Jauch 1

Writing Project 1: Revision

Everyone has been there. You are putting together a puzzle, when suddenly, you realize
you are missing a piece. This realization leads to bitter disappointment; now the picture will not
turn out how you wanted or expected it too so what was the point of putting the puzzle
together? Writing is very similar to a puzzle. Each genre, or category, of writing is composed of
pieces that all come together to create one unified work. Genres differ by these pieces, much like
how pieces of different puzzles make up a separate picture. The pieces of a genre are known as
conventions, and they help to determine the purpose of the writing. The combination of the
conventions and purpose then work to cater to a specific audience and their expectations. Writers
meet these expectations by manipulating similar conventions over different genres. For example,
scientific articles and poems are very dissimilar genres. Though they are obviously different
forms of writing, articles and poems both use language to appeal to their unique audiences. And
while the purpose of these genres is to create some type of response in their readers, the specific
response will be different as well. Therefore, separate genres of writing, each with an individual
purpose, can use the same convention, to appeal to distinct audiences.
The audience of a certain genre determines how common writing conventions will be
manipulated with the intention of satisfying the expectations of the readers. When a reader picks
up a scientific article, they expect to learn about the topic of the article. To meet these
expectations, writers aim to convince their readers of the validity and relevance of the
information within the article through the manipulation of language. A writers word choice
within an article can convey a sense of authority to the reader, which establishes the legitimacy
of what they are trying to communicate and appeals to the logos, or logic, of the readers. For
example, the Live Science article How the Change of Seasons Affect Animals and Humans by

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Wynne Parry uses scientific vocabulary such as equinox, solstice and chronobiologic not
only to convey the authors knowledge on the subject, consequently convincing the readers of his
intelligence, but to also assure that the information is only shared to a certain audience - one that
can comprehend what the complex diction is saying.
Diction also plays a significant role within the genre of poetry. Poets consciously choose
words with certain connotations (ideas or feelings invoked other than the literal definition) in
order to create an emotional response, thus appealing to the pathos of the readers. Emily
Dickinson pays close attention to the connotation of words in her poem The Springtimes Pallid
Landscape. She uses words in her poem that are commonly associated with spring in order to
invoke a light, fresh feeling in her readers. These words include glow, everlasting and
miracle. Unlike the language used in Parrys article, these words are easily understood by a
larger audience, so they have a more significant impact on the emotions of the readers. Appealing
to the emotions of the readers is often the main purpose of poetry, as many people read poetry
hoping to arouse some type of feeling.
If a reader was looking for an emotional response to a piece of writing, they would not
first choose to read a scientific article. This is because of the expectations people have for
different genres of writing. Readers know that science is all about facts and poetry is about
passion or emotion. However, these genres create these expectations and achieve these purposes
by using the same conventions of writing, just in different ways. As discussed earlier, word
choice can play a powerful role in writing. It can appeal to a readers logos or to their pathos, just
by the writer making conscious decisions, based on the purpose of their writing. But there are
other ways of using language to not only distinguish between genres, but to tap into the core of
how reader perceives the world. By doing this, writers and their genres are able to attract readers

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and increase the impact their writing has. In the case of poetry, poets use figurative language to
compare an unexplainable phenomenon to something that readers can relate to, thus changing the
way the readers see this occurrence in the world. In her poem, Emily Dickinson describes the end
of a season through the metaphor summer folds her miracle/as women do their gown, (lines
13-14). Because of this comparison, Dickinsons poem now has a lasting impact on readers,
since she related this certain event (end of summer) to something that people can understand
(folding clothing). Scientific articles aim to relate their information to the readers in order to
highlight the importance of their findings. Parry does this by focusing her articles topic on how
a cosmic happening, such as the changing of the seasons, which is completely out of mankinds
control, can actually have an impact on a person, maybe even a readers, daily life. This is seen
through the sentence While that's all going on up in the heavens, the effects on the ground mean
changes in light, and seasons, for those of us not living near the equator, (Parry, 2010). Here,
Parry reminds readers of the vast extent of the topic she is writing about, but then brings it down
to scale by stating that this heavenly fact still plays a role here on Earth.
There is no doubt that poems and scientific articles are different genres of writing.
However, when broken down, one can see that they are made up of the same conventions. The
difference occurs when writers manipulate these genres to appeal to their audiences and establish
their purpose. Poems use connotations of words and figurative language to focus on the
emotional response of their readers. Scientific writings use complex diction and relatability to
appeal to the intellect of their readers. Both genres are using language and diction, but it is how
they are using it and who they are trying to appeal to, that change the genre. Therefore, though
genres may seem vastly different, they are all made up of similar pieces, put together to form a
different picture.

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Works Cited
Dickinson, Emily. 83. The springtimes pallid landscape. Part Two: Nature. Dickinson,
Emily. 1924. Complete Poems. Bartleby. 1924. 2 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.bartleby.com/113/2083.html>.
Parry, Wynne. How Change of Seasons Affects Animals and Humans. LiveScience.
LiveScience.com, 21 Sept. 2010. 12 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.livescience.com/8639-change-seasons-affects-animals-humans.html>.