For example, essay writing is not ubiquitous or traditional in many cultures, but there is an assumption in Canadian post-secondary education that the essay is an important means of evaluation.
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In this chapter, we are mainly concerned with genres you will encounter in primarily English speaking, post-secondary schools in Canada, but genres definitely vary from one culture to another. For example, a quick nod or even a vocal form of greeting is expected in many cultures when you pass someone in close proximity (like when you are walking down the street). This repetition of certain forms of communication creates assumptions and expectations. As certain communication genres are repeated, they become habitual. These conventions are created through repetition. The central idea we’d like you to take away from this example is that genres are composed of conventions, and because of these conventions, we can make assumptions about the communication situations we find ourselves in (from ordering coffee to essay writing). Genres can also reinforce stereotypes and are not without their problems. This language is now common, and those who know it are part of that “coffee community” (as an aside, linking a communication genre to a brand is like winning Olympic Gold for advertisers). I think you can see that each coffee chain has a language that their patrons need to learn.
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What’s surprising is that these “repeated patterns” or genres tell us how to interact with each other in certain communication situations.
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Kerry Dirk explain that genre is a word we use to describe repeated patterns of communication. Put another way, genres are dynamic structures of communication that tell us how to behave in a variety of situations.
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Think of a genre as a kind of program or perhaps even a highly sophisticated algorithm that runs in the background during every act of communication, providing guidance about form, content, and interpretation. But genres are more than literary categories they are the communication norms that allow us to make sense of social situations. You might have been introduced to the word genre in high school as a way to classify a literary text, such as a novel, a sonnet, or a play. So why do we want you to start thinking of them as genres? Because once you understand types of academic writing as examples of different genres and learn how genre works as a concept, you will be able to read and write much more effectively (It’s true!). That is, the essays, lab reports, discussion forum posts, reports, and other types of common academic writing you do for your classes often get listed on a course syllabus as assignments or projects.
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The title of this chapter is Writing Projects, which would seem unrelated to genre, but for many undergraduate students, academic writing is understood not in terms of academic genres but as a series of writing projects or assignments. Nancy Ami Natalie Boldt Sara Humphreys Jemma Llewellyn and Erin Kelly 2.2 Genres, Stories, and Academic Writing