QRG's: the Genre

In this post, I will be analyzing the genre of Quick Reference Guides by answering assigned questions.

Bergmann, Hannah, "https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/10/14/the-only-guide-to-gamergate-you-will-ever-need-to-read/," September 12, 2015 via screenshot, Attribution Generic 2.0 License

1. What do the conventions of this genre - the Quick Reference Guide - seem to be?
1. Use images or visual data to provide evidence, contextualize data, evoke emotion, or connect things together.
2. Provide hyperlinks to establish credibility and provide context.
3. Use subtitles to guide reader through the article.
4. Use short and clear paragraphs to simplify a complex story.
5. Use a lot of white space to make the post scannable and easier to read. 
2. How are those conventions defined by the author’s formatting and design choices?
1. The authors of these QRGs leave lots of white space in between sections. They also label their sections with subtitles to make the article easier to navigate. All of these authors also include some images throughout their writing to further help break up the big block of text and make the article as a whole easier to read.
3. What does the purpose of these QRGs seem to be?
1. The purpose of these QRGs is to simplify a complex story into a short and clear guide a reader can scan to get information out of.
4. Who is the intended audience for these different QRGs? Are they all intended for similar audiences? Or different? How & why?
1. All of these QRG’s are written for a reader in the general public who might have heard about a certain issue but doesn’t know many details and would like the full background and explanations of the story. This is because of the nature of the genre. This genre is made to simplify a complex story for readers uneducated on the subject. However, all of these QRG’s are written for readers already interested in knowing more about the subject. These articles attract people who don’t already know about the subject are want to learn about it.
5. How do the QRGs use imagery or visuals? Why do you think they use them in this way?
1. Images are used to connect things together in the posts. They can give evidence in graphic form, give context, reflect cultural values, or evoke emotion. I think the authors might use them like this to simplify a story, or make points of a story clearer. Also, including images can draw in multiple kinds of readers to your post: some people might be draw to the story because of the title, and others because of the emotional images, and still others because of the graphs and data.

Update:
I responded to Katherine's and Lauren's posts. Reading them, I discovered that many of the things they included on their lists of conventions were things I included too. Seeing these posts has given me more confidence in writing my QRG because I know that I have a solid grasp on the conventions. Also, I liked how Lauren included the links to the QRGs she was responding to in her intro. I found her layout very clear and helpful.