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Robert Guzman Mrs. Wolcott ENC 1102 September 18, 2013 Genre Analysis for Patient Education and Counseling The medical field has become a controversial area of study in which only the people most adept to todays stress are able to succeed; however, its not mainly your ability to cope with stress but how to operate within a discourse community and utilize its genres. I have three genres from the medical field from the source: Patient Education and Counseling. These genres address their discourse community in logos, which is the ability to communicate a message through logic. Ethos, which is the ability to communicate something through credibility and authority. They also communicate through pathos, the ability to feel, sense and convey emotion. A genre by definition is what a discourse community utilizes to get thing done. However, according to Devitt genre is much more complex than that, a "genre is a dynamic response to and construction of recurring situation, one that changes historically and in different social groups, that adapts and grows as the social context changes" (Devitt, 580). The recurring situations allows a discourse community respond to the different situations in a certain manner or reconstruct it in a way that creates a better outcome. For example, in a basketball game a coach might start out with a strategy to win, but upon observing how the opposing team plays he will change his strategy come up with a win and accomplish his goal for the team. Genres must be easily accessible for non-discourse community members in order be useful. However genres need to be specific in order to be effective. Misunderstandings can occur between separate discourse communities. For example, a court trial and how a jurys

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misinterpretation of a legal instructions genre could have serious consequences, a man was sentenced guilty because of the judges inability to define his or her intentions toward the suspect. In order for a genre to carry out its purpose it must be easy to understand and clear.

Each of my genres talk about different topics, but all are related to medicine in some way. My first genre talks about how a doctors attire influences the patient doctor relationship. This genre has one chart and one graph to display the information and credibility it holds. It is using both of the logos and ethos appeals. This genre is structured in subsections. It is structured this way because the audience that it is trying to reach communicates in this way. It has fifty three references in total, which only adds more authority and credibility to its subject. The genres ties together empathy and a doctors attire, a combination which will have lasting influences on the patient and might help build a relationship between the doctor and the patient. My second genre talks about the effect of communication and training skills on residents physiological arousal in a breaking bad news simulated task. My third genre speaks about the effects of using conversational transcripts to help medical students improve their use of open questions in soliciting patient problems.