We all have many ways of talking and writing--we can be formal or informal, concise or detailed, technical, specialized or general. Normally we choose a writing strategy based on who we think of as our reader. Knowing your audience before you write will make the process of writing easier because it simplifies the decisions you have to make. Writing with a specific audience in mind will also give your essay more unity of purpose and style and will involve your reader more directly in your argument. It can also be helpful to write with the real audience in mind; for example, if you know that your teacher has a particular view, your essay could try either to please or to challenge the teacher. If you have electronic mail at your job and you know that the computer systems administrator is reading your e-mail, you might be more careful in what you say about the boss.
2. How does choosing an audience affect the purpose?
If you don't have a particular intended audience in mind, or if you say that your essay is for "everybody" or "society" or "people interested in this topic," your writing will tend to be as general as your intention. Your real purpose will be (or seem to be) turning in an assignment to the teacher (and the teacher won't be a happy reader). On the other hand, if you see yourself as addressing a real reader, you will have a much clearer understanding of your purpose, and your reader will feel more involved.
3. How does choosing an audience affect the strategy (style, support, tone, vocabulary)?
Often you have to decide how formal or casual to make your essay. Students who think of the teacher as the intended reader often ask "Can I use slang?" A teacher who wants to exercise control by being the intended audience will typically answer yes or no; a teacher who wants the writer to control his/her writing may respond, "Would your reader want or appreciate the particular slang expression?" Knowing the intended audience, then, enables you to ask questions and make choices rather than following rules. You will 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 clearl