A Purposeful Audience

  When creating any sort of verbal or written communication a writer will begin with some vision in mind. One of the most critical parts of the planning process includes communicating your ideas effectively, understanding your intent in writing, and how to make a compelling argument for a target audience.
When writing with intent, the purpose is a crucial factor. There are five basic steps outlined in “The Real World Reader.” The first step includes describing the purpose and understanding what the paper will entail, a writer will then move on to taking tangible steps in order to achieve their objective, then he or she must consider how the intended audience will interpret their ideas, also they should reflect on how to implement responses into their writing, so that they can adapt to any given audience. The last step is the actual execution of purpose, and combining all the steps to formulate an argument.

There are various situations in which purpose is dependent upon the writing atmosphere such as academic, informal, and formal writing situations. In an informal writing situation, a writer is able to express more of a conversational aspect in their writing. He or she is able to depict an opinion as if they were talking to a friend or writing a social media post. A formal writing piece has the constraint of portraying one’s ideas professionally while still maintaining the writer’s voice. In academic writing, there is a similarity to formal writing in which a student, instructor, or an academic must compile their information according to scholastic rubrics, given prompts, or be research centered. In informal writing, purpose can be remolded in various fashions, in which the writer is able to choose how they would like to represent their ideas, which allows them more creative freedom. Although, a formal writing situation has more of an impersonal aspect it also provides documents with credibility because it has more of an objective and logical characteristics. Likewise, academic writing reflects the same elements of formal writing but also has a teaching quality because the author intends to teach the reader what conclusion was reached.
 
When creating an argument, a writer must always consider their audience.  Considering your audience is one of the most fundamental aspects of creating an argument. A writer must always consider whom she or he is speaking to, so that they may write in a manner that will be most appealing to the audience, therefore, maintaining their engagement with the text. Along with outlining steps for an audience in “The Real World Reader” some steps are used to analyze a targeted audience. Step one involves figuring out who exactly is meant to be your target audience, step two describes the planning of what to say, step three focuses on how the writing will leave a lasting impact on the audience, step four relates to how the audience influences the writers choices, step five questions the author’s relation to his or her target audience, and lastly step six is the process of compiling your conclusions into your writing. 
Just as the purpose is dependent upon the writing environment, it may also be said that the audience is a defining attribute. If a writer is considering the formality of their writing or informality of their writing, they must first consider the audience. Having a defined audience provides an advantage to the writer as they are able to consider factors such as culture, bias, economics, life experiences, location, and even familiarity with the topic. Understanding your audience is another tool in creating a compelling argument due to personal aspects.  For example, if a writer is organizing an essay for an audience of immigrants, he or she may compile a list of similarities that may occur in multiple lives. Some items on the list may include assimilation, language barriers, exploration, opportunity, freedom, religious/social persecution, or even economic difficulties. Although not every immigrant may have experienced something on the list, there may be various immigrants that do have a relation to one category, which may aid in the author’s credibility in terms of the reader.

On the NROC website, the author describes the many forms that purpose may be presented. There is persuasion, entertainment, and informative writing.  The writers of the NROC website discuss the idea that writers will typically use a variety of purpose, and may even use all three in order to cater to all audience types. Some readers are only persuaded by assorted forms of evidence, and real-life situations influence others. There are also those that like to be entertained during an argument, an example is reflected in a conspiracy documentary. An audience may enjoy the visual aspects rather than a printed text. There are also those that will only be satisfied with facts and evidence. An audience that is focused on the factual will focus on the content rather than the appearance of text. Also on the website, the idea of considering the author is addressed. A writer will typically write with a target audience in mind, but writing and reading is a relationship. Just like a writer, a reader can analyze the source of a given argument. As a reader, we are allowed to consider an author’s bias, and how their life has shaped their argument. An audience will always change due to the freedom of writing and reading; therefore, an author must prepare for their work to stand alone. Instead of having an author’s merits and success define the achievements that may be obtained for the content they produce a writer should be able to construct well-argued points that lack weak points, and may only be denied due to disagreement rather than faulty arguments.

Audience and purpose are perhaps the most important aspects of any argument due to their varied uses.  Without purpose and audience, a writer’s work would have no structure and would lack focus. Both audience and purpose are instrumental in creating an argument and may determine the success or failure of what the author intends.

Miller, James S. The Real World Reader: a Rhetorical Reader for Writers. Oxford University Press, 2016.

NROC Developmental English Foundations, content.nroc.org/DevelopmentalEnglish/unit01/Foundations/author-audience-and-purpose.html.​