Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Analyzing My Audience

In this post, I will answer six questions regarding my audience for Project 2. These questions can be found on page 41 of Student's Guide.

Splintercellguy, "Audience Frontier Fiesta, 1950s,  Audience at a Frontier Fiesta Show." n.d. via Wikipedia. Public Domain License.
1. Who am I writing for? What are the audience's beliefs or assumptions?

I am writing for new and incoming students in the biomedical engineering department. These students will, for the most part, have a strong belief in the value of scientific progress, especially as it relates to biotechnology. They might hold the assumption that any advance in the field is for the betterment of the field and society.

2. What position might they take on this issue? How will I need to respond to this position?

This audience might take the position in favor of 3-D printing for advancements in the medical field, due to their interest in the biomedical field. I will need to respond to this position by remaining as unbiased as possible throughout my essay. This project's main goal is to analyze the rhetorical strategies and situations of the article I have chosen, not necessarily to judge the validity of the author's opinion. Because of this, I will have to maintain that primary focus throughout this project.

3. What will they want to know?

Since my audience consists of new students who might not be well-informed of this topic, I will have to provide some context of this debate. They will probably want to know the two main sides of this debate, as well as some context on what 3-D printing does in the medical field. In addition, I will have to provide some background on the author and what rhetorical strategies/situations I am analyzing.

4. How might they react to my argument?

The audience might react to my argument regarding rhetorical strategies and situations with a fair degree of confusion, since they are relatively new to analyzing public arguments in this discipline. They might also respond with some interest in the topic at hand, since the debate that this article addresses is very pertinent to the biomedical field at the moment.

5. How am I trying to relate to or connect with my audience?

As someone who is in the same discipline as my audience, I am trying to relate to them on a disciplinary level. Because we share common interests, I am connecting with the audience based on these interests. I am also of a similar age as them, so this might also help me relate to this audience.

6. Are there specific words, ideas, or modes of presentation that will help me relate to them in this way?

Since we share disciplinary interests, using key words that relate to the biomedical field might help me relate to the audience, and raise their interest in the topic. In addition, using fairly straight forward diction that is not excessively scientific might help me relate to this audience's position. Since the audience consists of new students, unscientific diction might help me communicate my ideas more effectively.

Reflection

After reading Alex's and Andrea's posts, I feel that I have gained more insight on what my audience might expect from my essay. Alex's topic was similar to my own in that he is also writing about the medical field. His post reminded me that it's important for us to assume that our audience has some knowledge about the field, but not extensively so. Because of this, I will have to adjust my writing accordingly.

Andrea's post was interesting because her audience's opinions could lie on either side of her debate. I think this is a good assumption to use with my writing as well, since this might help my writing be as unbiased as possible.

Overall, I think my post was well-developed and thoroughly analyzed my audience's position for this project.

5 comments:

  1. Hi Swati, I think that our projects with be similar because I am chemical engineering, so I am glad I found your post because the audience is a group of scientists. They are also all for innovative science and that it will benefit society. I totally respect how you won't be biased and that might be hard to do, but best of luck!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I too share the connection to the medical field and the people in it. Facts are a huge things to include as well as not sounding bias or opinionated. I have to, like you, go off what the facts say not just what I believe. You want to appeal to the audience and I share the same interest. We need to appeal to their beliefs and maybe even try and persuade them to change them a little if needed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It seems like a ton of us are in the medical field in one way or another. I can relate to your topic because I too have an interest in medicine. As you said, it is important to insert more facts than opinion. It is also to not sound too bias and opinionated. This will be the struggle for me. I strongly support one side of my argument, but it is crucial to be nuanced about a topic. Good luck on project 2!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Its always interesting to see everyones own take on how their audience will react. You Can never be sure how the audience will react to the situation. It is refreshing to see that your honest about how they could react in a more confused manner. I do like how you composed this and how you analyzed the possibilities.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I found it really insightful to read about the audience in a field so different than my own (English). You made a particularly useful comment regarding the fact that you are analyzing the rhetoric of the article, rather than the validity of the authors opinion. I think that is a key point to remember when any of us are constructing our rhetorical analysis. Good Job!

    ReplyDelete