Analyses, Arguments and Audiences

 

Like any audience, writing for an academic audience requires careful analysis and assessment. In order to structure and form an effective argument, you must first find sources that the audience will recognize and respond to. For example, if you were writing for a group of elementary school students, you would be sure not to cite The Universe In a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking. Citing such a source would be futile. Likewise, it would be unwise to cite Goodnight Moon when addressing an astrophysicist. The material must always be appropriate, accessible, and specific to the audience for which it will be used. The first step to achieving this goal would then be to identify the audience at its most basic level, with regard to your argument, and who you are trying to persuade. Academic implies a more educated demographic, but educated in what? Similar to the analogy above, an author would not want to use sources from scientific or political sources for a paper intended for those whose education centers around linguistics. Therefore, the source of the source is paramount in researching a topic for an individualized audience. The origin, credibility, and recency of a source must all be analyzed and taken into account during research. A thesis from DeVry may not possess as much weight or validity as a dissertation from Cambridge, depending on the audience. Similarly, the structuring and analyzing of a topic must also reflect the audience. If the composition of an argument lacks logic and order, the audience will not respond to the asserted claim. Only careful planning, intensive research, and in-depth analysis will allow an author to reach their targeted audience.