Breaking Down a "Quick Reference Guide"
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- What purpose(s) does this genre usually serve?
The purpose of a Quick Reference Guide is to breakdown a certain situation and create a comprehensive written text that provides the reader with digestible information. Along with pictures, infographics, and pull quotes, the Quick Reference Guide feeds important information to the reader; they get the point across even if the reader chooses not to read the entire article.
- Where, how, or in what context do readers usually find this genre?
This genre is used a lot in magazines and/or online articles. Quick Reference Guides are meant to hit the Who? What? Where When? Why? and Hows? of any situation or topic being discussed.
- Who is the typical audience for this genre?
Honestly anyone can be the audience for this genre, but it seems to target those who want to "stay in the now" without fully committing to reading an article.
- What are some of the key features or characteristics that are unique to this genre, distinguishing it from other texts?
The information that is chosen to stand out in the guide allows the reader to skim, which, hopefully, will get them to read the entire article. The pictures included always stay relevant to the topic at hand. Also, the articles are always split in chunks, each with a title that covers certain aspects of the situations. It seems to cover all the information that you would find in the "Frequently Asked Questions" of any website.
- Based on your answers to the questions above, come up with a definition in your own words for this genre.
A Quick Reference Guide is a collection of brief summaries about a certain topic meant to easily inform the reader about any subject and/or issue.
Reflection:
The two blogposts I reviewed were Jack Auslen's post on Video Essay's and Ryan Spacek's breakdown on what a podcast is. Jack's post really had me thinking about how useful a Video Essay actual is. It expands on your average written essays by adding audio and visual aids. He notes that it provides closure to the viewer, because it covers all aspects of the topic. The additive media allows the reader to remember certain parts of the essay that the author wanted them to. It is much harder to do this in a written essay when all you have are words. I will definitely be using this genre when I have a topic that I really want to go in-depth with and provide as much information as possible. Ryan's post perfectly covered what a podcast is and he really sold all the key factors of what makes a podcast so great. The ease-of-use which basically allows anyone of all ages create a podcast. The potential for live-streaming or uploading shortly after it is recorded, ensures that the issue is always up to date. The audience really depends on the subject being discussed, which makes this platform applicable to EVERYONE. The podcast is great to inform someone about a very specific topic and keep people "in the now," I will definitely keep this in mind when selecting a genre for my projects.
Reflection:
The two blogposts I reviewed were Jack Auslen's post on Video Essay's and Ryan Spacek's breakdown on what a podcast is. Jack's post really had me thinking about how useful a Video Essay actual is. It expands on your average written essays by adding audio and visual aids. He notes that it provides closure to the viewer, because it covers all aspects of the topic. The additive media allows the reader to remember certain parts of the essay that the author wanted them to. It is much harder to do this in a written essay when all you have are words. I will definitely be using this genre when I have a topic that I really want to go in-depth with and provide as much information as possible. Ryan's post perfectly covered what a podcast is and he really sold all the key factors of what makes a podcast so great. The ease-of-use which basically allows anyone of all ages create a podcast. The potential for live-streaming or uploading shortly after it is recorded, ensures that the issue is always up to date. The audience really depends on the subject being discussed, which makes this platform applicable to EVERYONE. The podcast is great to inform someone about a very specific topic and keep people "in the now," I will definitely keep this in mind when selecting a genre for my projects.
Hi PJ! I found your post on quick reference guides to be really interesting. From your description of these guides, they sound very similar to video essays. Both have to be concise and explain information in an interesting way. This seems to be especially true regarding reference guide, since they don't have the visual aspects that video essays do. All in all, your post really helped me understand the similarities between these genres and how methods of creating them can overlap.
ReplyDeletePJ,
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job at describing the aspects of a Quick Reference Guide. I also wrote about Quick Reference Guides and came to the same conclusions. They serve a purpose of giving their audience quick, summarized information, while still being concise and detailed. However, I think there is a larger audience than you explained. While some people only skim the articles, there are also people who are fully engaged and even read all of the links that the article provides as well. But, all in all, your post was very well written and informative.
Pj,
ReplyDeleteI thought you did an excellent job detailing the Quick Reference Guide. I also thought it was very informational and helpful in understanding the guide itself. It helped me personally better understand the purpose of the guide, which I understood was to not only serve the purpose of sending a short and sweet message to your audience, but to also include much detail. All in all your post was very successful in helping readers better understand the Quick Reference Guide.
Note on conventions of the blog post genre: Revisit Step 1.5 from "Deadline 1" to re-familiarize yourself with the conventions of blogging. You're missing one item on the bulleted list of conventions there.
ReplyDelete