Chapter 4 Summary
By Tom Wilmes and Erin Collopy
Identifying Purposes
There are two purposes professionals have when preparing a technical document:
- Concisely and accurately convey verifiable information
- Persuade audiences to attend to the information.
Identifying Audiences
You must identify your audience’s needs and specific issues before you analyze it, this is the intended audience.
There are four types of audiences:
Initial Audience: the person to whom you submit a document but not necessarily the decision maker.
Primary Audience: the person for whom your document is intended and the one who will use the information.
Secondary Audience: receive and read the document. They have the most interest because they are affected by the information in it.
External Audience: people outside the immediate organization but are affected by the information or decisions based on it.
Individual Readers may fit into more than one category. For example; a company VP is an expert in business but a student in an Aviation course.
Analyzing Audiences
Strategies for analyzing audiences:
- Context in which a document is interpreted
- Purpose and motivation of the audiences
- Prior knowledge of the audiences including, education and professional experiences
- Organizational role of the audiences
Talking with people in the areas of Design and Development, Marketing, Sales, and Customer Service can help you understand what to put into the document.
Context
It is vital to consider the physical and political context and working conditions in which the audience will interpret and use documents, presentations, and visuals. A repair manual used by technicians needs to have a sturdy cover and pages that lie flat as well as visuals and headings that can be easily scanned. A busy executive reading that same manual needs to have it formatted so it has clear , abstract headings, brief explanations and justifications, and conclusions and recommendations.
Purpose and Motivation
Knowing the audience’s purpose and motivation helps you adjust receptivity and decrease resistance.
Receptive audiences: You can present recommendations initially and then support them in subsequent sections
Resistant Audiences: You can present the problem, discuss the alternatives, and then lead to the most appropriate and feasible solution, hoping audiences are persuaded by your interpretation.
Prior Knowledge
If you can estimate audiences prior knowledge, you will be able to determine the appropriate vocabulary and content. Both education and workplace experience influence prior knowledge. The level, type, and duration of a persons education strongly influence prior knowledge, affecting a persons comprehension of concepts and their application.
Vocational-technical Training focuses on providing a practical or applied knowledge.
Professional or academic training focuses on providing a theoretical understanding as well as a practical experience
Reading level
Writing for an audience’s level is important; if audiences cannot understand and act on the written information, it is useless. Knowing an audience’s reading ability helps you adjust content and approach. Writers should not automatically assume, however that the smarter the audiences, the more difficult the material should be. A very intelligent person may not have a high reading level; another person may be able to read complex material in one specialized area, but not in another.
Factors that affect the ease or difficulty of a text:
- Content: Is the content concrete? Supported with explanations? Need prior knowledge?
- Context: Does it explain the context? Is it familiar to the audiences?
- Purpose: Purpose clearly stated? Will the audience agree with the purpose?
- Audience: Does the document target the right audience and reading level?
- Organization: Is it logically organized? Is the information coherent?
- Visuals: Are visuals mixed in? Are they appropriate and appealing?
- Design: Is it appropriately chunked and labeled? Style and format appropriate?
- Usability: Can the audience use the information?
- Language conventions: Does it conform to grammatical and mechanical conventions?
Two types of organization:
- Hierarchical organization: people work best when directed, bosses at top, managers in middle, workers at bottom.
- Nonhierarchical organization: everyone contributes equally to the productivity of the organization.
Adjusting to Audiences:
- Address audiences with different levels of expertise by adjusting the complexity of the material.
- Address audiences with different organizational roles by shifting focus of the discussion and choice of details.
- Address audiences by designing web sites that enable audiences to construct unique sequences of information to meet their own needs and interests.
When choosing which audience to write for you need to identify and write for the primary audience and identify and consider the secondary audiences. Use design elements to make information accessible in both paper and electronic messages.
18 comments:
Determining the audience is very important. By recognizing who you are presenting to, you can detail your approach differently to appeal to those people better. You do not want to assume that your audience will identify with your writing. When writing you need to take their reading level and professional background into consideration. You need to be able to adjust to your audience.
When you are giving any sort of presentation the most important aspect is determining your audience. Most of us have seen this if we have taken a speech class how hard it is to concentrate on what is being said as the speaker has done nothing to draw us into what they have to say. Prior to giving any sort of speech it is crucial to know what kind of audience you are going to be speaking to. An effective speaker with adjust their topic in order for it to be affective to the desired group.
I thought the section on the reader's level of reading was important, because just because someone is good at understanding one or two subjects, doesn't mean they will be just as good at understanding another. Retrieving information about the audience and their reading purpose, is a key ingredient. Analyzing the audience, seems to be one of the most important steps when preparing a technical document.
