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Janet Lin
Writing 2
Wilson
14 October 2015
WP1
A genre, a category of similar sources, follows its own unique characteristics that helps
distinguish itself from other types of genres. Each genre consists of its own discourse
community, a group of like-minded people who operate through conventions by communicating
about a specific topic. According to John Swales, the author of the article, The Concept of
Discourse Community, discourse communities follow six components: common public goals,
communication between members, presence of essential information, existence of multiple
genres, use of specific jargon, and balance of knowledge. Discussions about badminton have
been written in how-to articles and magazines, two genres with both distinct and overlapping
conventions.
How-to articles are a type of genre whose purpose is to guide readers through a process
using simple steps. Found in numerous resources such as magazines, books, or on the Internet,
how-to articles are easily accessible to interested readers. Online how-to articles often provide a
comments section at the bottom of the article in which readers can comment or question certain
parts of the article. The presence of this section establishes a relationship between all of the
interested readers. Readers of such articles are usually novices who are interested in a particular
topic, and expect the article to be direct with easy-to-follow directions. Therefore, the goal of
badminton how-to articles is to inform readers on the game of badminton and to develop a sense
of strategy. To meet readers expectations, the authors of how-to articles typically incorporate a

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short introductory paragraph to inform background information and introduce objectives to
readers. Through a casual tone, authors construct simple and direct sentence structures to make
the instructions easier to follow. Common language is used so that the general audience is able to
comprehend the directions. Bullet points are often used to reiterate the main points. In addition,
visual representations of each step is provided to appeal to visual learners. The use of these
techniques can be seen through Wikihows article, How to Play Badminton Better. The author
emphasized the main point in bold, provided a short explanation about the steps, and included
pictures. Authors of this genre also format how-to articles in a simple, straight-forward layout
that makes it easy to read. For example, this Wikihow author formats his article with sections
each step goes in its own box with a visual representation for each step. At the end of the
article, Wikihow includes a tip box and a recapitulation of the main points of the article. While
authors tend to make the structure and content of articles as simple as possible to ensure full
understanding from readers, they and their communities have their own lexis. Some badminton
terminologies are used in the articles, such as drop shots and slicing the shots (Wikihow).
Because readers of such articles are usually beginners, the degree of jargon used may correlate
with the number of members in the community. If the level of jargon is exceptionally high, then
the number of readers will decrease. According to Swales, the survival of the community
depends on a reasonable ratio between novices and experts (Swale 473). When readers are
improving with the help of experts, in this case, the article, then more people will join the
community. Through the use of non-formal language and its simplistic layout and format, how-to
articles are readers go-to resource for step-by step guidance through a process.
Building up from how-to articles, magazine articles falls into another set of genre in
which the purpose is to update readers on current events, world rankings, and special offers.

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Readers of magazine articles usually read for leisure and expect to be updated on upcoming
events and rankings. They also browse through advertisements and guides, seeing what interests
them. The structure, appearance, and layout of a magazine are crucial factors in the success of
the magazine. The use of an eye-catching cover photo with attention-grabbing headlines
correlates to a magazines success. For instance, in Badminton Monthly Issue #9, the cover
includes the headline The Olympic Race is On with different photos of top badminton players.
Striking cover photos with attention-grabbing headlines are key in attracting the attention of
consumers. Colorful texts and pictures are also used to make the magazine more appealing. Just
like how-to articles, magazines also incorporate many visuals; however, magazine visuals are
mainly used for aesthetic presentations, not for learning purposes. Unlike how-to articles, which
only focus on guiding readers through a process, magazine articles cover a wide range of topics.
While how-to articles aim towards readers with a specific interest, magazine articles aim towards
readers with broader interests. The tone in magazine articles is usually informal, but it may
slightly vary due to its array of topics. Articles such as worldwide tournament rankings and news
updates are usually written more formally, while interview articles and personal stories of
athletes are usually in a non-formal perspective. Advertisements are also scattered throughout the
magazine to promote their products. The advertisements included are usually related to the topic
of the magazine. In Badminton Monthly Issue #9, Synergy Badminton Academy promotes its
classes and tournaments; badminton apparel and equipment are also advertised. Because
magazine articles cover a range of topics, a table of contents is usually included in the beginning
of the magazine. This allows readers to pinpoint the article that they find most interesting and
appealing. With these sets of conventions, magazines are enjoyed by many readers, regardless if
they are reading for fun or if they are reading for additional knowledge.

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All in all, different genres share similar and different conventions. The purpose of how-to
articles is to provide a guide for readers who want to learn something new. Direct sentences are
created to promote an easy step-by-step instruction for interested readers who wants to
accomplish a specific goal. On the other hand, the purpose of magazine articles is to inform
readers on recent news as well as advertise products. Because of their topic variety, magazine
articles appeal to readers with different interests. With different objectives, the distinct
characteristics of how-to genres and magazine genres contribute to the different writing
techniques implemented in order to decipher between each genre as well as to attract readers
interests through different forms.

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Works Cited
"Badminton Monthly Issue #9." FlipSnack. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.flipsnack.com/BadmintonMonthly/badminton-monthly-issue-9.html>.
"How to Play Badminton Better." WikiHow. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Badminton-Better>.
Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. Genre Analysis: English in Academic
and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 21-32. Print.