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One of the most important steps in drafting your document or speech is identifying WHO you are writing to. Who is your audience?
According to writing.colostate.edu, there are three questions you can ask yourself to help analyze your audience.
- Who they are? (age, sex, education, economic status, political/social/religious beliefs);
- What level of knowledge do they have about the subject being discussed? (general reader, specialist or expert)
- In what context will they be reading the piece of writing or hearing the speech? (in a newspaper, textbook, popular magazine, on the Internet, etc.).
The level of knowledge/information that your audience has is also a large factor in determining how you should compose your document. According to Michel Muraski from Colorado State University there are three types of audiences: lay, managerial, and expert.
- The “lay” audience has little or no knowledge on the addressed subject. Therefore it is essential to fill in all of the holes. They usually need background information and they expect more definitions and descriptions.
- The “managerial” audience has more knowledge than a lay audience, but not as much as an expert on the subject. They still need information to make a decision about the issue/subject.
- The "experts" may be the most demanding audience in terms of knowledge, presentation, and graphics or visuals.
“Determining your Audience Type.”
Alexis,
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that you explained the three types of audiences. It was clear and really helped me understand what each term ment. I really couldn't find anything wrong with your blog but I would suggest using more video or audio tools. From your tone of writing it seem like you targeted a more lay audience which was a good decision because you explained things that a expert, and managerial audience would already know. I'm gone to use a similar approach in targeting a lay audience.
Thank you for the suggestion for more audio and video tools. Yes, I targeted a lay audience since our audience can be almost anyone, not just one specified group, so it is essential to explain all of the concepts.
ReplyDeleteYour grammar and mechanics are perfect. Focus on infusing more of you into the post. Blog writing is different than academic writing. I need to hear your story about the importance of audience in one's writing. I need to hear your personality in your writing. This is called voice.
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ReplyDeleteAlexis, I really like your first blog post. The visual is perfect and the content is good. I can't really find anything wrong with your first blog except, I would suggest that yourself writes more of the blog. It seems as if more than half of the blog was written by another student from Coloroda State, this kinda made loose interest. I wanted to hear what you had to say! Other than that it looks like you sited your source properly which is important. Overall good first blog post, and keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteAlexis,
ReplyDeleteThis blog was very well written and contained a lot of information in it. I like how the blog had a flow about it. I think it was very important to include the three questions that you must ask in order to figure out your audience. I agree with Jason that you could put more of your own information in the blog. You could also try and give some examples of how your audience can alter the way you prepare for the speech or paper. I really liked the blog and you presented a lot of very beneficial information. I look forward to reading the next blog that you write.
Awesome job on your first blog. The visual that you chose was perfect and the length of the blog was effective. The questions that you posted really do help you determine what type of writing fits the audience. This blog had the best grammer of any that I have read thus far, very impressive stuff. Looking forward to the blog about searching for jobs, hopefully I can get a few tips from it.
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