Martha’s Class Blog

 The Question:

How did the second World War effect minorities in the United States?  You may choose to focus your research on one of the following groups:

Japanese-Americans

Chinese-Americans

Mexican-Americans

Native Americans

African Americans

Women

To answer this question, you will turn in a “multi-genre paper”.  This is a chance to communicate your learning through a project, where you get at the factual, the emotional, and the imaginative. This is a time to try the untried and to be expansive.

• ØWhat is a genre?

A genre is a type of writing. A poem is a genre.  A traditional research paper is a genre.  A newspaper editorial is a genre. So are plays and diaries and cartoons and billboards. 

• ØWhat is a multi-genre paper?

It’s a collection of pieces written in a variety of genres, informed by your research on a particular subject, that presents one or (more likely) more perspectives on a research question or topic. A multi-genre paper is personal, creative, and can’t be copied from some other source. It involves you, as a writer, making conscious decisions about what information is important and how it should be presented to the reader.

The research that you do for this paper must include at least one primary source and at least one print source besides your text book.

“[Multigenre papers] recognize that there are many ways to see the world, many ways

to show others what we see.”

–Tom Romano, teacher, author, and “founder” of the multigenre paper

Form:  Your final paper must include:

•  Either a table of contents or a preface that tells your readers what genres you
• are including and why
• •An introduction to your topic and your thesis (probably
• At least four different genres from different categories.  (See a list of possible
• genres on the next page.  If you wish to use a genre not listed, please
• approve it with me first.)
•  A bibliography of the sources you consulted and referenced*

The four (or more) genres can be presented in any format you choose.  You must pick a

genre from four different categories, which represent varying types of writing.  If you

choose to do more than four, you can repeat categories, pick from the last category, or

use a genre not listed.  You can present them separately or interweave them into a

larger framework, however they should be connected by unifying themes, repeated

motifs, genres that speak to each other, or topics that are mentioned in some genres

and expanded in others.  Do not simply cut and paste five genres and call it a paper. 

Use your own professional discretion as to the margins and font you wish to use for

each genre.  As you’ll see from the following list, not all the genres will be completely non-fictional.  You are free to merge the non-fictional research you do with fictional

context, a la the film Titanic.

Genre Ideas:

Group 1: Print Media Newspaper Article Obituary Editorial Letter to the Editor Advice Column Magazine Article	Group 2: Visual With Words Poster Invitation Ad Travel Brochure Cartoon Greeting Card	Group 3: Visual Display Picture/Photograph Graph Map Certificate Recipe Collage
Group 4: Informational Interview Survey Trivia Game Timeline Directions Idea Web	Group 5: Creative Writing Skit Song Poem Short Story Personal Narrative Conversation	Group 6: Structured  Essay Report Book Review Letter Speech Descriptive Paragraph

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* http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citmla.htm