After you have researched your unfamiliar genre, you will choose seven high caliber texts to include in an annotated bibliography. You’ll include at least four (4) “how-to” pieces about your genre and at least five (5) good examples of writing in your genre.
You're also responsible for a presentation.
Processually, you will also be keeping a research journal and writing a reflective process letter.
Each of these tasks requires you to think, make choices about what you want to research and read about, and then show your process and progress as you go and at several key junctures. Librarians and the Library can help you with each of these - even just a few minutes talking can help you frame your thoughts and query process better.
Have you used Omnia? It's the default search on the Library's homepage, and is a great place to begin your genre research and resource gathering. We can help get you going here. Browse around the guide, chat with us, or swing by one of the Library's help desks.
You can use the Library and its resources to explore "what's out there" for your topic. Part of this process of exploring what has been or is already being said - the existing conversation, so to speak - is that you can further refine your question as you move through it.