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Prewriting
Targeting Your Audience
Isn’t your audience your professor? Many students assume that the instructor is the primary audience for their writing. While this is true, your assignment could call for you to write for different audiences—even hypothetical ones, such as professionals in your field of study or classmates. Sometimes it will be clear who your audience is going to be in your assignment instructions, and other times, investigating further will be necessary. Click on the tabs below for more information.
- PURPOSE
- INQUIRY
- IMPLEMENTATION
Why is it important to know your audience?
Audience analysis is crucial to understanding what should go into each piece of writing. Knowing your audience guides you on how to structure your essay, what kind of language and tone to use, what sort of information to use, and how to progress into each topic.
While the tone you use in academic writing will be different than when giving a speech, we tend to adjust our message according to who is listening during both. You would not cover learning theories developed by psychologists with a group of kindergarteners, just as you would not write about the health benefits of grass-fed beef to an audience of vegetarians.
Inquiring About Your Audience
To develop an audience profile, you need specific information about your audience—information about its understanding of and attitude toward your subject. When in doubt, always ask your professor, but below are some questions you can ask to probe further:
Who is my primary audience?
What purpose will this writing serve for my readers? How will they use it?
Is my audience multicultural?
What is my audience’s attitude toward and probable reaction to this writing?
Will readers expect certain patterns of thought in my writing? Will they need statistical data to be convinced?
Implementation of Gathered Information
Once you have determined the answer to the questions on the previous tab, it is easier to plan content decisions:
how much information to convey
what kinds and levels of details to include
what concepts to emphasize
how much time to spend on research
what writing strategies to use
how to organize your information
what words, tone, and style to use to communicate with your audience
Why is it important to know your audience?
Audience analysis is crucial to understanding what should go into each piece of writing. Knowing your audience guides you on how to structure your essay, what kind of language and tone to use, what sort of information to use, and how to progress into each topic.
While the tone you use in academic writing will be different than when giving a speech, we tend to adjust our message according to who is listening during both. You would not cover learning theories developed by psychologists with a group of kindergarteners, just as you would not write about the health benefits of grass-fed beef to an audience of vegetarians.
Inquiring About Your Audience
To develop an audience profile, you need specific information about your audience—information about its understanding of and attitude toward your subject. When in doubt, always ask your professor, but below are some questions you can ask to probe further:
Who is my primary audience?
What purpose will this writing serve for my readers? How will they use it?
Is my audience multicultural?
What is my audience’s attitude toward and probable reaction to this writing?
Will readers expect certain patterns of thought in my writing? Will they need statistical data to be convinced?
Implementation of Gathered Information
Once you have determined the answer to the questions on the previous tab, it is easier to plan content decisions:
how much information to convey
what kinds and levels of details to include
what concepts to emphasize
how much time to spend on research
what writing strategies to use
how to organize your information
what words, tone, and style to use to communicate with your audience
Table of Contents: Online Guide to Writing
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How Does College Writing Differ from Workplace Writing? -
What Is College Writing? -
Why So Much Emphasis on Writing?
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Doing Exploratory Research -
Getting from Notes to Your Draft -
Introduction -
Prewriting -
Prewriting - Techniques to Get Started - Mining Your Intuition -
Prewriting: Targeting Your Audience -
Prewriting: Techniques to Get Started -
Prewriting: Understanding Your Assignment -
Rewriting -
Rewriting: Being Your Own Critic -
Rewriting: Creating a Revision Strategy -
Rewriting: Getting Feedback -
Rewriting: The Final Draft -
Techniques to Get Started - Outlining -
Techniques to Get Started - Using Systematic Techniques -
Thesis Statement and Controlling Idea -
Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Freewriting -
Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Summarizing Your Ideas -
Writing: Outlining What You Will Write
-
A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone -
A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone: Style Through Vocabulary and Diction -
Critical Strategies and Writing -
Critical Strategies and Writing: Analysis -
Critical Strategies and Writing: Evaluation -
Critical Strategies and Writing: Persuasion -
Critical Strategies and Writing: Synthesis -
Developing a Paper Using Strategies -
Introduction -
Kinds of Assignments You Will Write -
Patterns for Presenting Information -
Patterns for Presenting Information: Critiques -
Patterns for Presenting Information: Discussing Raw Data -
Patterns for Presenting Information: General-to-Specific Pattern -
Patterns for Presenting Information: Problem-Cause-Solution Pattern -
Patterns for Presenting Information: Specific-to-General Pattern -
Patterns for Presenting Information: Summaries and Abstracts -
Supporting with Research and Examples -
Writing Essay Examinations -
Writing Essay Examinations: Make Your Answer Relevant and Complete -
Writing Essay Examinations: Organize Thinking Before Writing -
Writing Essay Examinations: Read and Understand the Question
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Introduction -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Ask a Research Question -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Cite Sources -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Collect Evidence -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Decide Your Point of View, or Role, for Your Research -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Draw Conclusions -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Find a Topic and Get an Overview -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Manage Your Resources -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Outline -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Survey the Literature -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Work Your Sources into Your Research Writing -
Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Human Resources -
Research Resources: What Are Research Resources? -
Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? -
Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Electronic Resources -
Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Print Resources -
Structuring the Research Paper: Formal Research Structure -
Structuring the Research Paper: Informal Research Structure -
The Nature of Research -
The Research Assignment: How Should Research Sources Be Evaluated? -
The Research Assignment: When Is Research Needed? -
The Research Assignment: Why Perform Research?
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Academic Integrity -
Giving Credit to Sources -
Giving Credit to Sources: Copyright Laws -
Giving Credit to Sources: Documentation -
Giving Credit to Sources: Style Guides -
Integrating Sources -
Practicing Academic Integrity -
Practicing Academic Integrity: Keeping Accurate Records -
Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material -
Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Paraphrasing Your Source -
Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Quoting Your Source -
Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Summarizing Your Sources -
Types of Documentation -
Types of Documentation: Bibliographies and Source Lists -
Types of Documentation: Citing World Wide Web Sources -
Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations -
Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - APA Style -
Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - CSE/CBE Style -
Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - Chicago Style -
Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - MLA Style -
Types of Documentation: Note Citations
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Introduction -
Reviews and Reaction Papers: Article and Book Reviews -
Reviews and Reaction Papers: Reaction Papers -
Writing Arguments -
Writing Arguments: Adapting the Argument Structure -
Writing Arguments: Purposes of Argument -
Writing Arguments: References to Consult for Writing Arguments -
Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Anticipate Active Opposition -
Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Determine Your Organization -
Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Develop Your Argument -
Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Introduce Your Argument -
Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - State Your Thesis or Proposition -
Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Write Your Conclusion -
Writing Arguments: Types of Argument
Appendix A: Books to Help Improve Your Writing
Appendix B: Collaborative Writing and Peer Reviewing
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Collaborative Writing: Assignments to Accompany the Group Project -
Collaborative Writing: Informal Progress Report -
Collaborative Writing: Issues to Resolve -
Collaborative Writing: Methodology -
Collaborative Writing: Peer Evaluation -
Collaborative Writing: Tasks of Collaborative Writing Group Members -
Collaborative Writing: Writing Plan -
Conclusion -
General Introduction -
Peer Reviewing