It is very important to identify your audience, many people may be reading your technical document whether it is your primary audience or a secondary audience who is directly affected by your information. In manufacturing Engineering Technology your audience is often a Resistant one; where you present the problem, discuss alternatives and then lead the most appropriate and feasible solution, hoping to persuade the audience by my interpretation of the problem. Reading level and the audience’s prior knowledge will directly affect the amount of material they will absorb. More or less detail may be necessary.
weather it be give a presentation or just writeing a simple e mail you need to think about who will be reciveing the information. Determining your audience is important because some people may not understand the topic as well as others. You have to adjust the context of your email or presentation to the audience understanding of that subject.
I thought the part about adjusting to your audience was the most benefitial part of the chapter. Better ways to talk to an audience can only be a good thing. I figure we all can use some help in this area because there are some people that are uncomfortable speaking in front of a group and this chapter give help for those.
In order to effectively inform or persuade someone on any subject matter, one must determine how to get their idea across to the audience. Knowing the audiences prior knowledge and education on the subject, their reading level, and their interest in the subject is key to determining how to write or present the information. In my public speaking class last fall we talked about this as well. We must think about whether the audience will know key terms, any background information they might know or not know, and find a way to make the audience connect or care about the subject. If the audience or reader(s) cannot find a way to connect with the topic or if the information is too complex, they will soon become unintersted and not pay attention.
I think that this is a very important thing to pay attention to. The ability to "know" your audience is a very good ability to have. If I wrote a paper that is way above my readers head they probably won't read it. So that goes to show why the people that write the instructions for how to put together a BBQ should read this section and use it. Thus making a more effective paper for the reader.
Knowing your audience when creating a technical document is hugely important. It will determine your grammar, structure, vocabulary, as well as other aspects of your writing. Someone who is an effective communicator will have the skill to adjust the information so that it may be delivered to several different audiences. For example, it would be much different printing up a set of instructions for a 2nd grade class than it would printing a set for a corporate office. It is key to adjust communication as necessary to the knowledge and background of your audience.
Knowing your audience is definitely a very important part of effective communication. There is a huge difference between how information would be presented to a group of children and how the same information would be presented to a group of adults. It's usually simple things, like non-complicated language and instructions and maybe more visual aids, that help when dealing with a younger audience, but it can also be easy to underestimate their abilities. Knowing your audience prevents you from unwittingly alienating them.
Chapter Four informs us on how to give accurate information and to apply it to the correct audience that we are trying to pursue. They are so many different types of people and trying to reach everyone’s beliefs will not happen but you can try to reach the majority of the audience. Or even if you are connecting a little with the other part of the audience, you are still doing well. You have to make adjustments but you will never please everyone.
I think it is very beneficial to understand who your audience is that you are to be presenting to. Knowing all aspects of your audience will help to be a successful speaker by just knowing what to expect in reaction and even just promoting a better speech. I agreed with this section and have never looked at this particular subject in so many different ways, therefore it was beneficial to me.
The audience is the most important part of any presentation. If you cannot relate the material to the audience then you might as well not even do the presentation. You need to know how the audience works, and what is normal for them. Then you can put them into categories so you can organize your presentation to better fit their styles.
In speech class we learned about adjusting to your audience. So that part of the chapter I somewhat knew but it gave me some more points that I can use in the professional world. I think this chapter gives a lot of points we can use in the future.
I definitely agree that the audience is the most important part of a presentation. You could have done the best research, have the coolest power point and have the best delivery ever, but if it's not tailored to your audience, it will be a complete waste of time. Also, a big part of knowing your audience is knowing why they are attending your presentation. That will also affect how you deliver your material. Good job on the summary!
Well, interesting chapter in Tech-Comm again. But as a matter of whenever one writes one need to identify their audience. There are plenty of audience out there, so it is very important for one to know thier audience when ever they write. It is very important for your audience to understand what you write. For instance, if your audince are bunch of high schools kids, you will have to talk on their level of education, but if your audince is college students you will definitely have to talk on their level. So, it basically depend on what kind of audience you are talking to and writing for.
Well this chapter summary is about different aspect of writing and the things that should be kept in mind before writing.Indentifying the purpose, the context about which you are writing, identifying audience, reading level of the audience are someof the basic thing that should be thoroughly analysed before writing anything. Tom and Erin has done a good job of explaning all these aspect.
It is critical to know your audience. also it is important to know what they know or dont know on the subject that you are presenting. you do not want to be giving a presentation to doctors and treating them like high school students. adjustments need to be made when you are speaking to different groups, or even the setting of the presentation.
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