Genre Cards

Science Fiction

• A Fiction Narration • A science fiction story tells about real and fake developments in both technology and science, as well as their effects on the way people live and think. Popular topics in science fiction are space travel, robots, and life in the future.

Tall Tales

• A Fiction Narration • A tall tale is easily distinguishable from other types of stories because it tells of characters who are larger-than-life in realistic settings. These characters can normally perform amazing acts of strength and bravery.

Historical Fiction

• A Fiction Narration • Historical fiction is about imaginary people that live in real places and times in history. The main characters are usually fictional people who know and interact with famous people or participate in important historical events.

Mystery Stories

• A Fiction Narration • Mysteries present unexplained or strange events that the characters try to solve. The stories are popular, most likely because they are normally packed full of suspense and surprises. Some characters in mystery stories, like Sherlock Holmes, have become so famous that many people think of them as real people.

• Nonfiction Narration •

Any kind of literary text that tells the story about real events, people, or ideas. It can take the form of well-developed conflict and resolution. interesting and believable characters, a range of literary strategies, such as dialogue and suspense. Forms: Personal Narrative • Biographical Narrative • Blog • Diary and Journal Entries • Eyewitness Accounts • Memoir • Reflective Essay

• Exposition •

Exposition is writing seeking to communicate an idea or information to a specific audience for a specific purposes. These pieces rely on facts to inform or explain the information. An effective expository piece has good organization, with an effective introduction, body, and conclusion. It will also use a variety of sentence structures and rhetorical devices. Forms: Analytical Essay • Compare-and-Contrast Essay • Cause-and-Effect Essay • Classification Essay • Problem-Solution Essay • Pro-Con Essay • Newspaper and Magazine Articles • Internet Articles • On-Demand Writing

• Fiction Narration •

Fiction narrations are literary texts that tell a story about fictional people, events, and ideas. They normally contain elements such as characters, a setting, a sequence of events, and a theme. The writings will make use of literary strategies such as dialogue and suspense. Forms: Realistic Fiction • Fantasy Stories • Historical Fiction • Mystery Stories • Myths and Legends • Science Fiction • Tall Tales

• Persuasion •

Persuasive writing aims to influence the attitudes and actions of a specific audience on a certain issue. Strong persuasive texts are logically organized and clearly describe the issue. They also provide precise and relevant evidence that support a clear thesis statement. A persuasive writing may have diagrams, charts, or graphs. These visuals can help convince the reader. Forms: Persuasive Essay or Argumentative Essays • Persuasive Speeches • Editorials • Op-Ed Pieces • Letters to the Editor • Reviews • Advertisements • Propaganda

• Poetry and Description •

Poetry and other kinds of descriptive writings express feelings and ideas about real and imaginary people, events, and ideas. They will often use rhythm, rhyme, precise language, and sensory details to create vivid images. They will also use figurative language to express ideas in new and interesting ways. Forms: Ballad • Free Verse • Prose Poem • Sonnet • Haiku • Other Descriptive Writings

• Research Writing •

Research writing is based on factual information from outside sources. Research reports organize and present ideas and information to achieve a particular purpose and reach a specific audience. They present evidence in support of a clear thesis statement. Forms: Research Reports and Documented Essays • Experiment Journals and Lap Reports • Statistical Analysis Reports • Annotated Bibliographies

• Response to Literature •

Responses to literature analyze and interpret an author's work. They use clear thesis statements and evidence from the text to support the writer's ideas. They also evaluate how well authors have accomplished their goals. effective responses to literature extend beyond literal analysis to evaluate and discuss how and why the text is effective or not. Forms: Critical Review • Compare-and-Contrast Essays • Letters to Authors • Blog Comments

Writing for Media

The world of communication has changed significantly in recent years. In addition to writing for print media such as magazines and books, writers also write for a variety of other media, in forms such as: • Scripts for screenplays, video games, and documentaries • Storyboards for graphic novels and advertisements • Packaging for every kind of product • Websites and blogs Forms: Scripts • Blogs • Advertisements

• Workplace Writing •

Workplace writing is writing done on the job or as part of a job, often in an office setting. It usually communicates details about a particular job or work project. This type of writing features organized and accurately conveyed information and should include reader-friendly formatting techniques, such as clearly defined sections and enough blank space for easy reading. Forms: Business Letters and Friendly Letters • Memos • E-Mails • Forms • Instructions • Project Plans • Résumés • College Applications • Job Applications

Myths and Legends

• A Fiction Narration • Myths and legends are normally traditional stories that are told in cultures around the world. They were created to explain natural events that people couldn't explain or understand otherwise. They may tell about the origin of fire or thunder, for example. Many of these include gods, goddesses, and heroes who perform superhuman actions.

