If one is asked to define the word “genre,”
he or she might respond after some deliberation with something along the lines
of “the rules that allow a text/movie/song to fit into a certain category;”
however, Kerry Dirk, author of the essay Navigating Genres, points out that “genres
require more effort than simply following the rules,” but “genres usually come
with established conventions” (258). In order to “assign” a piece to a certain
genre, we must analyze these conventions and how they apply to the piece in
question. The textual piece under analysis below is a word problem from a text
book; what, exactly, are the conventions for a “typical” word problem? Aside
from the obvious (numbers, math signs, foreign language, being found in a
large, heavy book, etc.), textbook word problems, from physics to calculus to
chemistry, each have a loosely “specific” formula. No pun intended. Whether it
involves Suzie oxidizing copper or Jonathon measuring the pressure of a fluid, textbook
problems tend to aim to turn the issue at hand into a “real life” and relatable
situation. The goal is to make the audience, which, just to be clear, is most
commonly students, feel as though they are the ones performing the experiment
or observing the process that is taking place. These problems are intended to
make the student think critically and solve for an answer. Almost without fail,
they will say something like “solve for…,” “calculate…,” “determine…,” or
simply ask a “Who?, What?, When?, Where?, How?” question. They have a tendency
to be written in a serious tone, lacking any sort of comedy, romance,
playfulness, or extreme detail. The questions tend to lack eloquence because
they are not meant to elicit emotion from the reader (aside from the possible feelings
of frustration, confusion, and/or utter defeat). The authors are not novelists,
lobbyists, or poets, and therefore, have no intentions of causing the reader to
empathize with the subject or be persuaded to take action. The language is very
precise so as to avoid confusion in what the question is asking for; however,
the given information is not necessarily straightforward. For example, if a
student is asked to solve a problem that requires the knowledge of the density
of an object, the value of density may not necessarily be supplied; instead, the
student may be told the mass and the dimensions of the object and therefore, be
expected to be able to determine necessary information from the given values.
“An adventurous parachutist of mass 70.0 kg drops from the
top of Angel Falls in Venezuela, the world’s highest waterfall. The waterfall
is 979 m tall and the parachutist deploys his chute after falling 295m, a which
point his speed is 54.0 m/s. During the 295-m drop, (a) what was the net work
done on him and (b) what was the work done on him by the force of air
resistance?” (Freedman, Ruskell, Kesten, Tauck; College Physics, 210).
On the off chance that you read the
first line of that and decided it was far too much information and mathematical
concepts to waste any more brain power on, it does, in fact, turn a physics
word problem into a “real life” situation (perhaps jumping off a waterfall is
not completely fathomable for all of us, but the concept exists in real life,
regardless); it aims to force the student to think critically; both questions
begin with the word “What…”; it lacks a certain eloquence that might be present
in a textual piece such as the parachutist’s account of his fall; and lastly,
it gives information that must be used to determine other material necessary to
complete the calculations. Lo and behold, a “typical” word problem is at hand.
