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Learning Module 1: Introduction to Audience-Based Writing

Module 1: Audience-Based Writing

I.  GOALS:

In Module 1, you will establish a foundation for audience-based writing, a skill that we will spend the entirety of the course refining. To do so, you will review the basics of rhetorical situations and audience analysis, as well as the guidelines for effective definition writing.

II.  DOCUMENT TYPES

During this module, you will encounter document types including:

III. REQUIREMENTS:

Independent Work

  1. Comple the readings and videos below
  2. Take Module 1: Audience-Based Writing Quiz, based on the readings and videos.

Drafting the Major Assignment

  1. Composing a memo which gets you thinking more about your definition assignment. 
  2. Composing a first draft of your definition assignment. 
  3. Completing an in person peer review of your definition assignment. 
  4. Composing a second draft of your definition assignment based on feedback from peer review.
  5. Submitting the final definition assignment. 

IV.  INTRODUCTION TO AUDIENCE-BASED WRITING:

As an example of what we mean by audience-based writing, say you wanted to define an Electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring device in an ICU. For a general introduction to the topic, intended for most/all readers, you could read this Links to an external site..

However, as you start to identify specific audiences, the type of information you provide, and how you provide it, necessarily changes. If you were a hospital wanting to know the standards by which your nurses and technicians needed to adhere in order to use these types of devices, you would find a document like this Links to an external site.. If you were writing for developers and other businesses who wanted to integrate EEG technology into their own platforms, you might find something like this Links to an external site.. 

All three of these documents address EEG monitoring devices and systems, but they vary widely in their tone and content focus depending on the intended audience. This is what we mean by audience-based writing, which is key to developing your Technical Writing skills.

V.  MODULE RESOURCES:

For audience-based writing, you need to know your audience. This involves conducting a Rhetorical Analysis, or determining your Rhetorical Situation. For those of you who took ENGL101 at the University of Maryland, or a similar class somewhere else, you've probably already encountered this concept before. For a refresher, please review all related materials for the Rhetorical Situation, found at Purdue's Online Writing Lab  Links to an external site.(click through the eleven (11) separate pages in the menu on the left-hand side).

Once you are familiar with the Rhetorical Situation, you can delve further into thinking about audience and composing an extended definition, which is the deliverable of this module's major assignment. To proceed, please review the Required Readings and Videos below. Once completed, you can then take theQuiz  Links to an external site.before moving onto your first draft of the Extended Definition Assignment.

VI.  REQUIRED READINGS

VII.  REQUIRED VIDEOS

"Audience Analysis" from NJIT (8:58) Links to an external site.

"Making Definitions: Valid vs. Good" from NJIT (6:05) Links to an external site.

 "Run-On Sentences and Comma Splices" from Smrt English (2:42) Links to an external site.