Genre / Form Searches of the ASU Library Catalog
Obituaries -- Puzzles and games
Occasional sermons
Sermons written for particular occasions.
Occasional speeches
Speeches written for a particular occasion.
Occasional verse
Poetry written for a particular occasion.
Odes
Highly formal, ceremonious, and complex lyric poems that display strong feeling.
Official gazettes
Official journals that promulgate laws and that often include regulations, public notices, and other official announcements.
Old-time music
Country music of the 1930s and earlier periods played and sung in the old-time styles, as well as music of later periods played in those styles. For country music of the 1940s and later periods see Country music.
Opera adaptations
Musical compositions in which the sections are played in an order that is determined by the performers.
Operas
Staged dramatic works in which the actors sing most or all of their parts, and other types of musicodramatic works that have significant portions of spoken text and have historically been regarded as forming part of the operatic repertory.
Orders in council
British royal orders issued by and with the advice of a privy council.
Organ masses
Collections of versets for the organ that replace parts of the Ordinary and Proper of the Mass and are played in alternation with the sung portions. For musical settings of the Mass in its entirety or for the Mass ordinary see Masses.
Overtures
Musical compositions that are intended to introduce a dramatic vocal work or spoken drama, and also for independent works with the word “overture” in the composer's title.
Pageants
The texts of tableaux, songs, dances, and dramatic scenes that commemorate historical events or traditions.
Panel discussions
Recorded or transcribed panel discussions.
Papal encyclicals
Formal pastoral letters written by the Roman Catholic pope for the entire Church.
Parables
Short, simple stories that convey a moral lesson, and whose main characters are generally humans. For stories intended to teach moral lessons, and whose main characters are generally animals or inanimate objects that speak and act like human beings, see Fables.
Paranormal comics
Comics that feature human characters that are often involved with the occult, witchcraft, spiritualism, psychic phenomena, vodou, etc., and interact with supernatural beings.
Paranormal fiction
Fiction that features human characters that are often involved in the occult, witchcraft, spiritualism, psychic phenomena, vodou, etc., interacting with supernatural beings.
Parodies (Literature)
Mocking imitations of a particular style, genre, or work.
Parody films
Films that comically imitate another work or group of works of a more serious nature. For films that use wit, irony, or sarcasm to hold up human vices or foibles to ridicule or scorn see Satirical films.
Parody television programs
Television programs that comically imitate another work or group of works of a more serious nature. For television programs that use wit, irony, or sarcasm to hold up human vices or foibles to ridicule or scorn see Satirical television programs.
Part books
Books originally published in the 15th-16th centuries containing music for an individual part within a polyphonic work.
Part songs
Vocal chamber music works for multiple voices or chorus, accompanied or unaccompanied.
Passover music
Music that is traditionally associated with Passover.
Pastoral fiction
Fiction with rural settings that idealize rustic, rural, or small-town life.
Pastoral letters and charges
Official letters by a bishop, pastor, moderator, or chairperson to the members of his or her diocese or congregation within some Christian traditions.
Pastoral music
Music that portrays rural life or a rural atmosphere.
Pastoral poetry
Short poems that idealize rural life.
Pastourelles
Old French lyric poems about the courting of a shepherdess by a noble suitor.
Patents
Documents that grant sets of exclusive rights by a government to inventors or their assignees for limited periods of time in exchange for disclosures of inventions.
Pattern poetry
Poems that are arranged to form a recognizable or meaningful shape that usually illustrates the poem's theme. For poems in which graphic effects created by typography replace the conventional verse forms so that the typographical arrangement of text is central to the experience and meaning of the work see Concrete poetry.
Patterns (instructional works)
Designs or plans that are used as outlines or guides to make something.
Pentecost Festival music
Music that is traditionally associated with the Pentecost Festival.
Peplum films
Films that feature mythological, biblical, or invented strongmen as heroes.
Personal narratives
Works which relate eyewitness accounts of events such as wars or disasters.
Personal recordings
Here are entered sound recordings that document family or personal events, usually made by amateurs and not intended for public release.
Philosophical fiction
Fiction that emphasizes philosophical propositions.
Photobooks
Works illustrated by reproduced or original photographs, with or without text, in which the essential information is conveyed by the images.
Phrase books
Collections of useful or idiomatic expressions in a foreign language, with or without definitions and/or equivalents in another language.
Physical maps
Maps that represent the surface of the land or floor of the ocean without man-made structures or vegetation. For maps that represent the horizontal and vertical locations of natural and man-made features see Topographic maps.
Picaresque fiction
Fiction that consists of episodic narratives that describe the adventures of a resourceful rogue.
