ENGL 2311- 09/01

Audience Analysis in Professional and Technical Writing

  • Documents must be constructed with a precise understanding of the target readerships, categorized into primary, secondary, and internal process audiences.

  • Primary Audience

    • Definition: The target reader or group expected to directly use, apply, or act upon the document.

    • Key Considerations:

    • Why does the primary audience want the document?

    • What is their specific intention or purpose (e.g., making a decision, applying information, seeking persuasion, obtaining general information)?

    • What are their specific informational needs?

    • Example: A search committee (e.g., historians or departmental peers) reviewing application materials to evaluate candidate fit for a job.

  • Secondary Audience

    • Definition: An auxiliary audience that may not be the primary target of the communication but will read, evaluate, or utilize the document for secondary reasons.

    • Key Considerations:

    • Identifying secondary readers and their distinct motivations prevents communication missteps.

    • Secondary readers may actively assist the primary audience in interpreting or applying the document.

    • Examples:

    • Human Resources (HR) personnel who process job application materials before or alongside hiring managers.

    • An assistant or technical technician helping a user follow a set of instructions.

  • Fundamental Design Question

    • Authors must continuously evaluate: "What does the audience want, and what does the audience need?"

Genre Theory and Document Expectations

  • Definition of Genre

    • A genre is a categorical framework established through conventional patterns that shapes audience expectations regarding content, visual layout, structural sequence, and linguistic style.

    • Genres establish a mutual contract between creator and audience: categorizing a work informs the audience of what will be included and how it will be presented.

  • Pop Culture Genre Analogies

    • Horror Movies:

    • Audience Expectations: Scary atmospheres, explicit violence, blood, jump scares, and death or potential death.

    • Excluded/Unexpected Elements: Romance or pure comedy. Including non-genre elements catches the audience off guard.

    • Country Western Music:

    • Audience Expectations: Specific auditory styles, thematic topics, and traditional instrumentation.

  • Professional Writing Genres

    • Common workplace genres include resumes, application letters (cover letters), memos, technical instructions, meeting minutes, and technical descriptions.

    • Genre identification occurs through visual cues, structural layout, tone, and functional purpose, even when explicit labels are absent.

    • Example: Handing an interviewer a personal narrative, an ID card, or singing a song when they ask for documentation violates genre expectations for a job interview context.

Historical Evolution of the Resume Genre

  • Genres are dynamic, non-static systems that evolve continuously based on technology, organizational practices, and cultural norms.

  • The Print Paper Era

    • Resumes were physical documents distributed by hand or mail.

    • Material Expectations: Standard formatting dictated the use of physical "resume paper"—a heavier stock, slightly off-white paper. Submitting a resume on standard printer paper negatively impacted the candidate's evaluation.

  • The Database & Keyword Era

    • Physical resumes were scanned by organizations into searchable digital databases.

    • Hiring managers searched these databases using specific technical terms (e.g., searching for the query "coding").

    • Evolution of Genre Elements: Resumes adapted by incorporating a dedicated Keywords section directly beneath the candidate's name to list relevant technical terms for search optimization.

  • The Objective Statement Shift

    • Historical Practice: Resumes featured an explicit Objective section at the top, stating immediate or long-term career aspirations (e.g., "I want a job at Starbucks" or "To work as an engineer at a major firm").

    • Modern Evolution: Objective statements are largely obsolete and omitted from modern resumes as they are no longer viewed as relevant by hiring decision-makers.

  • Digital and Automated Platforms

    • Contemporary resumes are frequently generated through structured web forms or job platforms (such as Indeed) that aggregate raw data fields into stylized visual formats.

Strategic Document Design: Given vs. New Information

  • Document creators operate along an interactive continuum between Given (established genre expectations) and New (innovative or non-standard variations).

  • Balancing Genre Conformance and Innovation

    • Strict Conformance (Given): Ensures immediate familiarity and acceptance, but risks allowing a document to blend indistinguishably into a large stack of identical documents.

    • Pushing Expectations (New): Incorporating non-standard layouts, reordering sections, or adding visual elements (e.g., adding photographs or unique graphic structures to a resume or set of instructions) can make a document stand out positively.

    • Risks of Over-Innovation: Deviating too far from expected conventions can alienate readers, leading them to reject the document as invalid or unprofessional.

  • Informed Choice vs. Ignorance

    • Standard Reverse-Chronological Resume Conventions: Name and contact details →\rightarrow Education →\rightarrow Professional Experience.

    • Reordering Sections: Moving education to the bottom of a resume must stem from a deliberate, audience-focused rationale (e.g., prioritizing extensive work history to better meet user needs), rather than default template selection.

    • Design Intentionality: Every design decision must be justifiable based on how it directly benefits the primary audience.

Organizational Process Audiences

  • Beyond primary and secondary target readers, internal document creation processes involve several distinct internal operational roles:

  • The Respondent

    • Definition: An individual who reviews an early draft of a document and provides substantive feedback on layout, organization, visual elements, tone, or content.

    • Function: Acts as a proofreader, critique provider, or peer reviewer (e.g., a colleague in an office suite providing feedback on a draft recommendation letter).

    • Note: Authors can act as their own respondent when reviewing routine correspondence (e.g., self-editing emails).

  • The Advisor

    • Definition: An experienced colleague or subject matter expert consulted for guidance prior to or during the document drafting process.

    • Function: Provides strategic direction, operational advice, or structural guidance (e.g., advising a colleague on how to organize a search committee meeting or structure a complex set of technical instructions).

    • Key Distinction: Advisors provide conceptual advice and answer questions; they do not necessarily critique physical drafts.

  • The Gatekeeper

    • Definition: An internal authority figure who exercises control over whether a document, email, webpage, or newsletter is approved for distribution.

    • Evaluation Criteria:

    • Assesses whether the message is appropriate for the target audience.

    • Evaluates how the communication represents the organization as a whole.

    • Determines potential internal or legal fallout.

    • Operational Contexts:

    • Formal: A supervisor reviewing and officially approving/rejecting a technical report or marketing launch.

    • Informal/Individual: Authors acting as their own gatekeeper when choosing whether to send an email or text message.

External Watchdog Audiences

  • Watchdogs are external entities that scrutinize internal organizational documents after release or during legal proceedings.

  • Academic Researchers (Epistemological Study)

    • Purpose: Scholars in technical communication study organizational artifacts (emails, technical manuals, internal meeting minutes, PR materials) to evaluate how organizations construct knowledge (epistemology).

    • Case Study (Knowledge Management): A scholar studied engineers at a major Midwestern farm equipment manufacturer (John Deere). The study tracked how engineers accumulated, structured, and transferred critical operational knowledge using physical binders of documents prior to modern digital tools.

  • Legal and Ethical Watchdogs

    • Purpose: Regulatory bodies, legal teams, and compliance audits inspect organizational communications for evidence of statutory violations, negligence, or unethical practices.

    • Legal Liability & Evidence Handling:

    • Internal communications explicitly directing employees to destroy records (e.g., an email stating "Make sure to shred those documents so we don't get in trouble") constitute illegal spoliation of evidence.

    • Ethical Violations & Risk Analysis Case Study:

    • An automotive manufacturer produced vehicles prone to engine fires.

    • Internal meeting minutes revealed that executives performed a cost-benefit calculation comparing the expense of a full safety recall against paying out wrongful death and injury lawsuits.

    • The company estimated the average cost of a human life payout at 10,00010{,}000 per victim and concluded it was cheaper to pay off fire victims than to recall and repair the defective engines.

    • Discovery of these documented meeting proceedings resulted in major legal liability and severe ethical fallout.