English 2053 Report Writing
Audience Analysis
Audience Analysis is
the process of gathering as much information as possible about
your intended audience in order to tailor your communication to
the needs of that reader/listener.
Types of Audience
- Actual-(primary)
the individual or individuals who will be the primary
target of the communication.
- Secondary- anyone
else who may hear or read the message. In bureaucracies,
it is important to realize that most messages go up a
chain of command before action is taken.
Analysis begins with understanding how
your audience will read your message. They may choose two tactics
for reading the message: skimming or critical reading. To prepare
for skimmers:
- State the Purpose Explicitly
- Use clear heads
- Use a topic sentence to open each
paragraph
- Integrate visual information
- Use "power-point"
organization so that they can pick up the main ideas of
the argument quickly.
To prepare your message for critical
readers:
- Repeat terminology specifically. Don't get flowery. Be
precise.
- For non-specialists, define the jargon. Use examples,
definition, and comparison.
- For specialists use the field variant jargon
- Move from general to specific
- Use lists to present details
You must also address the Role of the Audience:
- Discover the level of the audience's need (how vital is
this knowledge to them?)
- Discover their level of interest (how interested in this
are they already?)
- Be able to clearly articulate the reader's task. (What do
you want them to do?)
- Discover their attitude toward the topic.
Remember that the Audience's Attitude is
created by a number of factors:
- Social Constraints
- Consequences
- History
- Personal Involvement
- Audience's feeling about Message and Sender
- Format Expectations.
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