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Career Development Organizations available to Public Health students at the University of Texas
at El Paso: Genre Analysis of an Academic Article and a Video Documentary
Maribel Dominguez
University of Texas at El Paso
Professor Vierra
English 1312: Research and Critical Writing
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Introduction
Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of entire populations.
Public health professionals seek to prevent health complications from happening, through the use
of research, educational programs, advocating and maintaining health policies. The purpose of
this paper is to compare and contrast two genres of communication that regard the field of public
health, a scholarly journal article and a video documentary. Additionally, this paper will analyze
the audience and purpose, rhetorical issues, structure, and style and language that these two
genres administer. In 2013, Hernandez, Bejarano, Reyes, Chavez and Mata collaborated to create
the academic article, “Experience Preferred: Insights from Our Newest Public Health
Professionals on How Internships/Practicums Promote Career Development”, which centralized
on educating undergraduate students on the importance of fieldwork experience, for career
development. On the other hand, the video documentary created by the University of Michigan,
“Is a career in Public Health right for me”, attempted to persuade students to pursue a career in
public health, through the use of personal narrations of public health professionals. This analysis
will show that the academic article is superior to the video documentary, as it provides more
reliable information, which helps connect preceding knowledge to strengthen the support of its
claim.
Audience and Purpose
Every academic article aspires to capture the interest of many different audiences,
depending on their respective topic. The audience for this academic article is intended to be the
well-educated experts as well as young adult scholars, pursuing a career in Public Health.
Significantly, the discourse communities that this article targets, would be the college students
who have or are about to graduate from a minority serving University. The purpose of this
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academic article is to inform the undergraduate students of the El Paso area, on the importance of
being academically active. This article is trying to raise awareness, on the importance of
fieldwork experience. This particular type of genre communication is expressed through a strict
and formal language as it is constructed of only the insights of public health professionals.
On the other hand, the video documentary, “Is a career in Public Health right for me?”
intended audience, are the young culture of the United States as it directly references the college
and high school students “if you are in college…in high school student and you want a health
care related career” (Paula Silha, 2013). This video documentary was constructed to be an
entertaining yet informative documentary. Accordingly, the language used in this genre is
formal, with a lively tone, as the video is narrated by the public health professionals along with
background music. The main purpose of this genre is to educate the young generation of the time
about the field of Public Health and at the same time, raise awareness on the fact, that this field is
not being encouraged. In other words, this documentary intends to change the views of students,
by exhibiting the strengths of the public health career field.
Both genres effectively inform their audience, yet they both use two very different
approaches. Even though, these two types of genre communication are almost entirely different,
they have one significant similarity, and that is, the objective to inform students, about new
possibilities in the field of Public Health.
Rhetorical Issues
The academic article, “Insights from Our Newest Public Health Professionals on How
Internships/Practicums Promote Career Development,” is an unquestionable piece of legitimate
work. The academic background of each author gives a trustworthy sense of credibility to the
article. In conjunction with the rest of the authors, Kristen Hernandez, Master of Public Health,
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MPH graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso, collaborated in several international
research programs that validated the essence of this article. Hernandez, states “I participated in
the DHPE health equity internship program and benefited from the exposure to other students
around the country as well as the mentoring and financial support.” (Hernandez, 2013, p. 97)
These remarks, help the reader trust the source because of its area of expertise, which helped,
fulfill the purpose of this genre. Equivalently, the individuals involved in the video documentary,
are too, academic intellectuals, which help sustain the credibility of this genre.
The video documentary, “Is a career in public health right for me?” also includes a sense
of credibility, even though is not as trustworthy as the scholarly article. Special events
coordinator expert, Liz Arnold grants a sense of reliability through the statement, “I worked with
a medical agency working with the local population in Ecuador…health education can make
such a huge impact”. This statement, legitimizes the extensive experience the individual’s poses,
thus strengthening the credibility of the genre, yet is not as trusting as the scholarly article.
Credibility typically accompanied by logic, hence each genre portrays logic but through different
approaches.
