Jessyka Sweeney-Flowers

Dr. Oberlin

Genre Analysis

25 October 2011

The Perspectives of Lasik Eye Surgery

            Lasik eye surgery is a procedure that is newer to the medical world as well as society itself. The procedure is used to correct some of the common “refractive errors,” these are astigmatism, myopia and hyperopia. With every new invention or finding comes controversy, whether it is positive or negative. In order to really understand the controversy of certain subjects that are newly explore and older, one must research and develop their own perspective of the matter. In this case the perspectives that were researched were the popular (media) perspective and from the professional perspective, that was taken from journals and articles. For the Lasik eye surgery controversy there were popular perspective articles from internet site that were used; these articles were “Dry Eyes After Lasik,” which was written by someone who had done their own research about the procedure and the other article was “Lasik Eye Surgery Controversy Rises,” which was written by the Lasik Staff and published by their website. There are both similar and different themes that the two genres have when it comes to informing their audience about Lasik eye surgery. Both the professional and the popular perspectives propose that there are pros and cons that occur due to the procedure. The difference between the two genres is that the professional perspective is in a way trying to defend their stand on the surgery, whereas the popular perspective is informing others of the possible side effects, that most people do not thin can happen to them and how they can have long term effects.

            The intended audience for the popular genre of the topic is obviously people who have or are considering getting the surgery done. The popular genre is in a sense trying to warn their audience of some of the possible side effects that most people do not think can happen. On the other hand, the professional genre is using their perspective to persuade their audience to get the procedure done, and to also give them an overview of what the procedure consist of. The professional genre does also inform their audience if the side effects, but kind of brushes them off like it’s a rare occasion that they would happen in. The audience that is intended for this genre is also people who have a desire to get the procedure done and people who want to know where the best place is to get the procedure done. The audience would need to fully research both of the genres in order to fully get the information they need. As a conclusion, the two genres have similar purposes for their audience, the purposes are to persuade and inform the audience about the procedure.

            The professional genre uses their knowledge to establish their right or credibility when it comes to talking about the subject at hand; whereas the popular genre doesn’t really have much to help them establish their credibility, but they do have their negative encounters with the procedure and their researched information they use from government linked sites. The popular genre uses a dramatic appeal in order to draw people to their perspective on the surgery; on the other hand the professional genre does not really have any emotion to appeal to their audience. The popular genre uses cases in which a patient has had a negative experience with the surgery, in order to appeal in an emotional way to their audience. Their purpose is to inform them of the side effects that have happened to many patients who have gone through with the procedure. The professional genre just uses information and their credibility with research and doctors,  to persuade and inform their audience.

            The structure that each of the genres take on is important to get their perspective noticed by their audience.  The professional genre constructs their article so that all the important information is at the top, which draws the reader in, and the less important information is towards the bottom. This is done so that the audience will see the information about Lasik surgery first and the side effects at the bottom. If people saw the side effects first then they would not want to know any more about the procedure. The popular genre constructs their articles so that the most important information is also at the top and less important is at the bottom of the page. In this case, the popular sites used the cons of getting the surgery done at the beginning of the article because it is the most important and they put the information about Lasik eye surgery at the bottom. Although the information is important for the popular genre too, in this case the side effects are the most important information because they are trying to inform their audience.

            Although both genres use their knowledge and information to persuade and inform their audience, that their perspective is right. Both of the genres propose that their pros and cons to Lasik eye surgery and the aftermath of the procedure, but it’s the way the information is presented that determines how their audience will take to it. Like stated in the introduction  the difference between the two genres is that the professional perspective is in a way trying to defend their stand on the surgery, whereas the popular perspective is informing others of the possible side effects, that most people do not thin can happen to them and how they can have long term effects. As a conclusion, the genres should both be used when researching and trying to determine one’s own stand on certain controversies.