IMAGINING YOUR AUDIENCE WHILE WRITING AN ESSAY

And that’s entirely understandable: when you’re completing an assignment for a particular course, you want to write an essay with your professor’s expectations in mind. Still, writing for an audience of one isn’t necessarily the best strategy.

Imagining an audience beyond your professor can have a tangible effect on your writing.

Too often, when we sit down to write, we’re writing as though we were scribbling away in a journal, when really what we should be doing is crafting a public address.

Writers who determine their audience and keep the needs of their audience in mind tend to write more clearly and more concisely. Their writing also tends to be more argumentative, entirely because they imagine themselves convincing an engaged audience why their perspective is valid.

When we write with an audience in mind, in other words, we think more carefully about how our ideas will be received. We do a better job of anticipating counterarguments, and we go to greater lengths to use compelling examples to illustrate our points.

Consider writing for these two types of audiences before you start your next essay, and you’ll see a real difference in your work.

1. PICTURE THE PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT YOUR TOPIC.

   Take a few minutes before begin and imagine people who may care about what you’re about to write. What do these people already know about your topic? What do you want them to know?

When you write with an audience in mind, you initiate a conversation with a group of people who are as invested in your topic as you are.

The people you picture could be anyone who’s affected by the issue that you’re exploring. They could be members of a particular community group, or they could be professionals who belong to a specific industry. If you can impress these invested parties, making a good impression on your professor should be that much easier.

Good essays, remember, foster understanding: they encourage their readers to see an issue in a particular way, and those perspectives shape who we are and how we behave. It may not always feel like it, but ideas have a tangible effect on the world around us. And your writing does, too.

And while your essay on The Great Gatsby may not dramatically change anyone’s life, you should always write as though it has the potential to do so. Because it does: the written word builds community around ideas, and it’s our responsibility as writers to keep that broader community in mind as we go about our work.

1. PICTURE THE PEOPLE YOU CARE ABOUT To round out your audience, picture the people you care about as you write. If you do so, you’ll be more invested in the assignment, and you’ll write with greater care as a result.

Try this little trick: rather than picturing your professor reading your essay, form an image in your mind of a favorite aunt encountering your ideas the first time. Throw in a good friend pursuing a different major, or maybe picture your favorite teacher that provided you economics help when you were in high school.

These are people you want to impress, but they also represent a group of people who are likely unfamiliar with the material you’re pursuing.

Writing for a group of non-specialists will encourage you not only to explain key concepts but also to take a pass on unnecessary jargon. You’ll take care greater care in crafting your sentences, and your writing will be more clear as a result.

1. FINAL THOUGHTS

   When you write with an audience in mind, you think more carefully about what to include and precisely how best to say things.

Imagine a group of readers—people you care about, and people who care about your topic—and you’ll find yourself writing with even greater purpose.

Additional resources:
1. LADY MACBETH ESSAY
2. KING LEAR ESSAY
3.Essays on Multiculturalism
4.JANE EYRE ESSAY