What is “audience”?

Quite simply, your “audience” is your readers. When considering your audience, ask yourself Who would most benefit from my essay? Without some idea of your reader’s needs, your essay will lose an important dimension. By knowing your audience, you know how to address your subject and why your are even writing about it. For example, if your essay plans to discuss the relative merits of Star Trek to argue that it not be cancelled, you need to decide whom you are trying to persuade: a group of Star Trek fans; a group of Star Trek haters; a panel of television executives that want to cancel the show; college students who could care less about science fiction. Each one of these groups would require different arguments, using different details, tone, and approaches to make your essay successful, but one would be easier than the others and produce a stronger, more interesting essay.

In choosing your audience, make it easy on yourself. Choose an audience that you belong to, if you can. You will find supporting your topic much easier if you can relate to your audience. You know yourself — the language you use, your interests, your economic status, etc. — so it follows that you can make certain assumptions about your audience if you belong to it. If you choose to write to a group of people that you do not know very well (like your professor, for instance), you will have a much more difficult time writing your essay.

Not considering audience or having too broad an audience also makes your writing task more difficult. Narrow your audience as much as you can, much like you would your thesis, and address your audience in your introduction, directly or indirectly. For example, using our scenario above, suppose you choose “male college students that don’t care if Star Trek is cancelled” as your audience, then you might begin your introduction with:

Want something great to watch on Thursday nights after a day of stressful classes? You might consider a show that travels to exotic destinations, contains plenty of action and special effects, and has enough passion to steam up your living room.

Here, the writer has chosen to appeal directly to his audience by suggesting that it is comprised of college students who might be unaware that Star Trek airs on Thursday evenings. He goes on to appeal to the appetites of the male college student in particular: one that enjoys travel, violence, special effects, and sex. Notice how he gets his audience’s attention before he even tells them his subject. Using this indirect approach, the writer shows that he is trying to interest a potential audience for Star Trek — one that might never have thought about it before picking up this essay.

When selecting an audience, try to choose one who might be skeptical about your position, not a group of people that would totally agree with you. If your audience would agree with your position before even picking up your essay, you are preaching to the choir. Therefore, using our example above, “Star Trek fans” would not be a strong audience because they already agree that the show should not be cancelled, so what would be the purpose of your essay?

Giving careful consideration to your audience will help the direction of your essay even before you begin to write. Consider a potential audience’s:

• age
• sex
• education level
• beliefs (religious, political, ethical, etc.)
• interests (hobbies, predilections, enthusiasms)
• biases (subjectivities, prejudices, leanings)
• language (word choice, presentation, tone)
• similarities (what do you have in common with your audience?)

Use these as a guide for determining the direction of your essay. Remember, pick an audience that would benefit from your essay, not one that has no interest at all; also, do not preach to the choir.

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Composition FAQ

External Links

• Choosing Audience — Advice from the Writing Workshop at the University of Illinois