Blog Post #12: QRGs: the Genre

Quick Reference Guides: The Genre

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/stemcells/quickref/

1.) What do the conventions of this genre - the Quick Reference Guide - seem to be? [Remember, convention in this context meaning “a custom or a way of acting or doing things that is widely accepted and followed”]   

The conventions of a Quick Reference Guide include a properly formatted layout, well spaced margins and lines, appropriate fonts, and well-phrased headings. All together, these conventions will provide an informative and effective manual that is simple and easy for the audience to navigate, as well as provide an opportunity to gather broad ideas of a subject.

2.) How are those conventions defined by the author’s formatting and design choices?

These conventions are defined by the author's formatting and design choices in that each Guide is specifically designed with pictures and different presentations of questions to convey similar displays that offer efficient and accessible information for a general public. An audience examining Quick Reference Guides will be searching for a broad overview of a topic in order to gain a basic understanding of the controversy at hand. Thus, the conventions and formatting are designed to create a page that is easy to navigate to ensure paraphrased and simple information will be at hand. 

3.What does the purpose of these QRGs seem to be?

QRGs serve to quickly inform readers with up-to-date information on a controversial topic to enable the formation of an opinion within an individual. If an opinion is not formed, general information is at least provided so that one can begin to find interest or curiosity about a topic. 

4.) Who is the intended audience for these different QRGs? Are they all intended for similar audiences? Or different? How & why?

A general public without prior knowledge interested in a specific topic of controversy is the intended audience of a Quick Reference Guide. All Quick Reference Guides have a similar intended audience, but depending on the topic, the audience will have different values and perspectives (political or religious affiliations, cultural values, etc...) that enable them to form opinions on the debate at hand. Thus, a broad audience creates similarities in the level of knowledge of Quick Reference Guide readers; however, the issue creates a shift in topics of concern amongst a general audience.

5.) How do the QRGs use imagery or visuals? Why do you think they use them in this way?

QRGs use imagery in order to encapsulate their discussion topic. A visual provides an easily accessible form of memory for readers, in order to allow absorption of information and a point of reference for the reader. A visual also provides aesthetically pleasing media for the audience, thus creating a more attractive web-page that individuals will want to visit.