Running head: GENRE ANALYSIS 1

Genre Analysis:

Urban Stormwater Management Systems and Landscaping Impacts on Flood Risks

Enid Martinez

University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1302

Dr. Vierra

July 15, 2018

GENRE ANALYSIS 2

Genre Analysis

The effects of water in urban settings can be recorded in great scientific detail and basic

live-action documentation to give a wide range of understanding to urban stormwater

management systems and landscaping impacts on flood risks. The two genres selected for this

analysis are a monograph Rivers and Landscape by Geoff Petts (1985) and a YouTube video

What Has EPWU Done Lately to Make El Paso More Storm Ready? by El Paso Water (2012).

Petts argues that accepted techniques used to understand rivers plus recent advancements in the

study of hydraulic change in nature can explain the dynamic, long term effects of river systems

(p. ix). The non-scholarly digital source claims that El Paso Water Utilities is making changes to

make the city storm-ready with a master plan drafted by the people of the El Paso community

(0:10). The expectations of genres differ by separating academic information from common

knowledge depending on the delivery of content and the target audience, making the monograph

more effective for scholarly research than the video.

Audience

The target audiences for the monograph and the video are different but few individuals of

each audience group could potentially share an interest of both genres. According to Petts

(1985), the monograph is targeted towards “students of physical geography and environmental

science” (p. ix). The purpose of the textbook is to educate students on fluvial landscapes (p. 1),

catchment hydrology (p. 20), solute dynamics (p. 55), sediment transport (p. 95), channel

morphology (p. 140), fluvial stratigraphy and palaeohydrology (p. 175), and lake sediments and

drainage basin history (p. 214). It can be assumed that the audience is well versed in the

academic language of environmental science and other scientific disciplines by the lack of

glossary and lack of graph reading aids. According to El Paso Water (2012), the video’s

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audience is El Paso Water Utilities (EPWU) customers (2:17). The video specifically refers to

neighborhoods around Fair Banks and Transmountain in the Northeast (0:45), Central El Paso

(0:30, 1:57), Lee Trevino on the East side (1:05), and Sun Valley Drive (1:20). The video

mentions engineers, a master plan, and claims the EPWU has “reduced El Paso’s flood risk by

50%” (0:23), which could interest the audience of the monograph if they were also citizens of the

El Paso area and provoke further inspection of the projects mentioned in the video. The target

audience for the video encompasses all customers in the El Paso area in 2012 and according to

an article by WaterWorld in 2012, EPWU had “over 200,000…customers” and “El Paso, Texas

has more than 700,000 residents”. The percentage of El Paso residents that could also be

specifically studying rivers and landscape is probably too low to be significant, but of those few

students of earth sciences pertaining to hydraulics in the region a majority of them would have

been invested in staying up to date on the city’s efforts to decrease the overall flood risk. Out of

all the scholars in the world pursuing a greater understanding of rivers, the percentage of those

that also live in the El Paso region is probably also insignificant.

Structure

The structure of the monograph is completely different than the structure of the YouTube

video, but with minor similarities. The book’s physical limitations are of 243 pages and it is

organized in basic book format of front matter, body, and back matter, divided into seven

lectures detailed on the content’s page. Furthermore, the preface summarizes how each chapter

ties into the next one. Every chapter includes an additional reading source list for the topic of that

lecture. The final sections include a thorough bibliography in APA format (p. 245) and an index

(p. 269) for ease of use. The video is a digital source only and it has a duration of 2:54 minutes.

The video uploaded to YouTube is easy to scroll through to view the content freely but as it is a

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news broadcast it is not labeled or organized in a way visible to the viewer. The purpose of the

information portrayed in the video is to inform and perhaps bring comfort to its audience that the

company is hard at work in the city of El Paso.

The book is written in an expository style while the video is recorded in a descriptive

style. Petts (1985) claims the purpose of the monograph is to provide students with a solid

foundation to understand river systems (p. ix). The language is formal and appropriate for the

intended audience. The scientific jargon used is highly specialized, but italics are used to

highlight key terms and define them throughout the textbook, for example “catchment ecosystem,

which consists of a river, or lake…” (p. 8). A conversion table is provided (p. iix) to provide easy

access to frequently used units and conversion factors related to the data provided in the text.

Heavy use of graphical data provides visual representation of the topics being taught which

meets the expectations of students pursuing a deeper understanding of the subject. The video has

an informal tone as it directly addresses the audience with “you” (2:16) and the speaker includes

himself as a member of the audience “…making sure we’re storm ready” (0:18). The unseen

speaker of the video uses simple language to describe the changes that have taken place in the El

Paso but also describes dimensions of major projects and briefly uses some terminology that the

average citizen might not know (1:36) but this does not affect the overall comprehension of the

news update.

Rhetorical Issues

The genres under analysis use opposite tactics to support their claims. The monograph

provides reputable sources and overwhelming data to educate the audience on fluvial systems.

