Description
POWERPOINT & READING MATERIAL ARE LISTED AT THE BOTTOM. BUT FIRST THIS:
All writing is based on audience. Sometimes your audience is a general group of readers; sometimes it is an audience of one; sometimes you know those who make up the audience; and sometimes it is a general audience. No matter who your audience is, there are specific strategies you follow to gear your writing toward specific audiences. Whenever you write, you write to an audience, because audience matters.
A writer uses a particular style of language, tone, and content according to what he knows about his audience. In simple words, audience refers to the spectators, listeners, and intended readers of a writing, or speech. While anyone who reads or listens to the words you’ve written is considered an audience, when you write, you should target toward a specific audience.
Today, we will practice understanding an audience. We will attempt to further your understanding of the writing process and to familiarize you with the first step of that process, the rhetorical situation.
Learning Objectives
Students will learn and practice the elements of rhetorical situation: identifying audience by looking at various situations that must consider specific or target audiences.
Understanding an Audience Lesson 3 OnLine.pptx
Reading Assignment: “Analyzing Your Audience,” pgs. 66-93.
Class Exercise: Following the review of the PowerPoint and reading your assignment, consider these questions:
List the different audiences you?ve written for in the past year, both in and out of school (for example, a particular relative, editor of a paper, school official, certain teacher, a politician, or others you can think of).
Select two of the above audiences and briefly explain how you wrote differently for each.
How is a school newspaper article written differently from a book review for an English class?
Why is the article written differently?
Answer these questions AND respond to the readings, HERE, on the Discussion Board.
Understanding an
Audience
Students will learn and practice the elements of rhetorical situation: identifying audience by
looking at various situations that must consider specific or target audiences.
Writing Situation
The writer?s purpose or aim,
the subject, and the
probable audience (whether
yourself or others) defines
the writing situation.
What are some
examples of purpose,
subject, and
probable audience?
What is the purpose of your
writing
? Class assignment (in general)
? Op-ed
? Article critique
? Reaction Paper
? Incident Reports
? Policy Analysis Papers
So let?s break these down to purpose, subject and probable
audience.
What is the point of an op ed?
? An op-ed (originally short for “opposite the editorial page”
although often taken to stand for “opinion editorial”) is a written
prose piece typically published by a newspaper or magazine
which expresses the opinion of a named author usually not
affiliated with the publication’s editorial board.
What is an article critique?
A critique is not (only) a criticism. A critique is a specific style of
essay in which you identify, evaluate, and respond to an author’s
ideas, both positively and negatively. It is usually applied to
academic sources.
What is the purpose of writing a
reaction paper?
A reaction paper requires you to formulate analysis and reaction
to a given body of material such as readings, lectures, or student
presentations.
The purpose of a reaction paper assignment is to focus your
thinking on a topic after a close examination of the source
material.
Incident Reports
Assignment criteria:
? Details
? Clarity
? Grammar
How many different
types of incident
reports can you think
of?
Policy Analysis Papers
Research Papers
Obviously the purposes and
the audiences for these two
types of papers would be
different.
Because we will be
writing a Policy
Analysis Paper, not a
Research Paper in this
class, I will focus on
the Policy Analysis
Paper.
What is meant by rhetorical
situation?
? A rhetorical situation is the context of a rhetorical act, made
up (at a minimum) of a rhetor (a speaker or writer), an issue (or
exigence), a medium (such as a speech or a written text), and
an audience.
? Five elements compose the rhetorical situation: writer, purpose,
audience, topic and context
Rhetorical Triangle
The Principles of Rhetoric
? Applying the principles of rhetoric helps you to structure an
argument so the truth becomes immediately apparent to your
audience. With the Rhetorical Triangle approach, we focus on the
three things that have the greatest impact on an argument:
? The writer.
? The audience.
? The context.
? These three elements form the points of the Rhetorical Triangle:
? According to this approach, these three factors determine the
persuasiveness of your argument. Your writing ? and any other
form of communication ? needs to take all three into
consideration.
