Writing for Nonprofits in a Professionally-Oriented Institution: Using Rhetorical Genre Studies to Teach Flexibility

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Published: Jan 4, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31719/pjaw.v3i1.34

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Kathryn J Gindlesparger
Communication Program, Thomas Jefferson University

Abstract

Teaching rhetorical flexibility within a nonprofit environment to professionally-oriented students can be challenging because the seemingly transactional genres of nonprofit communication, such as grant applications, do not appear to invite improvisation. This genre analysis assignment from a Writing for Nonprofits course asks students to reflect on the intersections of their own values as emerging communications professionals and the rhetorical choices they made while writing in a nonprofit genre of their choice. To complete the assignment described here, students created a "personal code" that describes their professional values and used the code to write a genre analysis that examines the rhetorical choices made in a nonprofit genre. This "reflective genre analysis" allows students to recognize their own agency in the negotiation of genre and reinforces the idea that professional behavior is rhetorical and situational.

Article Details

How to Cite
Gindlesparger, K. J. (2019). Writing for Nonprofits in a Professionally-Oriented Institution: Using Rhetorical Genre Studies to Teach Flexibility. Prompt: A Journal of Academic Writing Assignments, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.31719/pjaw.v3i1.34
Issue
Vol. 3 No. 1 (2019)
Section
Articles

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