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| University of Houston "Audience" ca. 1950. Public domain. |
Who am I writing for? What are the audience's beliefs and assumptions?
I am writing for new and incoming students in my major. Their beliefs and assumptions are likely similar to what was set up as the standard at the beginning of my article: most people don't like animal testing but accept it for medical advancement. This article addresses the fact that most people assume animal testing advances medicine.
What position might they take on the issue? How will I need to respond to this position?
The position people take is based on the success of animal testing in making effective drugs. If animal testing yields effective drugs then people will support it. Similarly, if animal testing does not yield effective drugs then people will not support it. I need to respond to this position by presenting the facts.
What will they want to know?
Readers will want to know if animal testing yields effective drugs for humans. Some may also want to know how many animals die in testing per year because that life cost may not be worth the resultant drug in their opinion.
How might they react to my argument?
I will side with my source. It's not perfect because they misrepresent the counterargument but it is the popular side and the rhetoric used is effective, easy to analyze, and easy to applaud. Since I am taking the popular side, my reader is likely to take my side.
How am I trying to relate to or connect with my audience?
I plan to present the facts given in the article and analyze why it is or why it is not effective in promoting the argument. It's a very logical argument and may not be relatable to a more emotionally based major. However, I am an engineering major so logic should relate to the reader.
Are there specific words, ideas, or modes of presentation that will help me relate to them in this way?
My mode of presentation of giving the facts will relate to the majority of engineering majors.
Reflection
I read the posts written by Dylan and Jessica on audience. They both did a great job of analyzing their audience and I think I did pretty well too. I found it interesting that both of their essays are analyzing a piece that they claim people outside of their major wouldn't care about. That limits their audience without the assignment needing to do so. My topic is on a larger scale but I think that reflects that they know a lot about their majors than I know about mine.
You seem to understand your audience very well and what they do or do not already know about your controversy. Similar to how I recognized that visuals are important for architecture majors, it is good that you understand that logic can relate to your readers as they all think like engineers.
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