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Running head: GENRE ANALYSIS

Genre Analysis
Juan Miranda
University of Texas at El Paso

Introduction

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Today many people are effected by the lack of funding for cancer research. Most of
all, cancer patients are the ones affected. These individuals fight day in and day out in order
to see the light of day again surrounded by loved ones of which are doing all things possible
to help them. Through my research I have come across two distinct, informational pieces
about cancer research funding. One of these pieces is a scholarly peer-reviewed article on a
study of cancer funding, entitled a comparison of cancer burden and research spending
reveals discrepancies in the distribution of research funding, (Carter, A. R., & Nguyen
(2012). The other piece at hand of which, was also found through my research was an image
by the American Cancer Society entitled, Where does your money go? Within these two
genres we as readers seek to find which genre gives the audience a greater understanding on
how the money is received and used for cancer.

Audience and Purpose

As much as these publishers might want to inform us about their findings over cancer
funding, it is never so simple; Due to the multitude of information that can be presented.
These two publishers have to target a specific audience in order to have them fully interested
in to what you have to state. When it comes to the first genre by, Carter, A. R., & Nguyen,
they tend to lean towards more advanced/enthusiastic people, which want and are willing to
read a whole report over cancer funding in great detail. This is stated because, it is strictly an
informative research article, in order to convince the audience that there is a serious underfunding for some cancers. If an individual does come to read this report, they are likely to
already know that there is some problem with funding. This is true due the fact that it is a
very specific article that not just anybody will come across, unless you are to look for it
specifically through the internet on a data base which, requires a lot of searching to find. If an

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interested person is to come and read this article, they will take about 1 to 2 hours to fully
examine it. Contained within the article report is a large amounts of different scientific
terminology/language, which one would have to have previously known to understand
clearly.
As for the second piece by the American Cancer Society, the image of a pie graph
provided, present who the individuals are whom provide the money for cancer. The audience of
which they are trying to appeal to is the general public. The graph provided on their web site is
intended to inform people about who is providing for cancer funding. The audience may connect
with the purpose of the graph by being one of which is diagnosed with cancer or have a loved
one with the illness. The audience is likely to already know that not all money comes from the
government, and want to know how much is provided by each party to the cause, such as the
general public, government grants and contracts, and investment, (American Cancer Society,
2015). They might want to know this because of the possible bias of the partys due to life
events, such as a loved one with a common cancer, leaving less common cancers in the dark. A
person looking over this graph will take in the range of 5 to 10 minutes to fully review it. The
language on the graph is fairly formal and does not have much specific vocabulary, due to it
being just a graph with statistics which is normal. Between the two genres they are very different
due to the fact that the article by Carter, A. R., & Nguyen is strictly informational and
professional. Whereas the graph by the American Cancer Society is just to inform the general
public, it is cut, dry, and to the point and that is it with no supporting details. Also the article by
Carter, A. R., & Nguyen, C. N. (2012), is by a researcher on the subject of underfunding while
the graph by the American Cancer Society is by the people that handle the funding of cancer..

Rhetorical Issues

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Within every great informational piece there are always going to be issues that the
publisher has to face and these two are no different. On the article by Carter, A. R., & Nguyen
they establish credibility by using/stating the findings of other researchers such as Jamal A,
Siegel R, Jiaquan X, Ward E: Cancer Statistics, 2010. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians 2010,
60:277300, (Carter, A. R., & Nguyen, C. N. (2012), in order to support their claims, which in
turn aid their clams on the subject. On the graph by the American Cancer society they establish
their credibility through themselves. They do this by being the owner of the information and by
being the ones that hold the money provided, which helps fortify their claim on the numbers and
statistics. When talking about the article by Carter, A. R., & Nguyen they strive to evoke a sense
of urgency out of the audience by stating unbelievable statistics such as A measure of the
economic burden incurred by lost productivity due to cancer comes from estimating the "present
value of lifetime earnings" (PVLE) of all individuals that die from cancer in a given year [22],
(Carter, A. R., & Nguyen, C. N. (2012), which can influence others to help fight the
discrepancies. In the graph by the American Cancer Society, they wish to evoke a sense of
happiness and security, by showing the audience that they are using the funding well and
showing where the money is coming from, and what it is being used for. In the article by Carter,
A. R., & Nguyen, they use other findings from a multitude of other studies on the cancer and
funding. They also support their clams with statistics, which aids their research on the
differences of money for cancers. As for the image of a graph by the American Cancer Society,
the evidence that is being used to support its clams are statistics and recorded data collected in
2014, which makes it reliable.

Structure and delivery

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In order for any informational piece to be understood it has to be organized and both do
this in their own ways. With the article by, Carter, A. R., & Nguyen, they format their paper in to
a report format due to it being research based, and others that read it may be other researchers on
the topic. This article also organizes its information so that you get in to the bulk of information
about the actual statistics and research later in the report and it gives you the little of a
background on the cancer burden in the beginning so you know what they are conveying to you.
They help understand also by adding multiple graphs and charts, the display every section of
information presented so they can reiterate what you just read. These elements work together in
harmony in order to give the reader information slowly so they understand, while still providing
significant information.
The American Cancer Society organizes its information in to small numbers and labels
next to the graph, such as 144 million, 276 million, (American Cancer Society, 2015).This
genre organizes its information into graphs with colors and data, which capture the readers
attention, so that it is easy to see and understand the information, which makes its message easy
to convey to the audience. All these elements come together in order to make it as simple as
possible to understand. The difference between the two is that one is an article and one is an
image which are conveyed different. The similarity is that they are both trying to make it as
simple as possible to convey their message.

Conclusion
When comparing these two genres they are both excellently formatted and conveyed, but
one is overall the best at conveying its message. The one which conveyed its message best was
the article by Carter, A. R., & Nguyen. This is stated because they both gave statistics and

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information but this article did it with superior organization and gave the audience more
information in depth. This article even got what the image did, in this case graphs and did them
better and did them for most of its information in order to also help is information be understood
more clearly. They might have more information on the subject which can in certain occasions be
a burden to the reader but in this case they made it easy to follow. Some sources can have just the
right amount of information and controlled chaos which can lead groups of people to follow and
aid in their purpose, which this article did all too well.

References

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American Cancer Society. (2015). Where does your money go? Retrieved January 27, 2016,
from American Cancer Society website:
http://www.cancer.org/research/infographicgallery/where-does-money-go-2015

Carter, A. R., & Nguyen, C. N. (2012). A comparison of cancer burden and research spending
reveals discrepancies in the distribution of research funding. BMC Public Health, 12(1), 526537. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-12-526