Identifying your Audience

You may identify your audience as whomever you want. Just make sure you make them inexperienced enough to get the minimum page length for the assignment.

. Explain the purpose of the instructions. This is kind of the attention grabber. You are showing readers why they might want to follow these instructions. Here is an example from the instructor writing this page:

Several years ago, I had a student write a wonderful essay on how to make homemade sauerkraut. It was a great essay, so detailed. However, one area of improvement was on this point in the introduction. My question was why would I want to go through all this work and effort to make homemade sauerkraut? It is not like it is very expensive or rare. I asked the student this question, and he replied that the taste of homemade is so much better. Also that it is healthier, and there is the satisfaction of knowing you made it yourself. I told him to improve the essay, add these details to the introduction of the essay to convince the reader these are good instructions to follow.

. Signposting- In a sentence or two, let the reader know the major points of the essay. In the stereo example above, my signposting might look like this: By learning how to gather the supplies, remove the old radio, install the speakers, do the wiring and install the new stereo, you will successfully learn how to install a new stereo in your vehicle to enjoy the pleasant sounds of music as you drive.

The Lecture Notes on the next page will offer some of the techniques and skills for effectively conveying your information to the readers. There is a real skill needed for being able to take the knowledge that you have and being able to effectively convey that knowledge to someone else. However, there are certain techniques that we can follow to make this process easier.