Franky Gomez

Writing 2
Zack De Piero
March 11, 2015

Writing Project 1
Restaurant Menus
Studying genre types can be a bit tough at times. Were taught to classify certain
things and construct a social conformity with each genre to quickly and properly identify
them. However although theres no actual law in regards to writing genre types I strongly
believe these social conformities help maintain order and structure to better identifying
genres. It is through these social conformities that a precedent is established for restaurant
owners to construct their menus aiming for the right format, audience, and tone.
When we hold up a restaurant menu why is it that we almost immediately
recognize what it is were holding? Well according to Dirk, genres develop because they
respond appropriately to the situations that writers encounter repeatedly. Restaurant
menus have consecutively maintained and upheld a social conformity in which the
authors of menus already have a format to use. The reason for using the same format
when addressing this genre is because as readers once we recognize a recurring
situation,...our response to that situation can be guided by past responses.(Dirk, 17), its
because of these past situations that we understand and concrete the social conformities
to a restaurant menu. When a society is constantly shown restaurant menus that follow
the same format and structure deviation from these could result in leaving the audience
confused. Since the audience, which in this case happens to be hungry people, are
familiar with the format of a restaurant menu altering it breaks away from what is
expected. For example with Chilis, Outback, and TGIFs restaurant menus they seem to
follow a synchronized structure.

Franky Gomez
Writing 2
Zack De Piero
March 11, 2015
With these three menus they all have a title placed on the front right off the bat.
The font of all these three menus are usually big and have their signature colors around to
make the menu seem more attention grabbing. All of the menus are in a book format and
have subsections dividing the choices of food. The menus are allowed to have some free
range in where each category goes but ultimately they all follow the genres principle.
The reason for it is that a rhetorically sound definition of genre must be centered
meaning that for a genre to follow conformities it must abide by these formats. Although
some genre types allow the writer to have a range of freedom we dont typically take it.
The reason to that is because social conformities set up a structure in which people are
already familiar with. Taking a restaurant menu and adding your own crazy element to it
probably wont be such a good thing because society tends to be comfortable working
within the context of their norms, whatever they may be. Sometimes we tend to
experiment a bit, move outside social conformities and may end up creating something
great but usually staying within these social conformities help establish a structural
format in which people have a guide and know where to go with what theyre trying to
say. For example if I decided to turn this paper into a menu I would have my title as the
header, my introduction as appetizers, the body paragraphs as the main course, and my
conclusion as my dessert. This sounds pretty awesome and my menu/essay would be
getting the same point across as I am now but Im sure as a reader it would be a bit
difficult to really understand the paper because it runs contrary to our established
expectations,(Boyd, 45).

Franky Gomez
Writing 2
Zack De Piero
March 11, 2015
Having established expectations is really critical to a reader. When we write or
create something we always want to have an audience in mind. But more specifically we
want to place ourselves within our readers shoes and create something that follows their
expectations. In regards to the restaurant menus being constructed all three authors really
wanted to follow the expectation their reader has because they want their menu to really
hook the reader. By having a menu filled with pictures of the restaurants food followed
by the names it makes it much easier to pick and choose what you want to purchase.
Primarily you don't want to confuse your reader with your menu to the point of them
walking out of the restaurant fully frustrated. The writer of the restaurant menus in this
particular case really has to present a case to the audience. What about our restaurant can
attract you right away? While it is unusual for restaurant menus to present persuasive
essays explaining why you should buy their food how do they hook their audience in?
Well personally what makes these three restaurants or any other restaurant out there stand
out is their famous phrase.
A simplistic thing as a phrase in this genre really makes a restaurant stand out
from each other. One thing I noticed while I was looking for similarities within all three
is that each restaurant prides itself on a single slogan. What this slogan manages to do is
captivate the attention of the audience. For example TGIF prides itself by using In here,
its always Friday as a way to set itself apart from the other restaurants same applies with
Chilis, more life happens here slogan. Its these phrases that make a restaurant more
memorable to an audience and writing is always about leaving impressions for the
audience.

Franky Gomez
Writing 2
Zack De Piero
March 11, 2015
Studying genre types in my opinion can be extremely important. The reason being
is that it allows us to format our ideas into appropriate ways. The way we communicate
with each other in the writing world is so pivotal seeing as it allows for our ideas to be
expressed within a universal context. What I mean by this is that although we are all
wired differently genre types and their social conformities allow us to set up our own
thoughts and comments while at the same time strutting them in a way that anyone would
be able to make out what your trying to get across. Its like Carroll argues in her article,
you need to consider the context, (Carroll, 63), but not just only the context of what
youre writing but to who you're writing it too. Social conformities within writing certain
genre types help your audience quickly identify what it is they are looking at my simply
acknowledging surface details this is why I strongly believe that learning to identify and
write genre types within their social norms can really help make your writing more lucid
to the readers.

Franky Gomez
Writing 2
Zack De Piero
March 11, 2015

Work Cited
> Boyd, Janet. Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking). Rep. N.p.: Library of
Congress Cataloging-in Publication Data, Print.
>
> Carroll, Laura Bolin. Backpack vs. Briefcase: Steps toward
Rhetorical Analysis. Rep. N.p.: Boyd, Janet. Murder! (Rhetorically
Speaking). Rep. N.p.: Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication
Data, Print.
>
> Dirk, Kerry. Navigating Genres. Rep. N.p.: Library of Congress
Cataloging-in Publication Data, Print.
>
Elbow, Peter. Embracing Contraries: Explorations in Learning and
Teaching. New York: Oxford U Press. 1986