This essay gives a lot of different examples on what a genre really is, it goes into explicit detail on genres. The main point of this essay is simple: She wants to show the reader how knowledge of genres goes far beyond a simple discussion of types. "My purposes are to expand your definition of genre (or to introduce you to a definition for the first time) and to help you start thinking about how genres might apply to your own writing endeavors. But above all, I hope to give you an awareness of how genres function by taking what is often quite theoretical in the field of rhetoric and composition and making it a bit more tangible." (250) And she does all this, she also talks about how she had to do research on how essays are suppose to be written when they are pointed towards students reading them. How the writer is suppose to seem more as a coach then a authority figure, because everyone knows that students ("younger" ones) relate better to people talking to them when that person is informing them by not speaking down to them, but instead by being at the same level and encouraging them.
Kerry Dirk uses a lot of different quotes for references, and they are from credible sources such as, Mary Jo Reiff, a professor who studies rhetoric and composition, Anne Freadman, a specialist in genre theory, Amy Devitt, a professor who specializes in the study of genre theory, Carolyn Miller, a leading professor in the field of technical communication.
"In other words, knowing what a genre is used for can help people to accomplish goals, whether that goal be getting a job by knowing how to write a stellar resume, winning a person's heart by writing a romantic love letter, or getting into college by writing an effective personal statement." (253) this paragraph from this essay is one of the many great description on how knowing what a genre is used for and utilizing it for what its worth can benefit anyone. Kelly Dirk points out that people participate in many different genres daily. For example, telling a joke or uploading a witty status on Facebook. She points out that all genres matter because they shape our everyday lives. "And by studying the genres that we find familiar, we can start to see how specific choices that writers make result in specific actions on the part of readers; it only follows that our own writer must too be purposefully written" (254) this quote goes back to my utilizing a genre for what its worth can be beneficial.
She gives some rules that tell writers exactly what to do and not to do while writing to relate rules there are with genres. Similarities within genres help us to communicate successfully, knowing what a genre is because you've seen it before and other people use it for the same thing kind of gives a norm for that genre. Kelly Dirk writes, "Imagine the chaos that would ensue if news broadcasts were done in raps, if all legal briefs were written in couplets, or if your teacher handed you a syllabus and told you that it must first be decoded." those situations happen differently and almost the same way every time because the similarity makes it simpler to read. "In language, too much variation results eventually in lack of meaning: mutual unintelligibility" (Devitt, "Genre" 53) a very help full quote she uses.
I believe she does a great job with informing others how to use and what are genres. She gives many examples and has great references. She backs up her statements with many credible quotes and she depicts other quotes or parts of articles to give even more in depth information on genres.
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