QRGs: The Genre

Schwarts, Buky. "The Internet Messenger".15 June 2013 via Holon. Creative Commons License. 

In the post I am going to talk about conventions of a quick reference guide (QRG). In order to do this I am going to look at 5 different QRGs and answer questions by comparing the different sources. 

Here are links to access the different QRGs discussed in this blog. 

1. E-Cigarettes
2. Gamergate
3. Greece's Debt
4. Sochi Olympics 
5. Bernie and Race

• What are some conventions of the QRGs? Title, images, subheadings, short paragraphs, hyperlinks, introduction.

• How are the conventions defined by the author's formatting?

1. The title is a larger font size than any other word in the article, the font is bolded, and the title is a short phrase that grabs the reader's attention. The title is the first thing a reader sees and it needs to be impactful to get him/her to read the rest of the article. 
2. Images provide visual information that deepens the understanding of the article. The image can provide cultural prospectives, create an emotional impact, and help the reader connect to the article. 
3. Subheadings help inform the reader about what information the following paragraph(s) will contain. In most of the QRGs the subheadings posed questions that were answered in the subsequent paragraphs. This allows the reader to scan for information they want, invoke ideas about the topic, or connect to the article for having similar questions. 
4. Short paragraphs make the article easier to scan for important information. The spaces between paragraphs make the article visually pleasing and overall easier to read. 
5. Hyperlinks act as informal citations for information discussed in the article. Including hyperlinks helps the author build credibility and show that they did the research to talk about the topic. The topic of the article may be too big to fit in a single blog, so hyperlinks direct readers towards more information on the topic, simplifying the author's job.
6. An introduction is important because it acts as a summary of the article and lets the reader know what they will be reading about.  

• What is the purpose of the QRGs? The purpose of the QRGs is to inform people about an issue that they may have little or no knowledge about. They are telling a complex story in the most efficient way possible. A QRG gives explores all information of the event and allows the reader to make their own opinion of it. 

• Who is the intended audience for the different QRGs? Every QRG has the intention to reach a very broad audience, but in reality the audiences are more narrow. (the numbers correspond with the numbered article links above.)

1. The intended audience is for anyone that wants to know more about if e-cigarettes are less harmful than cigarettes, regardless if they are a smoker or not. 
2. The article is intended for people that aren't gamers and that aren't aware of the the new social/cultural scandal. 
3. This article is intended for people that are aware of Greece's Debt and want to learn more about the crisis, and the current point of it. 
4. The intended audience of this article is people that watched the Sochi Olympics opening ceremony. The article critiques all of the strange and confusing things that occurred during the event. 

• How/why do the QRGs use visuals? The QRGs use visuals because they make the article more visually appealing and entice readers. Visuals help connect ideas made in the QRG and overall help readers emotionally connect to the topic. 

Reflection:

Katherine and I had listed almost the exact same conventions for QRG's. The only thing I disagreed with of her conventions is that not all subtitles pose questions. This was a theme of many of the QRG examples but I don't think every QRG has that convention. Hannah summarized the purpose of QRG the best. I approached this question individually for each QRG example, but the purpose is more universal and should apply to every QRG as a genre. I might need to rethink that section of my post. Cynthia made a really good point that every author has their own style of how they convey the conventions of a QRG. This makes me want to focus on incorporating a creative side to my QRG and push beyond the basic conventions.