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Writing for an Audience:

Writing for an Audience:. Building on What You Know to Communicate Better. Goals. Learn five main questions for considering your audience Identify key elements in a syllabus for insight into your teacher’s expectations Discuss your questions and concerns. Five Key Questions.

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Writing for an Audience:

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  1. Writing for an Audience: Building on What You Know to Communicate Better

  2. Goals • Learn five main questions for considering your audience • Identify key elements in a syllabus for insight into your teacher’s expectations • Discuss your questions and concerns

  3. Five Key Questions • Do you have a specific intended audience? • Who is your intended audience? What are their personal characteristics? • What is their job, profession, or field of expertise? • What does your audience know about your topic? What could they NOT know about your topic, considering their personal characteristics? • What is their level of need/interest regarding your writing? How will your audience use your writing?

  4. Intended Audience? • BEFORE you write, ask yourself who you are writing for. • “Profile” the people who will be reading your writing. • The more specific the audience, the more focused your writing.

  5. Who Is Your Audience?

  6. Who Is Your Intended Audience? Personal characteristics: • Where they live • When they went to school (age) • Gender, class, ethnicity • Language proficiency • Time constraints

  7. Job, Profession, Expertise? • Where does your audience work? • What field is your audience in? • What subject(s) is your audience an expert in?

  8. What Does Audience Know? • No one is 100% knowledgeable or 100% ignorant • Allow for a range of abilities and knowledge • Balance accuracy of terms or complexity with explanations

  9. Audience Needs? • Making informed decisions • Intellectual challenge • Emotional investment • Entertainment/Diversion

  10. Clues to Audience in a Syllabus Key Words: • Required • Course Description, Goals, Methods • Expectations, Attendance, Participation • Format • Pace, Schedule • “I” statements • Note • Grade/Rubric

  11. Required Textbooks set the tone, tell a lot about the teacher’s philosophy/mood: • Thick, dry tomes: standardized for the subject, not personal • Novels, nonfiction essays: personal, intimate, emotional connections demanding self-investment

  12. Required II • Materials = individual preferences of the teacher, i.e., audience! • Listen in class for what to buy and when • Vocal stress or exclamation points = emotional value placed on these preferences

  13. Course . . . • Description/Methods – the overall style or layout of the class, the general way to achieve the goals • Goals/Outcomes/Objectives/By the end of the course you should . . . – The point of the class, the skills instructors will expect you to know when you take a higher-level class • Requirements – the specific tasks of the particular instructor, i.e., the audience expectations

  14. Expectations • Course participation, attendance = critical to success in any course • School/Division policies, e.g., no plagiarism! and absence limits affect grades • Behavior in class: turn cell phones off, remove hats and earbuds, respect others (Your classmates are your audience, too, and they can have strict expectations!)

  15. Format • Style of class, but more often . . . • Audience expectations of your writing! • Appearance: MLA or APA, font, point size • Feel: stapled, manageable, smooth

  16. Pace/Schedule • Self-paced = personal responsibility to be on schedule, meet the mileposts • Fast-paced = personal responsibility to be well prepared before each week begins • Schedule: identify due dates, exams, days of no classes, dates readings to be discussed

  17. “I” statements • I expect . . . I require . . . • I do not . . . I will not . . . • I collect . . . I will look for . . . • I am here to help/I am on your side • I can be reached at/My office hours are . . .

  18. NOTE: • “Note” signals very important information or an intricately detailed explanation • N.B. = (Latin) nota bene ‘note well’

  19. Grade/Rubric • Grade = level to which you met audience expectations • Rubric = the “ruler” used to measure and calculate your grade

  20. Audience Pet Peeves • Speeling Errors If you want to be taken seriously, spell well! 2. “You…you…you…” Huh? I was never there. Own your personal experiences! 3. Overwrought, overdone, overcooked verbiage K.I.S.S.—Keep It Simple, Silly!

  21. To Summarize • Ask yourself the five questions to conceptualize your audience • Review your syllabus and lecture notes for your teacher’s expectations • You are an expert on your own experiences, so be your audience’s informant while respecting their intelligence

  22. Bibliography “Audience.” Writing@CSU. 1993-2009. The Writing Center at Colorado State University. 19 Feb. 2009 <http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/processes/audmod>. “Audience Planner.” Online Technical Writing. No date. No organization. 19 Feb. 2009 <http://www.io.com/~hcexres/itcm/planners/aud_plan.html>. “Winter 2009 Classes: English.” Arts & Humanities: Student Info. Bellevue College. 7 May 2009 <http://bellevuecollege.edu/artshum/materials/Winter2009/ENGL.htm>. Hale, Stephen. “Writing for an Audience.” Georgia Perimeter College. 19 Feb 2009 http://facstaff.gpc.edu/~shale/humanities/composition/handouts/audience.html>.

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