MULTIGENRE ELEMENTS

When writing multigenre papers, students must ask themselves many questions about their writing topic, and how best to express their topic through writing. There are three main elements that students must consider when deciding how to structure their multigenre paper.

1)Voice

When students begin to write multigenre papers, they must learn to focus on the differences in voice for each genre. For example, the voice for an advertisement versus the voice for a personal journal article will be quite different. Students must discern what type of voice is appropriate for each genre of writing. By writing with different voices, this helps students develop their own unique voice in their writing. Questions students will ask themselves are: What type of voice would work best with this genre? What genre should I choose if I am trying to express this type of voice?

2) Perspective

Students must also become familiar with writing from different perspectives. Multigenre writing is the perfect way for students to practice this. When writing about a specific topic or event, students must ask: What perspective should I use to portray this event in this way? Different perspectives will express the topic/event differently. For example, when writing about the first white settlers in America, writing from the perspective of the Europeans versus writing from the perspective of the Native Americans would portray the event in drastically different ways. By experimenting with various perspectives, students learn to see things in different ways. This helps broaden their writing, as well as their understanding of the topic.

3)Audience

Another aspect of multigenre writing is audience. When deciding what types of genres to use and what perspectives to write from, students should take into account the message they are trying to portray, and who they are writing for. By allowing students the opportunity to present their finished work to classmates, this forces them to look critically at their writing choices. Students should ask: Which genre would best portray the topic to my specific audience? Why?