Markel (Chapter 5) discusses how understanding
both your audience and your purpose are vital to successful
communication. Depending on the situation, you may be writing to
experts, managers, or general readers. Each of these audiences
will respond to different content and writing styles, so you
must analyze your audiences before writing.
For this assignment, your group will analyze the
assigned audience and write a 400-600 word group memo in which
you describe and justify the approach you would take toward
providing information to your audience. Some information on your
audience already exists, but you’ll need to look at the image
and create a broader profile (like giving the person a name,
describing what may be important to him/her, etc.). Use Markel's audience profile sheet (pg. 89) to flesh out
specifics about your audience
member (s).
The contents should include (but are not limited
to) the following:
-
details about your audience's identity
-
decision-making criteria that your audience
would consider important
-
language choices you would use in writing to
your audience
Group Alpha
He wants: DVD player
He has: Mom’s old TV she bought in 1992
Profile: College full-time and works part-time at
Chili’s; doesn’t have lots of spare time but gets really tired
of doing homework and likes to watch movies
Group Beta
She wants: DVD player
She has: Brand new 35" top-of-the-line TV
and stereo
Profile: Retired with very good pension and investments;
has lots of time to watch movies and episodes of Little House
on the Prairie, especially with friends and the grandkids
Group Gamma
She wants: MP3 player
She has: A good computer for downloading and
burning music files
Profile: Graduate student in theatre; not too familiar
with technology
Group Delta
She wants: MP3 player
She has: a good computer for downloading and
burning music files
She does: a lot of running and other outdoor athletic
activities like camping; wants to have lots of music on the
player
Group Epsilon
They want: a 42" flat screen TV
They have: an older 19" TV
They do: a lot of TV watching with the kids; both work
Group Zeta
She wants: a 27" TV that looks "cool"
She has: no TV right now; just finished her
Russian literature degree at college
She does: mostly work, having just started her first real
job
