Abstract
This paper explores the importance of approaching audience as a rhetorical consideration of the intended reader's community and its cultural contexts for writing. It then presents an approach to audience analysis that examines the non-technical reader's community culture using three questions: How does this reader's community value my subject? What writing conventions operate in this reader's community? How much background knowledge is a member of this community likely to have? Finally, this paper describes how a technical writer can choose an appeal based on values shared with the intended reader and then present shared and new information in ways that accommodate the reader's needs for understanding unfamiliar technical subjects.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | 1993 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference |
| Editors | Anon |
| Publisher | Publ by IEEE |
| Pages | 167-171 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| ISBN (Print) | 0780314662 |
| State | Published - Dec 1 1993 |
| Externally published | Yes |
| Event | Proceedings of the 1993 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference - Philadelphia, PA, USA Duration: Oct 5 1993 → Oct 8 1993 |
Other
| Other | Proceedings of the 1993 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference |
|---|---|
| City | Philadelphia, PA, USA |
| Period | 10/5/93 → 10/8/93 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Engineering(all)