Friday, September 11, 2015

QRGs: The Genre

For this post I will describe the details of what a Quick Reference Guide is. This includes the conventions (and what they mean), graphics choices and other various parts of a QRG.



Gregory, Ed. "Mans Hands Typing On Laptop With Smartphone, Book And Coffee" 9/9/14 via Pexels. Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license

What do the conventions this genre seem to be?
The conventions of a QRG seem very similar to a typical blog post. However, it does have its differences. The conventions of a Quick Reference Guide are:
  • Title including main subject of the post
  • Relevant image (cited) and statistical data
  • Short, concise paragraphs
  • Use of headings for each new detail explained (usually phrased as questions)
  • Hyperlinking relevant articles referenced within the post
How are those conventions defined by the author's formatting and design choices?
These conventions are reflected within a post due to the author's preferences. Overall, all authors split up their article into sections that explain a question (as shown by a new heading that is in bold an in bigger font) and include at least one image. However, an author can choose to include only statistics,an image to invoke emotion in their audience, or even social media posts. Also, authors typically incorporate their hyperlinks into their paragraphs.

What does the purpose of these QRGs seem to be?
I feel that the purpose of the QRG is to compose an easily accessable, literal "quick reference" for any controversy or event that is happening in current news. Instead of having to look through all different types of articles, videos and interviews, a reader can just go to a Quick Reference Guide and can get all the information about all sides of the story within one article. 

Who is the intended audience for these different QRGs?
For all QRGs, the intended audience is the same for their relative subjects. Their audience consists of people that wish to learn the main points about a certain event or controversy. Typically, they aim their articles toward those who have simply heard about the subject discussed as they describe their subject starting from the beginning and tell both sides of the story. The only thing different about every QRG is their topic and the people interested in their respective topics.

How do the QRGs use imagery or visuals? Why?
The authors use different types of images for different purposes. They use normal pictures to either appeal to the audience's emotion or to give the audience imagery of the subject so that they better understand it. They also use images of statistics to present data in a concise manner that is easy to understand.


Reflection:

After reading through the other posts, I mostly learned about how to organize my posts and how detailed to be within them.

For example, both Annelise and Jenny  both used bullet points to their advantage. Both were able to be very detailed about each convention without creating a wall of text. I feel that with paragraph format, being detailed can sometimes make the post difficult to read. Also, along with reading Thomas' post, all of my classmates were able to understand when to use bullet points and when not to use them. For my future posts, I will attempt to be more organized, which will allow me to be more detailed.

3 comments:

  1. You used less bullet points than the other blogs that I read which is more of my style. I think that it is a nice combination of traditional essay writing and the new blog internet style of writing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You used less bullet points than the other blogs that I read which is more of my style. I think that it is a nice combination of traditional essay writing and the new blog internet style of writing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I strongly agree with your statement: "The conventions of a QRG seem very similar to a typical blog post.". I also felt like QRG is simply a continuation of the blog genre. In it's essence a QRG is a blog post, however since now it has a very specific purpose, that dictates the increase in length, different organization, etc, but the constraints of a traditional blog post (short&simple, images, hyperlinks, lead) still apply.

    ReplyDelete