The Writer
Whether consciously or subconsciously, your audience wants to
know what your motives are for your communication.
Members of your audience may ask themselves:
? Are you providing information?
? Are you trying to educate?
? Are you making a call for action?
? Are you attempting to persuade others to change a
perspective or a firmly held belief?
? Are you presenting ideas for problem solving or analysis?
? Are you just trying to entertain?
Ethos/Identity
The way in which the identity of the writer (or
speaker) affects the argument is known as ethos.
The audience wants to know who they are
dealing with. So make sure you clarify:
? Who you are.
? Why you are competent to speak on the issue.
? Where your authority comes from.
The Audience
When you communicate, in writing or verbally, you need to
understand your audience. Knowing who you’re speaking to helps
you to avoid using technical terms when speaking to lay people,
or “dumbing down” the content if your message is intended for
professionals. Things to consider here include:
? What are the audience’s expectations?
? How will they use the information you provide?
? What is the audience hoping to take away after
reading/listening?
? Why are you communicating to this audience in the first
place?
Pathos/Emotions
This part of the triangle is concerned with appealing to the
emotions of the audience, which is known as pathos. The
audience needs to be moved by what you are saying. Ask
yourself:
? What emotion do you want to evoke? Fear, trust, loyalty…?
? Do you have shared values you want to draw on?
? How do your audience’s beliefs fit with your message?
? Connecting with your audience through pathos (for instance,
connecting with them on an emotional level or through their
values or interests) is a particularly strong means of gaining
support.
Context
Finally, your audience will analyze your message by putting it into
context. They’ll likely do this by considering the following:
? What events preceded the communication?
? What types of arguments are used?
? Are they logical and well thought out?
? How are they delivered?
? Where is the document or speech delivered?
? Is this communication necessary?
Logos/Logic
Here the emphasis is on logic and reason, or logos. Your audience
needs to be able to follow what you are saying for it to be
believable. Ask yourself:
? Have I presented a logical, well-constructed argument?
? How do I support my claims?
? What evidence do I have?
? What are the counterarguments?
Step One: Establish Your
Credibility
?
Fully consider the impact your credibility has on the message. Failing to do so risks
leaving your audience unconvinced. Answer the audience’s question, “Is the source
credible?”
?
What is the purpose of your communication?
?
?
A call for action?
?
To provide information?
?
To educate?
?
To persuade or change a perspective?
?
To present ideas?
?
To entertain?
Who are you as a person?
?
Establish who you are and reveal your biases, beliefs, values, and assumptions as appropriate.
?
Explain where your expertise comes from.
?
Use expert testimony.
?
Show why you should be considered an authority.
Step Two:
Appeal to the Audience’s
Emotions
Fully consider your audience; otherwise they may feel disconnected
and the message will be lost. Appeal to their emotions where this is
appropriate and honest. And answer the audience’s hidden question,
“Is this person trying to manipulate me?”
? Who are the members of my audience?
? What are their expectations?
? Why are they reading/listening?
? How will they use this document?
? What do I want them to take away?
? How can I connect emotionally?
? What emotions do I want to evoke?
? Do I use anecdotes or personal stories?
Step Three:
Consider the Context
Fully consider the context of your message. And make sure you deliver it with a solid
appeal to reason. Answer the audience’s question, “Is the presentation logical?”
?
How will I present the information?
? What type of reasoning will I use?
? How will I support my position? With statistics? Observations?
? What tone will I use? Formal or informal?
? How will I deliver the communication?
?
What events are surrounding this communication?
? What background information do I need to supply?
? What do I need to present to make sure my points are clear?
? Are there counterarguments I should bring up and then dismiss?
? Does the method or location of my communication fit with its message?
Key Points
Making persuasive arguments is not easy. By applying the principles of rhetoric to your initial
planning, you can significantly increase the success of your communications. To do this,
take into consideration the three corners of the Rhetorical Triangle.
