Running Head: Genre Analysis

Genre Analysis By Tim Steffler

Genre Analysis Introduction The subject of the two genre pieces that will be discussed in this paper is academics versus athletics in higher education. This is a very delicate issue over how resources should be applied in higher education. The two sources are College Sports vs. Academics: A losing game and Have Athletics Outscored Education? The first source is a news media article and written by Celia R. Baker of the Deseret News. The second source is a video interview blog aired on Huffpost Live and hosted by Marc Lamont Hill. The first genre source states that athletic spending in higher education is focused on more than the spending on actual academics. The second genre source is a discussion between experts of many fields on whether or not athletics has become more important than academics. The resulting answer they provide that money universities receive is being drastically and not properly distributed in the system, that athletics is deemed more important than education. Purpose and Audience The news media article purpose is to inform the audience just how much more money and importance is being allocated to athletics, while academics continue to become less important. The article is not meant to entertain the audience but rather prove what everyone already knows; that athletics is considered way more important than education into todays world. The intended audience was college students, parents, athletes and anyone who is involved with currents events and follows the news. Another audience may be people doing specific research on the subject of athletics versus academics. Most audiences would already have heard the rumor that athletics is held in more importance in academics. The purpose of this article is to give them statistical data

Genre Analysis from many experts showing exactly where the money and other resources are being used and validate what they already know. The reader would have to spend a good twenty to thirty minutes reading this article to get its full benefits. The credibility of this article must now be approached. Rhetorical: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos The article takes on a more serious tone and backs up its information with more numbers and statistics. Also it does not show both sides of the argument and just focuses on how many resources are being funded back into athletics while academics keep losing support. One of the limits to the article is that it is only in text form with limited visuals takes away from how many people it can reach. The credibility of the article is validated by the statistics and quotes from reliable sources. These sources are described and given information where they can be located. Obviously it is a well-read paper, so its validity is supported through its continued existence. It also provides a visual source in addition that provides credibility through the fact that is was created from the study that was done in association with the article. The visual shows just where the money is going backing up the textual information. A visual attracts those who are not necessarily attracted by words. The effectiveness of the article is supported by the researched facts and professional statements supplied within the paper. Also information was gotten from a professional database that a link was provided for the reader. The only thing that may limit its effectiveness is the authors personal beliefs but she seemed to remain objective and only provide facts. This leads to discuss the articles emotional affects. The article emotional response was to cause guilt and disgust at the fact at what higher education has become. Also anger in some of the audience was a reaction. The

Genre Analysis urge to do something was also an emotional she was reaching for. She wanted people to people to realize just how corrupt the college system is and give people the urge to take action. There was also anger and disgust in the audience who actually have to pay or attend college. They are putting all this time and money into these institutions where education is not the highest priority of the college. People want to get the best education for their money. Structure The structure of the news article organized into statements and than supporting details. The information is very straightforward and does not stray from subject. The author does place a visual near the beginning to draw the eye of someone just browsing and right below that is another visual to demonstrate how money is divided with the college system. The article slowly works it way into the information first giving the reader a background and getting them hooked before jumping into the heavy information. Putting more and more information as it goes along. The length of the article is not too long as to not bore the audience. The style and language the article must now be approached. Style and Language The language is very formal and stays professional and statistical. The language does have a little specialization with the numbers and facts provided. It did have a few accounting terms but the author kept it very basic as to no scare off the average person. She wanted to have a wider audience so the vocabulary is not very difficult. The page is very bland visually when it comes to colors. They title and section titles were bolded. Making the page pop with color and visuals was not really focused on in the article. It

Genre Analysis was not without visuals though; they could draw you in with the basketball player at the top. The importance of this paper was in the supporting details. The article was very convincing in its argument but now to talk about the video interview genre. Purpose and Audience The purpose of the video interview was to inform also but it also included a little comedy to entertain while providing many points of view on just how athletics vs. academics affects college, students and athletes. It does focus a little more on that athletics is focused on too much and education should be the number one priority instead. The video interview did not solely focus on the fact that athletics was over supported it also had an expert on the National College Athletics Association (NCAA) to argue the rights of athletes, but he was outnumbered by the others being interviewed. The intended audience was inclined to a younger generation because it leaned to a more comical side to better keep their attention. Also the parents could have been an intended audience cause they are involved in their childrens college life. They people being interviewed were younger and either or professors to better appeal to the college generation. This genre also plays off what people already know and looks to deepen that knowledge while keeping it fun. The audience will want to know but it affects those who are in college and the family members of those who are in college. The audience will spend at least forty min with this video. Rhetorical: Ethos, Pathos and Logos The video focuses more on expert testimony and because it adds a little humor, is an audio and visual method; it has a wider audience base. Audiences are more willing to watch a video than read information in todays age. This video takes into account both

