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Chapter 2 – A World of People and Purposes
OVERVIEW
Technical writing is user-centered; that is, an audience uses the information for a specific purpose. Often, the same or similar information is focused for a variety of audiences with different purposes.
For instance, the latest findings on genome research could be written at a highly technical level for scientists working in the field, at other levels for inclusion in an introductory or advanced biology textbook, and at a general level for the public reading the information in their local newspaper.
Writing accessible, usable, and relevant technical communication begins with audience analysis. Who is likely to read the document? For what purpose? That is, how will they use it? To perform a task? Make a decision? Gain information? How much background do they have about the topic? In what context will the information be used?
Besides using demographic information (age, gender ratio, ethnicity, and the like) and marketing surveys, effective communicators often interview a representative sample of their audience to determine their information needs.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, students should be prepared to respond to these objectives:
• Explain why technical writing should be more user-centered than other types of writing. (Because a technical communicator’s firstconcern is to provide information that the audience needs in amanner that is accessible, usable, and relevant to that audience.)
• List methods for analyzing the needs of an audience. (direct methods such as conducting surveys, interviews, and focus groups; indirect methods such as reading corporate style guides, user preference documents, and marketing surveys)
• List three possible communication contexts. (Taking into account the organizational settings, legal issues, time issues, audience-members’ values, associations, and cultural differences. For example, preparing a training manual to accompany a two-day course on web design held in at a medical school in your province for medical professionals from Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova.)
• List four primary purposes for technical information. (To learn, to obtain background information, to make a decision, to perform a task.)
TEACHING TIPS
Analyzing the audience is one of the most important (and elusive) skills students can develop. In the workplace and in school, inexperienced writers are often unaware of the need to adapt a message to their audience. In their view, writing is a linear task of transferring material from the brain to the page.
Without a sense of their audience, writers write prematurely—and thus ineffectively.
Because most students have never written for specific audiences with specific informational needs; they have problems grasping the concept of audience analysis. To help them grasp the need for such analysis, stress that successful firms are those that meet the needs (or desires) of their audience (that is, their customers). And for every document they write, insist that they evaluate their readers’ needs and the document’s purpose by answering questions such as these:
1. Who will be reading the document?
2. Why will they be reading it?
3. How will they use the information?
4. How much do they already know about the topic?
5. What else do they need to know?
Focus on such questions during writing workshops and when you evaluate their work for a grade. So doing will reinforce the importance of careful analysis. Having students review the web resources listed below will reinforce your class discussions on audience and purpose.
Tell students you will read and evaluate their writing as an employer or supervisor would—a decision maker who requires clear information, often translated from high to low technicality. (In the workplace, a document is evaluated as unacceptable, acceptable, or superior.) Have students identify an audience and use for each assignment. You might want them to include a written audience-and-use analysis with each submission, especially for earlier assignments. Students invariably ask, “How long should this assignment be?” as they try to apply versions of the “500-word essay” formula to all assignments. An appropriate response is, “Just long enough to answer all anticipated questions from the audience.” Explain that writers who can accurately anticipate their audience’s questions are those who know how much is enough.
During editing workshops throughout the semester, emphasize repeatedly that every word, sentence, and paragraph should advance the writer’s meaning. Chapter 4 provides basic editing tools for achieving clear and precise expression.
WEB RESOURCES
• Ivan Walsh – Audience Analysis
The author discusses the importance of audience analysis in creating readable and usable technical documents.
• Lenny Laskowksy’s LJL Seminars -- Monthly Speaking Tips
The LJL Seminars site provides monthly speaking tips, which contain useful advice on effective oral communication. For the purposes of this chapter, follow the “A.U.D.I.E.N.C.E Analysis—It’s Your Key to Success” link. Laskowsky presents his version of an audience analysis questionnaire.
Teacher Note: This brief page might be used as a handout or as a discussion starter. It offers students a mnemonic for audience analysis that might also be used as a checklist for their projects.
• Learning Styles Quiz
Sometimes audience analysis requires knowing how your users learn and process information. This Web site contains a quiz that you can take to help you understand your own responses and that you might use as a basis for an audience analysis interview.
• Multiple Intelligences
The theory of multiple intelligences provides another look at different ways of knowing and learning. Although discussions about this theory often focus mainly on classroom interaction, considering multiple kinds of intelligence will take you beyond simple demographics and help you better understand the complexity of audience analysis.
Teacher Note: The two sites above can be used in a variety of ways: as ways of looking at audience analysis, as ways of helping students understand how differences in their own methods for understanding information will be reflected in their writing, and as a tool for helping students within collaborative groups.
Tip: If you want to use these sites as a way of approaching collaboration, you might also ask students to visit the Kiersey Temperament Sorter at The form itself also indicates much about audience analysis and might be used as a point of discussion.
Tip: You might use the Learning Styles results to “map out” (anonymously, of course) how your students approach learning. You might use this as a discussion of how people approach learning and how that might affect writing for audiences who differ in their approaches. (Connect this with a discussion of different students’ courses of study. Are there trends?)
Internet Exercises for Your Students
Skim through the following paper on Jakob Nielsen’s “Useit.com” site at Once you have finished, visit the “summarized” version at
1.Why do you think Nielsen feels the second document is more “user-centered” than the first? Why did he provide the highlighted section immediately following the long version’s abstract? Give your analysis in a paragraph or two.
2. Answer the following questions, which are adapted from your textbook, for each of the Nielsen pages. Be sure to explain your reasoning fully and provide examples.
Audience:
• Based on the features of the documents, who do you think will be reading or using each of these pages?
• Are they the same audience for each page? Why or why not?
• What special characteristics might each of those audiences have?
• What is their background and attitude toward the subject?
Purpose:
• Why is this communication important?
• Why is it needed?
• What will users do with the information on each of these pages?
Context:
• What role(s) might the users of these documents play in their organization?
• What political or social situations for their users do each of these documents suggest?
• What might their professional values or affiliations be?
Teacher Note: For the above exercises, you might use the comparison of the Nexium information in the textbook as a springboard for comparing the two Nielsen articles. Use Nielsen’s criteria and those found on page 33-35 of the textbook to examine students’ understanding of audiences and purposes – and how they are handled through different types of writing.
Tip: As a point of discussion, you might raise the issue of the irony of the abstract and the actual form of the longer article.
CHAPTER 2 QUIZ
True or False
1. T or F Primary and secondary audiences often have different technical backgrounds.
2. T or F Audience analysis is only necessary when the document is long or complex.
3. T or F Non-technical audiences are merely interested in the bare facts, without explanations.
4. T or F A thorough audience and purpose analysis helps you make decisions about word choice, document format, and document length.
5. T or F It is not helpful for a technical communicator to think about typical audience types because it leads to stereotyping.
Multiple-choice
6. As they approach your document, users are most interested in (a) learning how smart and eloquent you are, (b) finding what they need, quickly and easily, (c) why the document was written, (d) how well you have communicated your message, or (e) how well you use grammar.
7. The audience’s acceptance of your document can ultimately depend on (a) its level of technicality, (b) the political climate in your organization, (c) the individual user’s attitude, (d) a and c, or (e) all of these.
Short Answer
8. Name three sources that can help with audience analysis:
9. When you ask the question, “Why is this information needed?” you are asking a question about the document’s ______.
10. Because they are constantly forming opinions of the material, audiences are not simply ______recipients of information.
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