Browsing by Subject "Genre"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Blogging as Social Action: A Genre Analysis of the Weblog
    (University of Minnesota, 2004) Miller, Carolyn R.; Shepherd, Dawn
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    An examination of genre differences.
    (2010-08) Landers, Amy Kurivchack
    Texts are typically classified by researchers into one of two genres: narrative or expository. Narrative texts are meant to entertain (e.g., fictional novels and stories), while expository texts are meant to educate (e.g., text books and empirical articles) (Weaver & Bryant, 1995). One problem with this simple method for categorizing texts is that it is difficult to apply in practice, as there can be differing characteristics even within these genres that could influence reading processes (Wolfe, 2005). This is made more problematic by the fact that genre is rarely clearly operationally defined, which makes it difficult to know whether genre effects are truly due to genre differences, or due to other text characteristics that may be confounded with genre. This highlights a significant problem in current genre research, as the lack of a consistent definition makes it unclear how genre affects reading, if at all. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate this problem through a review of the literature and to identify a new model of genre through an empirical exploration of readers' perceptions of genre. Participants read a unique, randomly selected text and rated the text on 260 adjectives. The ratings were then used in a principle axis factor analysis to extract the relevant factors that underlie reader's perceptions of genre. Nine factors were extracted and the adjectives that loaded most highly onto each factor were used to create a series of scales. These scales represent a possible basis for a new model of genre. By creating a clear model of genre that is more easily applied, future research can begin to determine the true impact of genre differences on reading processes.
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    The Labyrinth Unbound: Weblogs as Literature
    (University of Minnesota, 2004) Himmer, Steve
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    Remediation, Genre, and Motivation: Key Concepts for Teaching with Weblogs
    (University of Minnesota, 2004) Brooks, Kevin; Nichols, Cindy; Priebe, Sybil
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    A textual analysis of the American journal of Chinese medicine: from spirituality to science.
    (2010-08) Wais-Hennen, Erin Marie
    This dissertation has taken as its principal object of study, the American Journal of Chinese Medicine. It has examined the textual features of that journal over a thirty-five year period as an indication of changes in the broader field of traditional Chinese medicine--how it is perceived and practiced by those in the field. The dissertation supplemented this textual analysis with interviews of practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine to see if these practitioners' reports of their own experiences in the field support the conclusion from the textual analysis. Specifically, this dissertation has been guided by three research questions. These research questions first look at what textual changes the AJCM has undergone over the last thirty-five years, and what do those changes explain about the culture of TCM as a whole. The rhetorical and linguistic features of the AJCM that were examined include: the use of headings, IMRD structure, biomedical noun-strings, a biomedical or traditional Chinese medical register, subject, audience, and article genre. Also, this study looks to answer the question, in what ways does the biomedicialization of TCM articles reflect change in traditional Chinese medicine? Finally, I sought to understand to what extent the ACJM has become more biomedicalized, and during this process, what has been lost or silenced. The results of this dissertation demonstrate and explain that over the last thirty-five years traditional Chinese medicine in America has become centered on biomedicine and the scientific method, which is a significant change from the early 1970s.