Audience and Purpose

Traci — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 04:24:58 +0000

Readings for December 29

For today’s session, please read the following:

Details on the importance of audience and purpose and chapter 4 of Markel.
Strategies for adapting your writing to the needs of your readers and chapter 6 of Markel.
Examples for Project 1, to help you understand the assignment.

Work for December 29

Today is about making sure you understand the course policies, getting set up, and generally touching base with one another. If you have technical difficulty with today’s class work, don’t panic! Send me an email at tengrrl at vt.edu and let me know what you need help with.

Please complete these tasks:

If you have not registered on the forums, follow the instructions in the 12/27 post to do so by 11:55 PM Monday. Be sure to verify that you have read the syllabus as well. I will turn off open forum registration at midnight to lock out the spambots, so make sure you get registered today.
Go to Tests & Quizzes in Scholar, and complete the reading quizzes on Chapter 4 and Chapter 6 of Markel by 11:55 PM on Friday, January 2. See the policies for quizzes on the course logistics page, and see the Announcements in Scholar for details in the change of due dates for this first week of classes. The syllabus mentions a syllabus quiz. We’re going to skip that for now.
Review and analyze some example bio statements in the forums. If you have any questions (today or in the future) about the first assignment, go to the Questions about Project 1 topic in the forum and add them. You can skim through this topic for answers as well.

Last updated on 30th December, 2014, 12:07 AM

Markel, Chapter 4: Analyzing Your Audience and Purpose

Traci — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 20:10:50 +0000

Chapter 4 discusses why the concepts of audience and purpose are vitally important in every kind of writing (in fact, any kind of communication). The audience and purpose for any project you work on will determine the information you include and the tone and style that you use. We will talk about audience and purpose for every project that you work on in this class, so Chapter 4 is a foundation for the rest of the course.

Importance of Audience and Purpose

For audience, Chapter 4 identifies four key questions to answer for any writing project:

Who are your readers?
Why is your audience reading your document?
What are your readers’ attitudes and expectations?
How will your readers use your document?

Pay attention to the details on those questions in your reading, as well as the idea of primary, secondary, and tertiary audiences. As you read about purpose in the Chapter 4, be sure you understand the details on these four questions:

Why is the reader reading your document?
How will the reader read your document?
What is the reader’s reading skill level?
What is the physical environment in which the reader will read your document?

These questions will help you make decisions about the information in writing projects as well. For instance, the reading skill of your reader will help you decide if your technical jargon is appropriate.

At the end of the chapter, be sure to notice the “Writer’s Checklist” (pp. 76-77). You will find a checklist at the end of nearly every chapter in the book. These lists are a nice summary of the important concepts in the chapter. For some of the projects we will work on, we will use the checklists for peer review and feedback on what you write.

Reading Quiz

After reading the chapter, complete the reading quiz in Scholar for Chapter 4.

Photo: 00020-Construction Engineering Brochure-5078 by Jared Horn, on Flickr