Exercise 1-1C: Blog Post Genre Analysis

Your instructor will provide you with a sample blog post.  Review this sample and consider the following questions:

• How is language used to fit the audience?

• How does the structure of the blog help the reader understand the main concepts?

• What are the elements that are specific to this genre?

• What do you notice about how the page is laid out?  Pay attention to fonts, line spacing, colors, sizes, contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity, and balance.
• Does the page include visuals? What type?
• Do the design choices promote or distract from readability?
• What does the structure of this genre suggest about how it is meant to be read (i.e. is it read straight through beginning to end, skimmed, sampled section by section)?

• Is the author’s use of specialized language appropriate for the audience?

• How would you describe the style of the writing?  
  • Does the author use jargon?  
  • Is the language concise or wordy?  
  • Is the language formal or more casual? 
  • How much does the author assume their audience knows about the topic?

For an editable Google doc of this exercise that you can download, click here.