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Study Guides index of guidesSeven stages of
writing assignments:

The idea of a mass audience
was an invention of
the Industrial Revolution
David Croneneberg,
Canadian, 1943 -
  1. Develop your topic
  2. Identify your audience  ◄
  3. Research
  4. Organize and prewrite
  5. Draft/write
  6. Revise
  7. Proofread

Define your target audience, and how you will address them

Some ways of thinking of audience

  • You are selling a product:
    what style of writing will appeal to them?

  • You are explaining a sport:
    how would your vocabulary change if your audience were children?
    visitors from another country? your parents?

  • Are you documenting an event:
    how would you detail the facts of a crime you witnessed?

Categories of audience:

  • Is it simply a broad range of ages, education level, etc.?

  • Is it your instructor who grades you or a teaching assistant? fellow students?  Professionals?

  • Is there a sub-category to consider?
    For example, your teammates, or those you want to interest in your sport?

  • What is the background of your audience?
    For example, you would write differently and use different vocabulary for a scientist than a playwright, a businessman than a athlete.

  • Establish the type of writing that will be most effective in communicating. 
    c.f. writing types in the Writing Guides index

  • Consider point of view or narrative types
    c.f. reading fiction

  • Consider the most effective tone to take that matches your purpose
    c.f. Capital Community College:  Tone: A Matter of Attitude

Use this exercise to begin thinking about audience and readership:

Flash exercise contributed by Jason Ossman and  Dr. Brad Hokanson, Graphic Design I (DHA 3351) School of Design, University of Minnesota

See also:  Colorado State University. Introduction: Audience. In Writing Guides Adapting to Your Audience. Retrieved November 23, 2007 from http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/processses/audmod/index.cfm

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