One of the most important aspects of writing effectively knows your intended audience. When constructing a text, you have to keep in mind what the readers know, how they feel about the subject, and what content will draw them to your argument or story. Most of the popular works of literature have struck a chord with a large number of people because the writing resonated with the audience.
Sometimes the audience is obvious, such as when you write an email or an academic assignment. However, other times it may be less clear, such as when writing a marketing blog or report. To a large degree, the subject matter and type of document determine the audience.
In the following post, we tell you what audience in writing is and analyze the type of audiences in some famous pieces of literature.
Definition of Audience in Writing and How to Establish Your Intended Audience
In writing, the audience represents the group of people who you are writing for. Your audience might be your classmates, instructor, company staff, company president, or a certain age group. As a writer, you have to anticipate the expectations and needs of the audience when conveying information or arguing a claim.
Before you start writing any paper, you need to be aware of the audience and purpose in writing examples, such as values, biases, knowledge, and expectations. Specifically, the audience will determine how you organize your ideas, the materials you include in a paper, and the strategies you use to support your argument.
To know the intended audience for your writing, you must establish your purpose for writing, outline the target age group, geographic location, education level, and other relevant background information about the people that appeal to your content. Don’t forget to consider secondary audiences that fall outside your main demographic. Expanding your reach can help you to reach a wider audience base.
One of the clever ways to ensure your writing targets the intended audience is to hire an online paper writing service. The companies recruit professional writers with excellent writing and editing skills in different fields. By hiring an expert, you’re sure that the paper will appeal to the intended audience. Many students use them to complete assignments due to their ability to create custom and timely content that meets the specific expectations and needs of the audience. You can visit a professional writing service to talk to an essay expert that will help you to write effective content for your intended audience.
5 Types of Audience in Writing and What They Mean for Your Writing Approach
The Experts
An expert audience has significant knowledge of the topic you are writing about. They may have an advanced degree in the subject area, a lot of practice experience, or perhaps they are well-read on the subject matter. Experts are the most common type of audience in academic writing. You don’t need to include basics when writing to an expert audience. Your text should get right to the practical details or explain the most important information on the situation or subject. Such writing makes it difficult for other types of audiences to connect with the message and scores you more points with experts.
The Managers
This type of audience has greater decision-making powers than you from a professional point of view. When writing to managers, you must demonstrate that you understand the topic. More importantly, use the right tone because managers value respect for their decision-making power. For instance, you must use tact when you want to include criticism in your writing. Also, edit and proofread the paper thoroughly to ensure there are no spelling, grammatical, or structural errors that can cause the audience to doubt the value of the writing.
The Technicians
This type of audience values technical details, such as step-by-step processes of how to do things. Technicians appreciate when things make logical sense. The audience for technical essays appreciates source citations and accurate documentation of facts. Thus, the writing must be detailed but straightforward. Avoid including twists and turns to avoid creating something that isn’t consistent.
The Hybrids
A hybrid audience consists of a mixture of experts and managers. The two groups know a lot about the topic and participate in decision-making. Students writing for this type of audience must apply facts and provable opinions. The content must prove to the audience that you are worthy. Thus, every word and sentence in the paper must add depth or move the discussion forward for the writing to be successful.
The Laypeople
Sometimes you will write for an audience that’s not familiar with the subject matter. Laypeople are open to learning as much as they can from you. Thus, writing papers for this type of audience requires you to cover all the information on the topic, from basic to advanced level, so that the audience can follow along. If you have to include technical words, ensure that they are well-defined. You have to anticipate the kind of information that would be valuable to the reader and present it in a simple, concise, and lucid way.
Examples of Audience in Writing: 4 Illustrations in Literature
King Lear by William Shakespeare
The themes of play relate to the experiences of most adults. The main themes include selfishness, revenge, misunderstanding, and love. Adults of all socio-economic statuses can relate to a part of the writing or learn from the experiences of the characters because the themes are universal to all levels of society. For instance, many adults will relate to the King’s lack of discernment when he chose to believe his sycophantic daughters instead of the one who truly loved him. The selfish actions taken by Edmund to claim the throne are also a trait that most adults appreciate.
Immigration by Ali Alizadeh
Immigration is a complex but moving poem that takes the audience through the experiences of immigrants from the process of immigrating to adjusting to a new country. It highlights the positive and negative experiences as well as the mental and emotional tolls of immigration. The two types of audience in writing are the immigrants who implicitly understand the subject matter and the lay people who are not immigrants. The strife and emotion conveyed in the poem impact both groups of readers. After reading the text, the target audience will relate to the message or be better informed and accepting of the experiences of others.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The novel is a coming-of-age story written for a young adult audience. The writing follows the life of an observant but introverted young man through his freshman year of high school in Pittsburg. The writer uses teenage vernacular to relate to the audience and includes relatable but traumatic themes, such as living a passive life and sexual abuse, since he understands the importance of audience in writing. The secondary audience of older adults can also find inspiration in the ideas about love narrated in the novel.
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The intended audience is the people of the former Soviet Union. The writer intends to inform the audience about the dangers of communism. Orwell wants the next generation to know the negative effects of communism on people’s lives. He also wants ordinary people to understand that the system betrayed their belief in a revolution. The writer conveys the message in a simple way to allow the common reader to understand the hidden meanings. The use of satire to describe notable characters in Russian history also draws in the Russian audience.
