Over the course of my first three weeks in ASTU, they have been mainly spent on learning and examining the many aspects about how to write and present essays at a scholarly university level. Topics such as ‘genre’ has been one of the key cornerstones of the class so far, a topic that continues to resurface during discussions. For the most part, I had always thought of ‘genre’ to only be limited to the type of books located in your typical, traditional school or public library. Never had I thought that ‘genre’ could be expanded to encompass other topics outside the said typical library.

Genre, from what I have learned in this class, is made up of a one, very simple equation, situation plus form. The situation being the situation from which it arose from, and the form being the specific way it is written or represented. Being in that class has taught me the many specific ways that information and media can be presented and classified as in their own genre, such as the new genre that I am being exposed to left and right in University, the genre of the Scholarly essay. The essays that I have been reading in other classes, such as in Sociology class, all mainly documents written by other professional researchers and journalists, written with the intent of being read by other professors and students at the university level. Within these essays were the use of specialized words along with a very high level of vocabulary used, and most importantly of all, the integration of citation, which has the upmost importance in a scholarly essay. A situation and form unique to that specific genre.

However, genre doesn’t only come in a professionally written form, genre can be manifested from other sources as well. Kate Douglas, in her scholarly essay, describes the selfie genre that is extremely popular on social media with teenagers. I see other people’s selfies on Facebook and other social media sharing websites, and it is indeed another genre. After reading Kate Douglas’ essay, I have come to realize that a plethora of different types of genres exist in everyday life, such as the specific way the nutritions label must be displayed on the side of consumables or the way that advertisements are created to grab your attention. Truly, genre surrounds us everyday. but unless you really think about it you would never see it.