The video relies almost exclusively on visual and auxiliary aids to persuade its audience of the

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importance in the changes being made to El Paso’s drain systems by coaxing the viewer’s

emotions with videos of aggressive stormwater effects in the city.

Ethos are evident in the monograph but only alluded to in the video. The title page of the

book states that Petts was from the Department of Geography of Loughborough University of

Technology, and his co-author Ian Foster was from the Department of Geography of Coventry

(Lanchester) Polytechnicat the time of publication. Both highly credible sources for the textbook,

their previous works are listed in the bibliography (p. 251, 261). The acknowledgements mention

professors of the Exeter Geography Department in addition to colleagues at Loughborough and

Coventry, as well as a note of gratitude from the publishers “for permission to include copyright

material” in the form of figures of graphs (p. vii), making it clear that the information is already

in circulation and accepted in their academic field. The book was published by Edward Arnold

Publishers, and the scholarly nature of the textbook means it had to go through a peer review

before being published. The video provides no clear credible sources, aside from being posted by

the El Paso Water channel. The video does not include any interviews or engineering company

names or mention any specific expert involved in the city’s master plan. There are clear shots of

the intersections mentioned, like Lee Trevino and James Watt (1:09) and a highway sign of I-10

which confirms that it is an accurate representation of city locations. The before and after shots

of city projects, including a “key pipeline running from central El Paso to the Rio Grande” (1:52)

are very convincing that there is steady and effective progress throughout the city’s drain

systems. The lack of obvious proof of ethos from the video does not decrease its credibility due

to the view of the city projects and the effects on actual streets.

The monograph does not appeal to pathos, yet the video is primarily supported using

visual and auditory prompts to persuade the target audience. The monograph is a clinical source

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as it does not need to appeal to the reader’s emotions to inform using specialized data. The video

uses subtle tactics to engage the viewer’s emotions by using background music and visuals of the

El Paso flood of 2006 (0:16). There are also dramatic shots of completed projects under heavy

rain (1:26), and recordings of rapid water currents on streets at locations of new drains (0:46)

that emphasize the effectiveness of the developments. The background music is understated and

doesn’t distract from the speaker, and there are thunder sounds played in conjunction of a “storm

ready” lightning-animated sign at interval times to reinforce the severity of the topic and keep

the attention of the audience (0:07, 2:04, 2:48).

Both genres make use of logos via different methods. The monograph makes heavy use

of a variety of graphs to support its claim, often taking up an entire page. Figure 2.2 (p. 22)

shows six separate line charts to compare runoff variability of different rivers around the world

that is explained in further detail on pages 21 and 23. Chapter 3 relies on tables and figures

depicting river water chemistry to make up half of the pages in the chapter and contains chemical

equations to further support the research presented (p. 55-94). All tables and figures are cited in

the reference section by author and year, confirming the validity of the data. The video uses a

different tactic and verbally describes the dimensions of the northeast channel #2 project (1:20)

while showing the remodeled drains in action. The video claims 12.4 million dollars (1:30) were

used towards the new upgrades but does not provide further information to confirm this figure.

The video shows a brief frame of a man in a suit presenting a map of the city with blurred

information (0:09), as well as what appears to be a board meeting with administrators viewing

thick binders (0:13), presumably the master plan mentioned, but gives no names for the

individuals shown or who they work for and can only be assumed that they are members of the

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EPWU company. The video alone does not provide concrete evidence that its data is accurate,

but a skeptic could search the utility company’s epwu.org website for more information.

Conclusion

The two genres previously compared are explicitly different and only relate in the general

scope of the topic. The monograph provides reliable informative data while the video only

briefly covers major current events. The book’s intended audience is extremely specific and

highly academic, while the video targets a region-specific audience regardless of education level.

The expectations created by the book’s physical limitations demand long, dedicated hours to the

subject and access to an academic library (although the book is available to buy on internet

markets, its dated publication would make it unlikely to be commonly sought after). In

comparison, the video only requires less than three minutes to view and can be viewed on many

technological platforms such as a phone, television, or computer. The vast difference in content

is emphasized by the presentation of information; the monograph requires advanced jargon and

mathematical skills to process whereas the video only requires a basic understanding of the

English language and the senses of sight and hearing. Overall both genres are effective at

communicating efficiently with their target audience and supporting their claims with the

necessary facts to convey their message without extraneous information.

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Bibliography

What has EPWU done lately to make El Paso more storm ready? El Paso, W. (Director). (2012,

October 19, 2012). [Video/DVD] El Paso, Texas: Retrieved from https://binged.it/2mbMNpa

Petts, G. E., & Foster, I. (1985). Rivers and landscape. Baltimore, Maryland: Edward Arnold.

Retrieved from http://0-

search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat04704a&AN=nug.b1346610&site=e

ds-live&scope=site

WaterWorld. (2012). El Paso water utilities streamlines customer field service with mobile

work management software. Retrieved from https://www.waterworld.com/articles/2012/02/el-paso-

water-streamlines-customer-field-service.html