The documentary video, delivers a logical message, as the professional individuals
presented on the video carry out their purpose successfully. Paula Silha, influences the outlook of
the audience by stating, “Public health is important because it impacts all of us, there is so much
variety and so much opportunity that the career can be what you want it to be.” (Silha, 2013)
Proclamations such as this one, give the audience, a costs and benefits type of logos, which
enhances the logical aspect of the documentary. Similarly and much more successfully, the
academic article, conveys the appeal of logos, through its many consistent evidence. The article,
presents the perspectives of the benefits of fieldwork experiences in a logical manner, stating:
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As part of internships in their undergraduate program, the authors had the
opportunity to develop, implement and evaluate health programs…they also
developed strong network with public health professionals…and have
sustained these relationships in subsequent projects, as volunteers or paid
employees. (Bejarano, 2013, p.96)
This remark not only gives the reader a logical view towards the importance on fieldwork
experience, but also on the proposal of the authors. Additionally, due to the fact that the article
specializes on the students from the University of Texas at El Paso, aid to the logical aspect of
the work, as it is familiar to the area of El Paso.
An academic article, being such a scholastic type of genre, will evidently include the
evidence to help their purpose in the form of ethos and logos, and almost or not signs of pathos.
Nonetheless, this particular academic article contains a plentiful amount of emotion. Author, and
UTEP graduate, Kristen Hernandez, employs an emotional statement, “I am the first of my
family to graduate from college and continue my education…my first opportunities were part of
a research team…this provided much needed experience and confidence.” (Hernandez, p.97)
This testimony, promotes fieldwork experience, along with an emotional self-statement hence
giving greater influence to their work. Likewise, the video documentary portray strategic
emotions, to help portray their purpose.
A troublesome idea, striking every young individual, is the fact of not knowing what
profession to select. This video documentary, focuses on this dilemma, to successfully obtain the
audience’s attention by providing a relatable problem. Liz Arnold states, “When I was 18, I had
no idea what I wanted to do… it wasn’t until I went to a trip to Ecuador with a medical agency, it
was trough that experience when I thought health education can make such a big impact”
(Arnold, 2013). Additionally, the video uses emotional appeal, by stressing the importance of
health prevention, Loren Freit-Hammes states, “I want people to have the best quality of life as
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possible…I’m involved in every single aspect.” (Hammes, 2013) these statements, give the
health care professionals a humanitarian soul, thus conveying benevolent characters. Both genres
effectively use emotional appeals, but still the academic article has the strongest foundation.
Structure and Delivery
The academic article, is a type of genre communication that has a very precise shape, this
academic article possess freedom of space, as it emulates a research type of work. The audience
for this academic work is quite narrow, as it is limited to experts and students in the field of
Public Health. The organization of this article is strategically framed, divided into subtopics,
including facts, common experience, author individual perspectives, recommendations and of
course references. The article lacks visual and color design, in the act of realizing their purpose,
through facts, evidence and personal experiences. Oppositely, the video documentary is less
fruitful as it is overloaded with creative communication features that contribute to their message
but does not establish validity.
The video documentary, is framed in a more entertaining manner, with a very flexible
shape, that helps better portray their message. Unlike the privileged shape of the academic
article, the genre documentary has limited space, every interview, image and quotes must be
accurately timed and presented. The organization of this genre is imperatively to the success of
the purpose of this documentary, as it enhances audience attention. This genre communication is
divided into personal thoughts, career description, past predicaments and career fulfillment. Each
section is creatively presented with, visuals, short glimpses of career environments and
interviews with public health professionals.
These two genre communications, incorporated important features which enhanced the
portrayal of their message, but the academic article was composed of more solid features. A solid
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structure and delivery contributed for the scholarly article genre to have a stronger development
and therefor a successful message.
Conclusion
Both genres had the ability to convey their message in an effective way. The academic
article superiorly employed vital strategies that helped convey its message superiorly. Not only
was the academic article a solid strong work but also a trustworthy article that allowed the
readers to gain superior knowledge on the field of public health. Additionally, the scholarly
article was able to establish the importance on fieldwork experience at the University level for
career development. The video documentary was an acceptable genre, but it lacked an
established foundation that would allow the audience to truly engage in their perspective. Due to
the fact that the academic article established a strong association with the audience, contributed
to the higher position of the article genre in comparison to the video documentary genre.
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References
Hernandez, K. E., Bejarano, S., Reyes, F. J., Chavez, M., & Mata, H. (2014). Experience preferred:
Insights from our newest public health professionals on how Internships/Practicums promote
career development. Health Promotion Practice, 15(1), 95-99. doi:10.1177/1524839913507578
University of Massachusetts, (2013, April 7). Is a Career in Public Health Right for me? [Video File].
Retrieved September 10, 2014, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwgTfCRYD3s