Assignment 1: Audience Analysis

Description

Write a formal essay analyzing the primary and secondary audiences for the analytical report of your class project. Describe the audiences' level of knowledge, interest and attitude towards the topic. Describe what the audience needs to know about the topic and how you might effectively organize the information. Attach an Audience Profile Sheet for each of the audiences to your essay (see the Tasks below for information about downloading and completing the Audience Profile Sheets.) The grade on this assignment will count 5% of your final course grade.The assignment is due on November 21 .

Discussion:

If you have not yet chosen a class project, you should think carefully about your decision because this project will be the subject of the first four writing assignments. You should choose a topic that you are interested in--one about which you already have some information but need or want to learn more. The class project can be job related, but I do not advise using something that is a primary or ongoing job responsibility. In my experience, tasks at work have a way of changing or getting put on hold, so that it becomes difficult to complete the project. Therefore, I think you should choose a project that does not depend on someone else's schedule for completing the work. For example, you do not want to select a project that is based on a survey that your supervisor postpones until after the new fiscal year.

The class project can be related to a volunteer activity or a consumer-related issue. Whatever the topic, you should narrow the focus as much as possible. If, for example, you are interested in the prepaid college tuition plans that are being offered parents, you might compare the plan offered in your state to other types of investments and make recommendations to parents in your state for investing in their children's education. See the conference on Topics for the Research Project for suggestions if you have not yet identified a class project.


Tasks

  • Identify the primary and secondary audiences for a formal report of the class project.
  • Complete an Audience Profile Sheet for the primary and secondary audiences for the class project. See TechComm Web Site, Forms for Technical Communication for a copy of the Audience Profile Sheet in Word that you can download and complete. Otherwise, you can create your own version of the form found on page 88 in Markel, Technical Communication, 7th ed..
  • Plan a class project, including the formal report of the project, that will address the needs of the primary and secondary audiences for the project.
  • Write an essay that will give the background of the project, identify and describe the primary and secondary audiences for the project, state the purpose of the project, and describe ways in which you intend to address the needs of the two audiences.

Length and Format

  • The formal essay should be at least one single-spaced page or two double-spaced pages.
  • The formal essay should include the following sections: background of the project, the characteristics of the primary and secondary audiences, the purpose of the project, and the ways in which you plan to consider the characteristics of both audiences.
  • The formal essay should include appropriate subheadings to organize the information for the reader.
  • The Audience Profile Sheet for each audience should be attached as a file to the page for submitting the assignment in WebTycho.

Example


Submission

  • Submit the essay and the two Audience Profile Sheets as attached files by November 21 to the WebTycho Assignments folder. If you are using Microsoft Word, you can submit your assignment as .doc files. If you are not using Word, you can submit your assignment as .txt (text) files or .rtf files, although some formating will be lost when I open the files. If you have Adobe Acrobat, you can submit your work as .pdf files. Please note that you can no longer attach .html files in WebTycho.