As a process, a genre analysis involves three steps: (1) collecting samples of a genre, (2) identifying patterns within it, and (3) discussing what those patterns mean. We have already completed the first step with the two articles we read on the topic of college success and the articles you have reviewed on the topic you have chosen for your final research paper. Now we can begin the second step of identifying recurrent rhetorical and linguistic patterns in our samples (you have also gained some practice with this through discussion forum posts in weeks 3 and 4). In identifying recurrent features, it is best to move from the general to the specific: first identify the overall organizational patterns and then focus on specific sentence structures and word choice.
Structure (parts of RA):
How are research articles structured?
What are their main parts and in what order do they typically appear?
What content/information is typically included in each section? What communicative purpose does such information serve?
What role does each part play in RA?
Style/Language:
How formal/informal is the language?
What are examples of more formal/academic words?
What types of words are most common in different sections? Are there repeated phrases/words/terms?
What types of sentences appear in each section (imperative, declarative, interrogative, exclamatory)? How long are they?
Are the sentences simple or complex (Google this), active or passive?
Are the sentences varied? Do they share a certain style?
What other language features do you notice?
Sample Solution