Genre Analysis sides of the argument also giving it a wider target audience. The interviewer remains objective and does not taking sides keeping the interview flowing smoothly. The credibility now must be discussed and looked at. The video establishes its credibility by actually interviewing subjects who are experts in multiple aspects of the argument. Each person in the interview has a specific area of expertise and their credentials were provided, including their contact information. It was not a scripted act, the people had no idea what questions were coming, so the answers were not prepared, so this made them more credible in their answers. The emotions this video was going for was humor, anger, sympathy and a little caring. The humor aspect was that both the interviewer and interviewees kept it fun and serious at the same time to better keep the audience attention. Anger was a possible reaction because so many resources are poured into athletics and not focusing on the educational aspect for the students. Sympathy for the athletes who are only used for their athletic ability and when they become broken or useless, they are left behind with no scholarship and crappy education. Caring because they were trying to push people to realize that this uneven balance between the two is a problem, education is why students are there in the first place. All the information in the video is supported by expert opinion though interview questions. This is appropriate because people respond better to actual people answering questions than rather just written information. The answers were more believable because there was no preparation for the questions so their answers were more sincere. Though their statements could have been called into question because some of them were

Genre Analysis jokingly in their answers and did not seem serious. The people interviewed were all professionals and picked for backgrounds relating to the subject at hand. Structure The video was more free form and although it does have a question/answer format, there is a little freedom for the interviewees to answer when they want and for the interviewer to do the same. It was all video and audio so there was no real physical layout. There may have been a timeline controlled by the interviewer, he kept it moving and ended it when his time was up. He started with question to introduce the topic better and got more technical as it went along. The language and style of the video were different than the news article. Style and Language The language of the video is both formal and informal depending on which person was speaking. Their was specialized vocabulary especially from the business professor, he used allot of business and accounting terms. The other interviewees kept their language pretty simple and easy to understand. There were no real visual effects to the video; it was more about the dialogue. Comparison The two had many similarities bust all differed in many ways. They were both on the side that academics is not held and supported to the level it should be. They both back up their main ideas with supporting details and facts. The video interviewer covered both sides of the argument while the new article only covered one side. They were both looking to cause anger or a desire to fix the problem. The informations credibility between the two genres was not very similar. The news article provided statistics and

Genre Analysis facts that you could verify while the video interview gave you expert testimonial that you had to take at face value. The video had an advantage because it was live; the information was more believable because it was not scripted. The emotional responses were different; the video had a wider array of emotions it could cause than the new article. The video went for a comical and sympathy approach on top of the ones it shared with the article. The structures were very different. They relied on two very different types to get their information across. The article was straighter and to the point and more serious approach. The facts of the article were more uniform and didnt change form. The video did not have a set structure and could have many different outcomes and kept your attention better cause you didnt know when something important would be said. They both followed a form of introducing the topic and getting more specific as it went along. The difference in language was very apparent. The language of the news article was way more formal than the video interview. There was a more relaxed air about the video. The specialized vocabulary of the two genres was also very different. The news article kept it simple so many people could read and understand. While the video interview got a little more technical, a little business lingo, but for the most part everyone else spoke with little specialized vocabulary. The article had more visual styles to draw in the reader. The video was one complete visual and did not utilize any text. The article relied more on bold section titles and picture visuals than the video did. The video style was much different in that in stuck to the question/answer style. Conclusion In conclusion, neither genre had a greater affect in conveying its message. They both had their strength and weaknesses. The news article was really well put together and

Genre Analysis had excellent supporting information. It was not really attention riveting though and you lose interest quickly unless you were already passionate about the subject. Now the video did keep it more interesting by adding the comical aspect but it length made it hard to pay attention to the whole video. They both fought for their cause really well and had the facts to back them up. What it really comes down to is they were for two totally different types of audiences. The article being more textual and the video being all visual and audio, the same audience would not be reading or watching them both. If one did have to choose to learn about the topic, it would be in their best interest to read the article. Just because it was not to long and got its point across quickly and effectively. It was not too difficult to understand and more informational than the video. Genre has a great deal of affect on the discourse; the more audience you can reach with your genre is the most important part of the whole thing. So incorporating multiple genres together will give you the best chance to reach more people. Your best option would be to combine textual and visual genres. This concludes this analysis and do not forget genre is your friend.

Genre Analysis Reference Page Baker, C.R. College Sports vs. Academics: A Losing Game.www.deseretnews.com. February 23, 2013. Deseret News. Online Article. February 8, 2014. Huffpost Live. Has Athletics Outscored Education? live.huffingtonpost.com. October 10, 2012. Huffington Post. Video Interview. February 8, 2014.

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