Realistic Fiction

• A Fiction Narration • Realistic fiction portrays characters and events created by the author in everyday situations, most that readers would find familiar. Even though characters can be imaginary, many writers use real individuals in their own lives as a basis for the fictional ones. As it's based on everyday life, the situations presented are often problem many people face on a daily basis.

Fantasy Stories

• A Fiction Narration • These stories stretch the imagination and take the reader to a fictional world. People may fly, animals may talk, or characters may be superhuman. Good fantasy stories have the elements of narrative fiction and manage to keep the fantastic elements believable.

Blogs

• A Nonfiction Narration • A blog is an online journal that may include reflections, opinions, autobiographical narratives, and other types of comments. They can reflect genres other than nonfiction as well, such as expository writing. Blogs may include media such as photos, videos, or music.

Eyewitness Accounts

• A Nonfiction Narration • An eyewitness account is a nonfiction writing that focuses on historical or other important events. While the writer is the narrator and shares his or her thoughts about the event, they are not the writing's main focus.

Diary and Journal Entries

• A Nonfiction Narration • In a diary or journal, writers record their personal thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Writers will sometimes keep a diary or journal for years, and then analyze how they reacted to various events over time.

Biographical Narrative

• A Nonfiction Narration • In these writings, the author shares facts about another's life. They may describe an important period, experience, or relationship in that other person's life, but the information is presented from the author's perspective.

Memoirs

• A Nonfiction Narration • Memoirs usually focus on meaningful scenes from a writer's life. The scenes often reflect on moments of a personal discovers or significant decision.

Reflective Essays

• A Nonfiction Narration • Reflective essays present personal experiences, which either happened to the author or they learned from someone else. These generally focus on sharing observations and insights they had while thinking about the experiences.

Personal Narratives

• A Nonfiction Narration • These tell true stories about events in a writers life. They are also called biographical essays. The stories may tell about an relationship or experience that's important to the author, who is the main character.

Persuasive Essays or Argumentative Essays

• A Persuasive Piece • A persuasive essay or argumentative essay uses logic and reasoning to persuade readers to adopt a certain point of view, or to take action. Strong persuasive essays start with a clear thesis statement and provide supporting arguments based on evidence. They also anticipate readers' counter-arguments and respond to them as well.

Advertisements

• A Persuasive Piece • Advertisements are paid announcements that try to convince people to buy something or do something. A good advertisement uses a hook to grab your attention and support the claims. They normally contain vidid, persuasive language and multimedia techniques to appeal to a certain audience.

Editorials

• A Persuasive Piece • Editorials appear in newspapers, magazines, and on the television, radio, or the Internet. They state the opinion of the editors and publishers of news organizations. Editorials usually present an opinion about a current issue, starting with a clear thesis statement and then offering strong supporting evidence.

Op-Ed Pieces

• A Persuasive Piece • Op-Ed pieces are essays that try to convince readers of a publication to agree with the writer's views on an issue. The writer may not work for the publication, and is often an expert on the issue or has an interesting point of view. The writer is identified so that people can judge his or her qualifications.

Persuasive Speeches

• A Persuasive Piece • Persuasive speeches are presented aloud, and they aim to win an audience's support for a policy, position, or action. These speeches often appeal to emotion and reason to convince an audience. Speakers sometimes change their script in order to address each specific audience's concerns.

Propaganda

• A Persuasive Piece • Propaganda uses emotional appeals and often biased, false, or misleading information to persuade people to think or act a certain way. Propaganda may tap into a person's strongest emotions by generating fear or attacking their ideas of loyalty or patriotism. Since propaganda appears to be objective, it's wise to know the ways it can manipulate someone's opinions and actions.

Letters to the Editor

• A Persuasive Piece • Readers write letters to editors at print and Internet publications to express opinions in response to previously published articles. A good letter to the editor gives an accurate and honest representation of the writer's views.

