also have to decide how much support to give for a point. The teacher may state a rule like "your term paper must contain at least ten sources" (and it's usually a good idea to please the teacher in this respect), but the real question is "how much support does the intended audience need?" Real-world writers think in these terms, not in terms of length or number of sources. In technical writing, you may also have to choose whether or not to define special terms; if you know your intended reader's level of expertise, this choice is much easier.
4. How specific should the choice of audience be?
Usually, the more specific your choice is, the easier your decisions will be. Again, if you're writing for "all college-educated readers" or for "my peers," you may have difficulties in selecting a single tone or in knowing how much support to give.
1. What does your audience believe?
Although you may belong to the same general group as your intended readers, it's often a mistake to assume that your readers already agree with you or knows the material you're trying to convey. If the readers agree totally with you, why do they need to read your statement? But if you assume that your readers are either uncommitted or leaning to the other side, then you will know from the start what and why to argue your point.
2. How do you indicate the audience in the paper?
You can describe your audience directly, usually in the introduction. In an essay to persuade smokers to avoid smoking around their children, you might include a statement like the following: "Many smokers are unaware of how much second-hand smoke endangers the health of their children." Often you don't have to label the audience directly, since the choices of style, tone, or support indicate the audience. For example, an article urging older people to take a stand against age discrimination won't include examples of young people who suffer from discrimination. Sometimes the title or the source of the work indicates the audience. The Idiot's Guide to WordPerfect is clearly not written for seasoned WordPerfect users, and an article in Scientific American will not target grade-school science students.
3. How do you establish rapport with the audience?
The most important place to define your relationship with the reader is in the introduction; if you do so only later, you may lose the intended audience. By making appropriate choices of style, tone, and support, you will also ensure that the reader feels you are taking him/her into account. A note on using "you": many teachers warn students not to use the second person pronoun "you." Many real world writers, however, use "you" (as well as direct commands) to establish a direct, fairly informal rapport with the reader (as does this handout), and sometimes trying to avoid the second person makes writing awkward or stilted. There are two main reasons for avoiding you: (1) avoid "you" in very formal writing (term papers, scientific writing, legal documents); (2) avoid "you" when you mean "anyone"; remember, you have worked hard to define a specific intended audience, so using the generic "you" may actually confuse the reader.
4. How do you direct the audience's attention?
Visual artists often use color or lighting to emphasize a point; musicians and speakers often change the volume or pitch of their text. Writers can use italics, bold print, fancy typefaces (often called fonts), typographical and other symbols, smileys( :^) ) (which should be read sideways), or different sizes, but the least gimmicky way and most effective way to direct your reader is through transitions. Try to avoid simplistic transitions like "first," "second," and "third"; instead use transitions that show the relationship between ideas, such as "nevertheless" or "for example." Better still, use transition sentences that connect the old idea to the new one, as does the middle sentence in the following example:
Opponents of forced busing point to the long distances children have to travel. But proponents note that during segregation, buses took minority students on lo