Identify audience and purpose
Key Notes :
Audience and purpose are important factors that work together to guide writers’ decisions about word choice, sentence style, tone, and use of evidence.
Audience refers to the intended readers of a text. Writers use their understanding of the audience to make choices about what information readers need, what evidence readers will find convincing, and what language is most appropriate for those readers. For example:
A car ad targeted towards an audience of new parents might describe a vehicle as ‘spacious’ and boast about its crash test ratings. Meanwhile, an ad for the same car targeted towards outdoor enthusiasts might use words like ‘rugged’ and emphasize the vehicle’s four-wheel drive capability.
Purpose refers to a writer’s reason for writing, or what he or she hopes to accomplish. Two primary purposes of nonfiction writing are to inform readers, as with a textbook or lab report, and to persuade readers to change the way they think or act, as with an advertisement or a newspaper opinion piece. Individual pieces of writing will typically have more specific and complex purposes. For example:
A news report might inform voters of politicians’ voting records by providing that information without commentary. A political website might try to persuade voters to support a particular candidate by highlighting the specific portions of his or her record that the website’s visitors are likely to approve of.
Learn with an example
👉 Read the lab report conclusion and then answer the question.
Based on the data gathered, we measured the boiling point of water as 99.51 degrees Celsius. The error against the expected measurement was 0.49 percent. Sources of error may have been impurities in the water, contamination of the equipment, or human error in reading the thermometer. If we repeated the experiment, we might achieve more accurate results by sterilizing our equipment, using distilled water, and verifying that the thermometer’s readings were correct.
Who is the primary audience?
- a science teacher and other students
- people who don’t know the boiling point of water
- thermometer manufacturers
- theoretical physicists
The primary audience of the text is a science teacher and other students. The lab report conclusion is written with them in mind.
👉 Read the biography and then answer the question.
Johannes Gutenberg was born in Mainz, Germany, in 1398. Today he is known as the inventor of the modern printing press. When he was young, books weren’t like they are today. Most books were actually manuscripts or texts written by hand. Manuscripts took a long time to make and were expensive. Only rich people could afford them. Gutenberg wanted more people to be able to enjoy reading. His printing press made it easier and cheaper to print books, so more people could own books.
John H. Haaren and A. B. Poland, Famous Men of the Middle Ages
Who is the primary audience?
- other Gutenberg scholars
- rare manuscript collectors
- printing press enthusiasts
- Young students studying Gutenberg
The primary audience of the text is young students studying Gutenberg. The biography is written with them in mind.
👉 Read the magazine article and then answer the question.
Hubert Rochereau’s childhood bedroom is a kind of time capsule of 1918, the year he died. He was just twenty-one years old at the time.
During World War I, Rochereau was a French soldier who was deployed to the battlefield in Belgium. After his death, Rochereau’s parents requested that his bedroom remain untouched for the next five hundred years. To this day, the room is filled with Rochereau’s personal belongings, such as schoolbooks, his childhood bed, and his knife.
The current owner of the house—though not a relative of the Rochereau family—has kept the room frozen in time. He says that, although he feels little connection with the young soldier, ‘It’s part of the history of the house, so I keep it.’
Who is the primary audience?
- readers interested in World War I
- readers who live in France
- relatives of Hubert Rochereau
- readers of human interest stories
The primary audience of the text is readers of human interest stories. The magazine article is written with them in mind.
let’s practice!
Read the social studies textbook excerpt and then answer the question.
Although Paul Revere gained lasting fame in the United States for his midnight ride warning colonists about an impending British attack, many people aren’t aware of a similar ride taken by a sixteen-year-old girl. Sybil Ludington, born in Connecticut in 1761, completed her own perilous night ride in advance of British forces.
In 1777, British loyalists and troops attacked Danbury, Connecticut. In desperation, a messenger asked Ludington to ride through the night and alert the local regiment. All told, Ludington rode forty miles—significantly farther than Paul Revere had—and managed to gather nearly the entire regiment to fight the British. Following the Danbury battle, George Washington himself traveled to the Ludington home to thank Sybil for her bravery.
Ludington’s ride never became as famous as Paul Revere’s. However, if you visit New York, you can find historical markers tracing her route through Putnam County.