Reviews

• A Persuasive Piece • Reviews evaluate items and activities from the author's point of view. This includes books, movies, plays, and music. Reviews often state opinions on an item or activity's quality and supports the opinions with examples, facts, and other evidence.

Free Verse

• A Poem • A free verse poem is a poem that has no regular rhyme, rhythm, or form. A free verse poem captures the patterns of natural speech instead, and it can be on almost anything. The poet will write in whatever form they think fits the ideas best.

Prose Poem

• A Poem • A prose poem has many features present in other poetry, as it has rhythm, repetition, and vivid imagery. It's different from other poems in one important way: it takes the form of a prose or non-verse writing. This means that a prose poem may look like a short story on a page.

Ballad

• A Poem • Ballads are forms of lyric poetry that express the poet's emotions toward a certain person or thing. They rhyme, and some will have refrains that repeat after each stanza. This makes ballads easy to translate into songs. Traditional folk ballads were passed down as oral poems or songs in many places, and then written later. Some ballads tell of cultural heroes, while others tell sad stories or make fun of certain events.

Haiku

• A Poem • Haikus are non-rhyming poems that were developed in Japan hundreds of years ago. Many poets who write English haikus write the poems with three lines. The first line has seven syllables, the second has five, and the third has seven again. Poets who write haikus often write about nature and use vivid visual images.

Sonnet

• A Poem • Sonnets are forms of rhyming lyric poetry with set rules. A sonnet is 14 lines long, and it usually follows a rhythm scheme called iambic pentameter. Each line has ten syllables, and every other syllable is accented.

Statistical Analysis Reports

• A Research Writing • A statistical analysis report presents numerical data. Writers of this type of report must explain how they gathered their information, analyze their data, tell what significance the findings may have, and explain how these findings support their thesis statement.

Annotated Bibliographies

• A Research Writing • An annotated bibliography lists the research sources a writer used. It includes the title, author, publication date, publisher, and brief notes that describe and evaluate the source.

Experiment Journals and Lap Reports

• A Research Writing • Experiment journals and lab reports focus on the purposes, procedures, and results of a lab experiment. They often follow a strict format that includes dates and specific observation notes.

Research Reports and Documented Essays

• A Research Writing • Research reports and documented essays present information and analysis about a topic that the writer has studied, and they start with a clear thesis statement. Research reports often include graphics and illustrations to clarify concepts. Documented essays are less formal research writings that show the source of every fact, quote, or borrowed idea in parentheses.

Critical Review

• A Response to Literature • A critical review evaluates books, poetry, plays, and other literary works. Reviews present the writer's opinions and support them with specific examples. The responses may analyze the aesthetic effects of an author's use of language in addition to responding to the content of the writing.

Blog Comments

• A Response to Literature • Blog comments on an author's website let readers share their ideas about a work. Readers express their opinions and give interpretations of what an author's work means.

Compare-and-Contrast Essays

• A Response to Literature • Compare-and-contrast essays explore similarities and differences between two or more works of literature. These essays provide relevant evidence to support the writer's opinions.

Letters to Authors

• A Response to Literature • Readers write authors letters to share their feelings and thoughts about a work of literature directly.

Business Letters and Friendly Letters

• A Workplace Writing • A business letter is a formal letter written to, from, or within a business. It can be written to make requests or to express concerns or approval. You might write to a company to ask about job opportunities, for example. Business letters follow a specific format that includes an address, date, formal greeting, and closing. In contrast, a friendly letter is a form of correspondence written to communicate between family, friends, or acquaintances. For example, you might write a thank-you note for a gift.

Résumés

• A Workplace Writing • A résumé is an overview of a person's experience and qualifications for a job. This document lists a person's job skills and work history. Résumés can also feature information about a person's education.

College Applications

• A Workplace Writing • College applications are documents that ask for personal information and details about someone's educational background. College administrators use this information to decide whether or not to accept a student.

E-Mails

• A Workplace Writing • E-Mail is short for 'electronic mail' and is a form of electronic memo. Because it can be transmitted quickly, allowing for instant long-distance communication, e-mail is a very common form of communication that sues a computer and software to send messages.

Forms

• A Workplace Writing • Forms are types of workplace writing that ask for specific information to be completed in a particular format. Examples include applications, emergency contact information forms, and tax forms.