Picture puzzles
Puzzles that consist of visual images, including connect-the-dots, hidden images, optical illusions, spot-the-differences, what's wrong with this picture, etc.
Pictures
Visual representations that are generally twodimensional and to which more specific headings such as Caricatures or Coloring books cannot be assigned. For visual works created for aesthetic purposes, see Art or more specific terms such as Paintings; Photographs; Portraits; or Prints.
Pilgrimage music
Sacred and secular songs and other music of pilgrims and pilgrimage.
Playing cards
Sets of cards that either follow a standard suit or have specialized markings and are used as game accessories or in fortune telling.
Plot summaries
Concise descriptions of the stories of narrative works (e.g., novels, story ballets).
Poetry readings (Sound recordings)
Political comics
Comics that feature the political milieu.
Political fiction
Fiction that features the political milieu.
Political films
Fictional films that feature the political milieu.
Political plays
Plays that feature the political milieu.
Political poetry
Poetry that features the political milieu.
Political television programs
Fictional television programs that feature the political milieu.
Polyphonic chansons
French polyphonic songs from the 13th-15th centuries.
Polyphonic Lieder
German polyphonic songs of the 14th-16th centuries.
Popular music
Musical works composed for mass appeal and usually dependent on mass media for transmission to large audiences. For popular music lyrics that appear without a musical setting see Popular music lyrics.
Portraits
Images that are intended to portray one or more persons, fictitious characters, or mythological beings.
Preludes (Music)
Musical compositions that introduce another or larger instrumental work (e.g., a fugue, a suite), or that are relatively short stand-alone pieces that explore particular moods, musical figures, or technical problems. For musical compositions that are intended to introduce a dramatic vocal work or spoken drama, and independent works with the word “overture” in the composer's title, see Overtures.
Prints
Images that are formed by transfer from one surface or source to another, and that are usually created with ink and produced in multiple impressions.
Privileges and immunities
Texts granting special legal rights, exemptions, or immunities to persons or classes of persons.
Problems and exercises
Practice problems and exercises designed to develop and improve skills in an area of study. For works designed to help prepare for examinations or courses of study, see Study guides. For works that consist wholly or chiefly of puzzles, word games, coloring pages, instructions for simple science or craft projects, etc., see Activity books.
Proclamations
Formal public announcements made by a government.
Program music
Musical compositions that employ a suggestive title, a text, program, or other extra-musical device to convey their meaning.
Programmed instructional materials
Works using a step-by-step teaching method that employs small units of information or learning material and frequent testing and allows students to control the pacing of the learning process.
Promotional films
Films that promote or advertise a product, industry, service, organization, etc. For films produced, subsidized, financed, or otherwise significantly supported by a business, government body, organization, etc., see Sponsored films.
Promotional materials
Materials that advertise or promote products, causes, or concerns.
Propaganda films
Films designed primarily to instill or reinforce a specific ideological belief or set of beliefs in the viewer.
Propers (Music)
Chants of the Mass propers. For musical settings of the Mass in its entirety or for the Mass ordinary see Masses.
Prose poems
Prose that utilizes poetic techniques to emphasize sound, imagery, and figurative language.
Psalms
Sacred songs originally contained in the Book of Psalms. For collections of psalms arranged for devotional or liturgical use see Psalters.
Psalters
Collections of psalms arranged for devotional or liturgical use. For sacred songs originally contained in the Book of Psalms see Psalms.
Psychological comics
Comics in which the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of the characters are of equal or greater interest than the external action of the narrative.
Psychological fiction
Fiction in which the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of the characters are of equal or greater interest than the external action of the narrative.
Public affairs television programs
Television programs about public policy or politics. For television programs aired by or on behalf of nonprofit or governmental organizations to promote the common well-being or general welfare of society see Public service television programs.
Public service announcements (Motion pictures)
Public service radio programs
Radio programs aired by or on behalf of nonprofit or governmental organizations to promote the common well-being or general welfare of society. For radio programs about public policy or politics see Public affairs radio programs. For radio announcements aired by or on behalf of nonprofit or governmental organizations to persuade the audience to take some specific action or adopt a favorable view toward a service, institution, or cause see Radio public service announcements.
Public service television programs
Television programs aired by or on behalf of nonprofit or governmental organizations to promote the common well-being or general welfare of society. For television programs about public policy or politics see Public affairs television programs. For television announcements aired by or on behalf of nonprofit or governmental organizations to persuade the audience to take some specific action or adopt a favorable view toward a service, institution, or cause see Television public service announcements.
- Last updated: Jul 9, 2025 2:09 PM
- URL: https://libguides.asu.edu/genre-form
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