These are:
1. The writer (how credible you are).
2. The audience (how the message “sits” with the emotions of the audience).
3. The context (how logical the message is and how it fits with the audience’s current
knowledge of the subject).
Make sure you keep your message balanced between these points. This will ensure that
your message is clearly understood and received with the correct intention. When you seek
to understand how your message will be perceived in this way, you’re in the perfect position
to address your audience’s concerns before they even have a chance to surface.
?
Caici Barnhart
Yesterday
Hello,
I have written mainly for academics, but I have also written solely for myself in a journal. My writings consist of papers, discussion board posts, and
like I said previously my journal. The audience for my academic papers would be the reader and/ or the teacher. The reader would be other students
mainly as well as any other person who decided to read it.
I only chose two audiences to list because I only have two audiences that I have written for in the last year. With that being said, the audiences !
chose are the professor/ teacher and myself. I wrote with intentions of doing well and did everything else one would do to get a good grade on a
paper. What I mean by this is I would use spell check, Grammarly, peer review, thesaurus, etc. to create a phenomenal essay. On the other hand,
when I wrote for just myself and to get my thoughts onto paper, I would just write. I would not care about spelling words correctly, putting commas
in specific places when needed, or logically putting my thoughts in order. I would basically just word vomit onto the page. This is the easiest way for
me to relieve my thoughts from my head that truly helps. It’s calming to just write without worrying about a grade or making errors.
A school newspaper article is written differently than a book review for class because one is formal and the other is informal. When one writes for a
newspaper article, s/he writes with ease and for fun. It does not need to be persuasive or informational for the most part. It is solely for anyone to
read in the paper if they wish. When one writes for an English class, the review should be thoughtful, well-written, free of errors, and intentional.
The book review should logically go in order. It should not be confusing for any reader to understand one’s points/ concepts that are being written.
The book review needs to be clear, concise, and complete. It should also include ethos, pathos, and logos; it needs to connect with the reader, use
facts from the book, and prove credibility.
Why is it written differently? It is written differently because one is for fun and the other is for academics. Just as I stated above, I write for
academics and for myself. The newspaper could be seen as writing for pleasure while the book review can be seen as writing for work/ business.
One might say “You should not mix work with pleasure.” In this case, you cannot write the same way you would for an article as you would for an
academic essay and vice versa. The types of writings are not interchangeable when it comes to each audience in this case.
Caici
& Reply o
?
John Lazarus
9:19 am
Reading, Exercise and Discussion Board Post
Understanding an audience is an essential part of professional writing. In all fields, it is vital for writers to come up with specific strategies of applying
the key elements of rhetoric to enhance their ability to write effectively; an issue. In the publication ‘Enforcement of Protective Orders, the authors
focus on taking the reader through the key steps involved in acquiring and enforcing an order as mentioned above. The subsequent sections of the
paper will identify these various rhetoric elements used by the author and discuss how they help advance their ability to reach their target audience.
The text’s rhetoric situation is the issue of enforcement of a restraining order. In the American criminal justice system, the majority of individuals
experience different forms of harassment, and therefore through applying and enforcing a restraining or protective order, individuals legally restrain
their aggressors (U.S. Department of Justice, 2022). The publication is credible because it relies on the legal definitions and judicial processes
applicable under the U.S. law to discuss the issue. The target audience is mainly the normal citizens; thus they opt to use very simple and direct
language.
According to the article, one can acquire a restraining order at different law enforcement offices for a variety of reasons including domestic violence,
physical abuse or harassment. Different strategies may be applied to deal with the issue, including issuance of criminal sanctions, electronic generated
protective order under civil law, and abuse prevention orders under the VAWA (Violence against Women Act). Primarily, the article targets all victims
of various forms of abuse as their audience. The inclusion of legal language and terms is to help them understand the procedure involved in the
process.
References
U.S. Department of Justice. (2022). Enforcement of protective orders. Office of Justice
Programs. https://www.ojp.gov/library/publications/enforcement-protective-orders e
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