General vs. Specific Audiences

General vs. Specific Audiences

Definitions:

A general audience is one composed of people from different

backgrounds and with different knowledge levels.

E.g.

Students in a large introductory class.

Coworkers at a firm.

Readers of a newspaper.

Attendees at a concert.

General vs. Specific AudiencesDefinitions:

A specific audience is one composed of people who share a

common background or who have a common knowledge level.

E.g.

The students in a high-level psychology class.

The doctors of a joint practice.

Readers of an advanced journal in physics.

Attendees at an invitation-only lecture on biology.

General vs. Specific Audiences

Look over the following groups. Is each one an example

of a general or a specific audience?

1.A conference of English professors.

2.The listeners of a Top 40 radio show.

3.The attendees at a 4th of July fireworks display.

4.The developers for a particular website.

5.The students of an survey history class.

(Move to next slide for answers)

General vs. Specific AudiencesAnswers

1.A conference of English professors. (Specific)

2.The listeners of a Top 40 radio show. (General)

3.The attendees at a 4th of July fireworks display. (General)

4.The developers for a particular website. (Specific)

5.The students of a survey history class. (General)

General vs. Specific Audiences

Writing Strategies:

For the general audience, make sure to explain your terms

and concepts. Do not try to rely too much on the audience’s

own independent knowledge.

Instead, pretend that what you are discussing is largely new

to this audience. Doing so will give you the best chance of

reaching all the audience members.

General vs. Specific AudiencesExample:

You are writing about a new computer programming language for a general audience.

Do explain the basics of programming.

Do explain any elementary terms the audience will need to know.

Don’t fill the essay with jargon or other words that are only used by experts.

General vs. Specific AudiencesWriting Strategies

For a specific audience, you can assume that the audience members all

share an understanding of the basic ideas and concepts you plan to discuss.

As such, focus on providing the audience new information. If the audience

feels you’re spending too much time covering things they already know, you

can lose them, so try to make the majority of your paper about information

they will find fresh and interesting.

General vs. Specific AudiencesExample:

You are writing about a new computer programming language for a specific

audience of computer programmers.

Don’t explain the basics of programming. The audience will already know this.

Don’t explain basic terms. Again, these are things the audience will already know

Do focus on fresh and entertaining ways in which the new language can be used.