Chapter 8: Audience, Purpose, Message, and Tone

Introduction to Chapter 8

Any piece of writing is shaped by a rhetorical situation. The rhetorical situation influences what the text itself says, and how it says it. The rhetorical situation includes four key factors – audience, purpose, message, and tone. Let’s examine each of these in more detail.

8.1     Analyzing the Audience

To ensure writing is effective, writers should think about the audience (the readers) they are writing for and adapt the writing approach to meet the audience’s needs, expectations, backgrounds, and interests. Being aware of the audience helps writers make better decisions about what to say and how to say it. This includes defining or explaining any terms and avoiding content that would offend the audience.

Sometimes a writer knows who will read their writing – for example, when writing an email to a supervisor. Other times writers will have to guess who is likely to read the writing – for example, a newspaper editorial. Writers often write with a primary audience in mind, but there may be secondary and tertiary audiences to consider as well. 

How to Analyze an Audience

When analyzing the audience, consider the following points. Doing this should make it easier to create a profile of the audience, which can help guide writing choices.

Background Knowledge or Experience — Don’t merely repeat what the audience already knows about the topic; build on it. On the other hand, don’t talk over their heads. Anticipate their amount of previous knowledge or experience based on elements like their age, profession, or level of education.

Expectations and Interests — The audience may expect to find specific points or writing approaches, especially when writing for an instructor or a supervisor. Consider not only what they do want to read about, but also what they do not want to read about. 

Attitudes and Biases — The audience may have predetermined feelings about the topic, which can affect how to appeal to them. The audience’s attitudes and biases also affect their expectations – for example, if they expect to disagree with the ideas, they will likely look for evidence that considers their side as well as the writer’s.

Demographics — Consider what can be known about the audience, such as their age, gender, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, political preferences, religious affiliations, job or professional background, and area of residence. Think about how these demographics may affect how much background the audience may have about the topic, what types of expectations or interests they have, and what attitudes or biases they may have.

 

8.2     Setting a PURPOSE

Any time someone is preparing to write, they should first ask themselves, “Why am I writing?” All writing, no matter the type, has a purpose. The purpose will sometimes be provided (by an instructor, for example), while other times, writers will decide for themselves. It’s up to writers to ensure that the purpose is clear not only for themselves but also – especially – for the readers. If the purpose is not clear, the readers are not likely to receive the intended message.

There are, of course, many different reasons to write (e.g., to inform, to entertain, to persuade, to ask questions), and a piece of writing may have more than one purpose. When this happens, writers should be sure to consider any conflict between purposes and remember that they will usually focus on one main purpose as primary.

Bottom line: Thinking about the purpose before beginning to write can help create a more effective piece of writing.

Why Purpose Matters

  • It can be frustrating to listen to a lecture or read an essay and wonder, “So what” or “What is this person talking about?” By clearly defining the purpose before beginning a piece of writing, it’s less likely that the audience will be left wondering.
  • If readers can’t identify the purpose of a text, they usually quit reading. A writer can’t deliver a message to an audience who quits reading.
  • If an instructor can’t identify the purpose of a text, they will likely assume the student didn’t understand the assignment and, chances are, the student won’t receive a good grade.

How to Identify or Set a Purpose

Often, a writer will know their purpose at the exact moment they know their audience because audience and purpose are generally a package deal:

  • I need to write a letter to my landlord explaining why my rent is late so she won’t be upset. (Audience = landlord; Purpose = explaining/keeping her happy)
  • I want to write a proposal for my work team to persuade them to change our schedule. (Audience = work team; Purpose = persuading/to get the schedule changed)
  • I have to write a research paper for my environmental science instructor comparing solar to wind power. (Audience = instructor; Purpose = analyzing/showing understanding about these two power sources)

Sometimes the instructor will provide a purpose like in the third example above, but other times, especially out in the world, the purpose will depend on what effect the writer wants the writing to have on the audience. What is the goal of the writing? What does the writer want the audience to think, feel, or do after reading the piece? Here are a few possibilities:

  • Persuade/inspire the audience to act or think about an issue from the writer’s point of view
  • Challenge the audience/make the audience question their thinking or behavior
  • Argue for or against something the audience believes or do/change the readers’ minds or behavior
  • Inform/teach the readers about a topic they don’t know much about
  • Connect with the reader emotionally/help the reader feel understood

8.3     Developing a Message

The message refers to the information that the writer wants to communicate. This is the content of the piece. The message should be aligned with the purpose and targeted to the audience.

While it is important to carefully choose what content the audience needs, it is equally critical to cut out content that the audience does not need or want. “Time is money” may be a tired old cliché, but it is important to avoid wasting the audience’s time with information that is unnecessary or irrelevant to them.

The message should be professional and expressed in an appropriate tone for the audience, purpose, and context.

8.4     Selecting an Appropriate Tone

Tone refers to the type of language a writer uses to address their audience. When writing an email to a friend, for example, a writer may choose to use an informal tone, whereas an essay for an English class requires an academic tone. Compare the two examples below:

Example 1: The city should just start paying for our rides to school so we can use the bus money for other stuff. If this happens, people will actually start caring about how to get there.

Example 2: If the city gave students free access to public transportation, riding to school for free would not only save students money, but it would also promote the use of public transportation.

While both sentences above convey the same idea, the first example illustrates an informal tone, whereas the second displays an academic tone. The first example should be used when an informal tone is usual, such as in an email, a message to a friend, or a dialogue between two friends in a story. When writing a persuasive essay arguing for public transportation, the second example would be appropriate.

8.5     Applying These Concepts

Here are some examples of how writers can apply audience, purpose, message, and tone to create effective pieces of writing. (Note: This is not an exhaustive list. Furthermore, writers do not need to follow the order set up here and will likely not address all of these approaches.)

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