First, pick a specific audience that is non-academic. This audience needs to include a small number of individuals–or one individual–so you can tailor your paper directly to them. Examples include a small group of your coworkers, your siblings, a parent, your soccer coach, or your three classmates in a biology study group.
Then, write a separate, one-page (250 word), double-spaced Audience Justification Statement to reflect on the major choices in language, style, and tone that you make in your paper and clarify the rhetorical appropriateness of your choices. This statement should:
Explain what specific audience you chose to target and why this audience cares or should care about your topic.
Specify what stance (as in your disposition or attitude) you adopt in your paper through tone, word choice, images, and design; as our textbook notes, stance identifies “where you are coming from in the arguments you make” (415). The textbook authors encourage writers to ask themselves, “How do you want your audience to perceive you? As reasonable? knowledgeable? opinionated? curious? something else?” (415). Other stances may convey neutrality, compassion, concern, disillusionment, hope, anger, etc. Notice that in this specific context, “stance” does not mean position or point of view; rather, it designates a writer’s tone or attitude.
Identify specific rhetorical choices you will make to convey your stance and appeal to your audience.
Rhetorical Writing Choices You Should Consider
When writing to different audiences, you might consider numerous rhetorical choices that will more effectively help get your message across to their unique preferences and dispositions. These could include:
Specific word choices
Level of formality (this could include slang and a more casual tone)
Sentence structures (longer, shorter, choppy, fragmented, etc.)
Pronouns (for example, using “you” and other forms of direct address)
Acknowledging the audiences’ already (assumed) positions and experiences
Cultural references (referencing news or popular culture that the chosen audience is likely to be familiar with)
Second, select three (3) sources from your research(Annotated Bibliography) that represent a diversity of perspectives on the issue, ensuring that each source offers something unique that adds to the issue’s complexity for your specific audience.
Next, using the stance and rhetorical choices you determined in your Audience Justification Statement, write an essay informing your specific audience about how three different sources address a variety of perspectives on your topic:
Briefly summarize the main point of each source.
Highlight the key points/positions that make each source different from the others.
Integrate details from each source using properly cited paraphrases and quotations.
Analyze each source’s strengths and weaknesses and/or each source’s pros and cons for your specific audience. (Even if you are drawn to one position at this point, you must consider all sides, finding both strengths and weaknesses in each source.) For example, comment on how an experimental study constructed its methodology, selected the research subjects, created a control, articulated its discussion and conclusion, etc. For interpretive research, consider examining how an author supports a claim by assessing the quality of evidence and the structure of the author’s argument.
How You Will Be Graded
One-page Audience Justification Statement
Selection of specific, small audience
Appropriateness of rhetorical choices (stance, style, tone) for a specific, non-academic audience
1,000-1,250 words (4-6 pages) of actual writing (double-spaced)
Diversity of perspectives presented in three sources
An accurate, concise, and informative summary of each source
Balance of properly cited paraphrases and quotations from each source
Analysis of strengths and weaknesses of each source
Complete and accurate Works Cited page
Accurate formatting, grammar, spelling, and mechanics
