Getting More Mileage Out of Audience Analysis — A Basic Approach

Abstract

An effective way to introduce audience analysis is to have students select a passage from an advanced text in their fields and then rewrite the passage twice for two different audiences. The assignment has several advantages: it gradually introduces students to the means of shaping material to meet reader needs by allowing the student to deal with only one reader at a time; it allows students to write about material they already know; it shows the instructor how effective his initial audience instruction has been; it gives the instructor the opportunity to show how definition is related to audience analysis; and it provides a means of developing and integrating several other writing projects which use this assignment as a basis.