When we first begin to write or prepare a paper, we must first ask “who I am writing this piece for?” Sometimes the audience is obvious, while other times we will struggle trying to figure out who it is for. An audience does not always have to be multiple people, sometimes we are writing to an individual. By knowing who our audience is, this will allow for us to adapt the content of our material to address the main concerns of that audience. There are safe audiences and dangerous audiences. Safe audiences allow for you to put words out more easily and openly while dangerous audiences can inhibit what you choose to say. With dangerous audiences we may tend to adopt a tone of voice that is not our own, to make ourselves sound more knowledgeable or up to their level of knowledge. By doing this, we run the possibility of leaving out important information or chattering away nervously with …show more content…
This audience in our head, could be from past audiences we have had: professors, SAT graders, classmates, or your best friend. Each of these people carry a different target audience and most times these audiences are dangerous which makes it particularly difficult when we write. When we write all audiences are in our head, jumbled up, confusing us as to who exactly we are supposed to be writing to. These dangerous audiences make us anxious to the point where we cannot write at all or they make us extremely nervous where we are too afraid to make mistakes that words and phrases do not flow smoothly. Safe audiences allow for you to open up, think more freely, and dive into the deepest parts of yourself. Sometimes diving into the depth of ourselves, causes us to feel things we would rather not feel or that we try to suppress. If you struggle with either audience, it might be easier to just entirely forget about audiences to begin with and write to the best of your ability without any
Audience (Who was the audience for this work? What evidence from the author’s writing leads you to this conclusion?)
Many texts often exclude and marginalize readers from its content. Writers produce their writings without thinking about the accessibility of their work and what type of readers they might not be reaching due to the lack of a not carefully considered document design. Natasha N. Jones and Stephanie K. Wheeler turn to Universal Design for Documents (UDD) as the best solution to this problem on their article “Document Design and Social Justice”, because it implies the writer has established values and considered inclusiveness when designing their work. Their suggestion also aims to not prioritize one audience over another, evening out their discourse community.
The focal point of Chapter 4 of Successful College Writing is on how to critically read and decipher text and visuals. It highlights the importance of not just looking at the surface of the words, but diving into their true meaning. Authors put every word and picture into their work for a reason, and it is your job to ensure that you do not fall victim to biases and false information. It is crucial to learn how to identify author's tones, opinions, and overall purpose in their writings. Learning how to analyze these patterns will better equip you in acquiring accurate information and also not adopting these deceptive techniques yourself.
Caplan ability to recognize and specifically target his audience amplifies the effectiveness of the article in terms of engagement. In this case, Caplan’s posts his paper in The Chronicle of Higher Education, which is a newspaper targeted to college and university attendees (students, faculty, staff etc.). Therefore, now knowing his target audience, Caplan mentions different types of post-secondary educated individuals in his article, so that the specific audience feels engaged with the article. This is exemplified when Caplan uses the words, “students,” “medical experts,” “scientists,” and “scholars” throughout his
Few people are fearless speakers. As students, we generally feel the rumble of butterflies in our stomachs, but the most we have to lose is a good grade.
Two things that are utilized in daily conversation that are subconsciously addressed by each individual are audience and tone. The meaning of the word "audience" is understood to be a large group of people being spoken to. However, the word can refer to as little as one person; the true meaning of "audience" is simply anyone who is listening. Tone strongly relates to audience. Unknowingly, a speaker's tone can constantly modulate. The two main factors that influence modulation in tone are who is being spoken to and what is being spoken about. For example, the words used to ask a friend for assistance on homework will contrast to the words used to ask a teacher for the same thing. Before choosing his or her tone, the speaker usually addresses
1. Explain why it is important to correctly gauge your audience and understand your purpose when drafting a legal document. How can you tailor your writing to take different audiences in to account?
Perhaps the foremost ethical question that presents itself to technical writers revolves around the question “What makes a piece of writing acceptable to one’s audience?” On the surface, this is a seemingly uncomplicated thought. Unfortunately, however, it is one that few professional writers attempt to answer. This question can be approached by remembering that the ultimate goal of any form of writing is to spark an interest in the reader that will cause she or he to want to follow the writer’s thoughts to the end of the work. One way to ensure that the audience will remain attentive is to refrain from offending those who have expressed a desire to read your words. This issue is largely a matter of ethics and one that can harm or assist one’s career in technical writing. Alienation of one’s audience defeats the purpose of the work that accompanied the research and writing of the text in the first place. If technical writers simply exercise empathy and remember a few ethical and commonsensical ideas, they will find themselves far more successful in their chosen field.
The article “Writing for and Audience” by Linda S. Flower, discusses the three steps that a good writer connects with his or her audience. The first step that Flower discusses is that of being knowledgeable of what the reader needs to know. This step usually includes self-reflection to portray what ideas the writer hope to teach, how extensive the writer believes the reader’s background knowledge is, and what the reader needs to learn from the writer. The second step is to understand the reader’s attitude about the subject that is being publicized. This statement means that as a writer one should know how his or her audience will feel about the subject matter at hand. The last step that Flower mentions is needs. What Flower means by needs is
It is not extractable from the prompt what kind of audience will be addressed with this kind of writing, neither is it clear how students will be getting feedback.
When speaking to others, sounding confident and certain is more desirable than coming across as hesitant and apologetic. Assertive language establishes power, which makes the speaker sound competent and proper when communicating with others (McFayden, 1997). The following statements are two different ways to communicate the same issue:
Factors such as personal experiences, time period, location, socioeconomic status, and values influence a writer but, most importantly, the audience, influences a writer’s work. Awareness plays a critical role because the writer wants to impress the audience by increasing his or her awareness towards the audience. Being aware of the audience's knowledge, attitude, and demands will help the audience relate to themselves and make connections with the writer. To target an audience, a writers always connect his or her values with that of the audience as a way of being aware. That way, the writing will have meaning to the audience because the audience is now physically, logically, and emotionally connected to the writer. For example, if I had to write an essay that college professors would review, my essay would have vocabulary words, citations, and anything that is related to the university. Since the professors are in America my writing consists of people and events that Americans are a lot familiar with. In this particular essay, I chose the example of Shakespeare because I know that in order to get into college, we all read at least one Shakespeare play. Other than writing, awareness is also helpful in
Critical writing, like most other means of communication, is a deliberate and intricate process. In this process, the writer is responsible for guiding the reader through his or her ideas by purposefully
Authors often write their works for many purposes. For example, some write to entertain while others write to inform. The authors who write to entertain use different approaches based on the ages and backgrounds of their audiences. For example a crude joke would be inappropriate for young children. Similarly, informative writers also need to be aware of their intended audiences. If their writing is too sophisticated then it will not be understood by a younger group of readers. In Psychology Today, Aysha Hussain writes an article titled Don’t Lose Your Cool. After reading Hussain’s article it is clear that she is writing for a specific audience. Her audience consists of working class Americans who need help in dealing with their stress. This is evident by the tone, content, and writing style of the article.
One of the main aspects in communicating is listening. An effective listener is one who, not only comprehends how the speaker feels but, also understands what they are stating. Building a strong connection between the speaker and the listener is one of the first steps to become a good listener. By building this connection speakers should first be in an environment with open minded listeners, it makes them feel more comfortable to state their opinions, feelings and ideas. Listeners should avoid being judgmental. The individual does not have to agree with the ideas, values or opinions of the speaker; however, to fully understand them, one must put aside their criticism. Speakers will believe that they can trust the listeners with their information when they know that they will not be judged. Miscommunication happens frequently, listene...