Instructions

• A Workplace Writing • Instructions are used to explain how to complete a task or procedure. They provide clear, step-by-step guidelines. Recipes and user manuals are forms of instructions.

Job Applications

• A Workplace Writing • Job applications are similar to résumés in that they require a person to list work experience and educational background. Most employers will require a completed job application as part of the hiring process.

Memos

• A Workplace Writing • Memos are short documents usually written from one member of an organization to another or to a group. They are important means of communicating information within an organization.

Project Plans

• A Workplace Writing • Project plans are short documents usually written from one member of an organization to another. They outlines a project's goals and objectives and may include specific details about how certain steps of a project should be achieved.

Advertisements

• A Writing for Media • Advertisements are designed to persuade someone to buy a product or service. Advertisements use images, words, and music to support their message. Writers write the content of advertisements. In addition, they may help create music and design the sound and the images of the ad.

Blogs

• A Writing for Media • Blogs address just about every purpose and interest. For example, there are blogs about local issues, pets, or food.

Scripts

• A Writing for Media • Scripts are written for various media, such as documentaries, theater productions, speeches, and audio programs. Movies, television shows, and video games also have scripts. • A good script focuses on a clearly expressed or implied theme and has a specific purpose. • It also contains interesting details, which contribute to a definite mood or tone. • A good script also includes a clear setting ,dialogue, and well-developed action.

Cause-and-Effect Essay

• An Exposition • A cause-and-effect essay traces an event's results or describes the reason an event happened. They are clearly organized and will give precise examples that support the relationship between the cause and effect.

Compare-and-Contrast Essay

• An Exposition • A compare-and-contrast essay explores two or more things' similarities and differences for a specific purpose. Like in other expository essays, these writings offer clear, factual details about the subject.

Problem-Solution Essay

• An Exposition • A problem-solution essay presents a problem, and then it offers solutions to that problem. These essays may contain opinions, but it's meant to explain rather than persuade. Effective problem-solution essays present clear statements of the problem, including a summary of its causes and effects. Next, they propose at least one realistic solution, using facts, statistics, and expert testimonies to support the solution. Problem-solution essays should be clearly organized, so that the relationship between the problem and the solution is obvious.

Analytical Essay

• An Exposition • An analytical essay explores a topic by supplying relevant information that supports the writer's claims as facts, examples, reasons, and valid inferences. An introductory paragraph will present a thesis statement. The essay's body provides the facts about the topic, and uses a variety of sentence structures and transitions to help the writing flow. The concluding paragraph sums up the ideas presented in the piece, and helps the readers understand the topic's importance.

On-Demand Writing

• An Exposition • Because essay questions are common on school tests, it's important to know how to write to a test prompt, especially under time limits. Test prompts provide clear topics with directions about what needs to be addressed. The effective response to an essay demonstrates not only an understanding of academic content, but also good writing skills.

Classification Essay

• An Exposition • In a classification essay, the author organizes a subject into categories and explains the category into which an item falls. An effective classification essay sorts its subjects into several categories. Next, it offers examples that fall into each category. To conclude the essay, there may be a statement about how the items classified are different or similar.

Newspaper and Magazine Articles

• An Exposition • Newspaper and magazine articles offer information about news and events. Most of the time, they consist of factual information and the writer omits their opinion. These articles often provide an analysis of events and give readers the background information on a topic. Sometimes, an article may reflect genres other than analytical essay, like an editorial aiming to persuade.

Internet Articles

• An Exposition • Online articles can supply relevant information about a topic. They are often similar to magazine and newspaper articles, but may include shorter sentences and paragraphs. They may also have more visuals and reflect genres other than analytical essays. When checking an internet article, it's important to make sure its sources are reliable. Not all sources present accurate information.

Pro-Con Essay

• An Exposition • Pro-Con essays examine arguments for and against ideas or topics. The author has a topic that has two points of view. Then they develop an essay that explains the benefits and drawbacks of each side. It's necessary for the writer to give a clear analysis of the topic.

Other Descriptive Writing

• Descriptive Writings • Descriptive writings include descriptive essays, travel writing, and definition essays. 1) Descriptive essays often use words involving senses to create a clear picture of a subject. 2) A travel essay will use sensory words to describe a place. 3) Definition essays can draw on a writer's emotional experiences to describe something abstract, such as friendship or emotions.