Professional and Technical Writing/Rhetoric/Audiences
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
|
[edit] Types of Audiences
When preparing documents, it is important to keep the type of audience in mind. Being aware of the differences between Intended and Unintended audiences could save you from any legal trouble down the line. Also, being mindful enough to write for a complex audience will ensure that your writing does not exclude any readers.
[edit] Intended vs. Unintended Audience
Intended audiences are best thought of as the people you are initially writing to. Unintended audiences are anyone that might come across your writing at some point in time. In a professional setting, its important to be mindful of the unintended audience of your written work. This includes any email, memos or proposals produced in said professional setting. While not just a good rule of thumb, it is in your best legal interested to remain professional in all of the documents you produce as these documents can be very easily be brought up in court against you.
[edit] Complex Audience
Writing for a complex audience is vastly different from academic writing. In academia, there is only one or two people that read your writing, the instructor and maybe a teaching assistant. In a professional setting, you will often write for a complex audience of people with different backgrounds and specialties. With that in mind, avoid using terminology that is too technical so you don't unintentionally exclude portions of your audience. This can become especially difficult when writing for larger and more complex audiences.
[edit] Tailoring Employment Documents For a Specific Audience
When it comes to an employment document such as a résumé or a cover letter there is no such thing as “one size fits all”. Each document should be individually tailored to catch the attention of the employer to which the document(s) is/are being submitted to. To do this effectively, it helps to research the company and the position. Some different ways that this can be done are:
- Looking at the job description – The job description usually gives a set of skills that will be required for the position. The skills outline what the employer is looking for, and therefore, what should be added into a resume. (One should never lie about applicable skills, but highlight and prioritize these skills among others).
- Looking at the company website – Looking at the company’s website can help with understanding the company environment and values that may not be listed in a job description. This can be most beneficial when writing a cover letter, in which it is important to acknowledge the potential employer.
In addition to looking at the job description and company website, it is helpful to evaluate the type of job that you are applying for. If you are applying to a job in a design field, you would want to tailor your résumé to be more creative and avoid using any sort of a template.
Depending on your level of experience, it can be beneficial to create a list of skills and job experience in a Word document. As mentioned above, different jobs typically look for a specific set of skills. To make it easier to tailor a business document to a potential employer, it can be easy to have a Word document of skills and job experiences listed. After you determine the specific job you're applying for, copy and paste the appropriate skills into the document.
In general, it is important to remember that in employment documents you are selling yourself, each job will be slightly different so it is crucial to tailor your résumé to the employer. Also, make sure it is not cluttered with information that the employer doesn’t really care about.
[edit] Online Sources
Online Technical Writing: Audience Analysis [1]
The OWL at Purdue: Workplace Writers [2]
