This week’s journal response will ask you to consider these specifics (purpose, phrasing, framing, etc.) in an analysis of a piece of everyday reading.

KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE Chapter 2 in The Craft of Research discusses a key part of writing: audience awareness. But audience awareness isn’t something we deal with only in writing. In everyday activities, you have to gauge other people for certain purposes: you read the facial expressions of your friend as you tell them the oh-so-exciting story about what you’re doing in your English class, you examine the body language of the cashier at the grocery store to see whether you should really trust them to safely bag the carton of eggs you just bought or if you should do it yourself, you analyze the subtle sighs of other restaurant patrons to figure out how fast or slow the service is on a particular evening. This same awareness carries over into your writing but with an even more important purpose: if you can’t keep your audience interested, they won’t bother reading your work. However, writing differs from real life interaction in the fact that you aren’t going to be there to adjust your message to suit every audience member’s needs. This is why every good writer begins by considering who they are writing for and how that affects their role as a writer. Though TCR focuses on audience awareness in research writing, the principles are essentially the same no matter what type of writing or “text” is being composed. The reader is hoping to either be persuaded, informed, or entertained (the 3 purposes of writing are persuasive, informative, expressive–PIE) and you have to be able know not only which of these purposes you’re writing for but also specifics such as how much knowledge your audience already has, the best way to frame your writing to get your message across, etc. Such an awareness can benefit you as a researcher and writer in numerous other ways: It can help you choose whether or not to rely on a source to help support your argument by determining the credibility of the source. You might be better able to consider how particular sources may be viewed by the audience of the argument(s) you are writing and whether they might have a bias for or against it. It can raise your awareness of the bias of other writers. Bias isn’t all bad, but you should always consider it when reading critically. We are so inundated in our culture with media and the various slants that come with it that it becomes crucial to be able to critically sift through it for yourself and to be aware of the various devices used to present it to you. PROMPT This week’s journal response will ask you to consider these specifics (purpose, phrasing, framing, etc.) in an analysis of a piece of everyday reading. As you go about your daily life, read something this week that isn’t required for this class. This can be a magazine article, a newspaper article (either in print or online), a BuzzFeed listical, something you’re reading for another class…anything at all that isn’t required for this course. Give us a brief summary of what you have read. Then, reflect on who the writer of the piece might have imagined their audience to be. Consider the following questions: What kind of publication is this? Is it a trade journal, a popular magazine, a scholarly journal, etc.? Who publishes this periodical? Is the publisher a commercial or non-profit venture? Who do you believe is the intended audience of this publication? How did you decide who the audience is? Did the author make certain choices that led you to this conclusion? Is the magazine, newspaper, website, etc. itself targeted at a certain audience? What is the purpose of this publication (persuasive, informative, expressive)? How are readers expected to use it? What types of articles and regular features does this publication include? Does this publication seem to have a particular political orientation? Does it advance a particular cause? Explain. Finally, tie this to our Ragged Dick reading by discussing who you think who Horatio Alger intended as the audience for his novel (I offer up one option on the Ragged Dick explication essay assignment prompt but there are others you might argue for). Why do you think this? What specific things in the novel point toward this specific audience?