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Genre Analysis: Women in Engineering

Maritza Torres
University of Texas at El Paso

Women were not always considered to be equal to men; it was up until the 19th century. They
were limited in careers and education because of their gender. Even though times have changed

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since then, there is a remarkably large gender gap in science and math majors such as
Engineering. It is a national concern because women could possibly bring different ideas and
raise the nations engineering degree percentages and help move forward as a nation because of
the low world ranking in this profession. This concern is analyzed by two different genres.
Introduction
In the article, Women in Electrical Engineering: One Mentor can Have a Big Impact by Ruth
Schechter, it discusses reasons why women shouldnt be discouraged to go into this field as they
display successful stories of women in Electrical Engineering. This article is persuasive because
it is intended for women who feel incapable and unsupported to join a support group or have a
mentor for success guidance.

In the videoconference, How I succeeded as a woman in engineering: Cassandra Cole at

TEDxUW, informs you of a successful story from a woman who experiences similar problems
whom overcomes them and later becomes successful.

Audience and Purpose

The selected genre in this article is persuasive. It was intended audience is women in the
Electrical Engineering field. The audience already knows the small percentage of women in the
EE field. They want to know if women are actually successful being not as common in the field
as men. The informative piece gets straight to the point so you dont take up much time going

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around the same subject. The purpose of this article was to provide support for women in the
electrical engineering field and also to persuade them to be more proactive and successful. The
audience ties in with the purpose because they are trying to convince them that they can become
successful and encourage them to take positive actions towards their life. The language used is
language that can be used in universities since it is an article posted on the prestigious Stanford
university website to been seen by scholars. Specialized vocabulary used is PhD, MIT, and UT,
which are widely known amongst universities. Other types of language features used are
percentages done by studies and language more familiarized with university students and staff.
The website is credible itself because it is the Stanford University and the article itself involved
several successful people with doctorate degrees. This article attempts for the audience to feel
encouraged joining a support group for Electrical Engineering women. They claim to support
women become successful as an electrical engineer, which has resulted in a greater number of
women getting higher doctorate and more successful careers. This information is organized to
convey its message by giving the information and then showing interviews of the ones who
actually have gone through this and have become successful. There is a limitation of certain
information because there is a certain topic they are trying to persuade the successfulness of
women in this field so it wouldnt be convenient to put information on how many women are not
successful. The structure facilitates its purpose which makes it easier to understand and leaves a
clear message that can actually persuade you at the end to join this support group and makes
women believe they can be successful in their major. In How I succeeded as a woman in
engineering by Cassandra Cole at TEDxUW, its genre approach was informative/persuasive
speech. The intended audience is women who are majoring in engineering but have to face
difficult obstacles. The speech is about 12 minutes long, which is a perfect time to have a lengthy

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informative speech but not too long where the audiences attention isnt captivated anymore. The
purpose of this speech is to inform and persuade women in engineering fields to not give up by
all the difficult challenges you may encounter along the way. This speech is trying to provoke a
strong connection between the audiences emotions and her. Emotions being provoked are such
as sad, sympathetic, and all leading to confidence. The speech is stated like in a timeline, which
helps the audience understand all the obstacles you have to overcome in order to become
successful. The significant similarities between the two different genres is that they both try to
persuade success but one is in a video and the other is through a school website. Another
difference is that the website is tries to promote more of a support group to become successful
rather than in the video where it gives more of a personal experience and different ways to
overcome any obstacles being faced while in the process of becoming successful.
Ethos, Pathos, Logos
The article on the Stanford University helps to establish the informations credibility effectively
by being on a credible university website. It is effective in helping achieve the purpose of the
genre because it is based on research from the credible university website combined with a
successful personal experience. Whereas in the TedTalks video, it establishes credibility because
the vast majority of guest speakers featured on TedTalks come from both scholar and corporate
institutions making the presentations informative and sort of testimonial. The article by
Scheehter evokes an emotional response from the audience by showing successful experiences of
women who use a support group system throughout their academic career, which helps them
achieve their goals.

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5
Conclusion

In conclusion, all three genres expressed their message differently but the way they displayed
and organized their message made an impact in how the audience is able to grasp the
information. It is important to take into consideration each factor being used in these different
genres in order to get the correct message out to the public. Parts of the message include ethos,
pathos and logos. After breaking down each section of the two different genres the audience is
able to recognize the message, which makes both genres successful.