Audience and Purpose [Lesson]
Brandi Morley
Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of this lesson, students will
- Identify an audience and tone for your writing as well as explain why identifying these components are important.
- Utilize the RAFT writing strategy to plan an appropriate style according to audience and purpose.
Introduction
This lesson is designed to foster an understanding of one’s audience and purpose for writing. You will also learn to use the RAFT writing strategy to plan an appropriate style according to audience and purpose.
Why is it important to know your audience and purpose?
Having an understanding of who is being communicated with and why helps writers make decisions about what details to include, what tone is most appropriate, and how to organize the information.
Ask yourself the following questions to understand your audience and purpose. To illustrate, consider how your answers to these questions would differ between discussing solar power with a five-year-old versus a physics professor.
- What do you know about the audience (e.g., age, gender, education, location, beliefs, etc.)?
- A five-year-old will have a limited understanding of complex concepts, while a physics professor will be highly educated with extensive knowledge of physics principles.
- What will your audience want or need to know about the topic?
- The child will need a basic, simple explanation of what solar power is and how it helps us. The professor will want detailed information on recent advancements, efficiency improvements, or new ways to use solar power.
- What does your audience already know about the topic?
- The five-year-old likely knows about the sun and that it gives light and heat. The physics professor has a deep understanding of how light works, how solar panels function, and current solar technologies.
- What background information will be important for your audience to understand?
- For the child, it’s important to explain the idea of energy and how we use electricity every day. For the professor, you’d want to share the latest research findings, new technologies, or changes in rules about using solar power.
- What might influence your audience’s position or feelings about the topic?
- The child might be influenced by colorful pictures or simple comparisons to things they know. The professor would be more influenced by scientific proof, studies checked by other experts, and chances for new research.
- What do you want to accomplish by communicating with the audience? In other words, what outcome are you expecting?
- With the child, the goal is to introduce solar power in a fun way that gets them excited about science and taking care of the environment. For the professor, you’d aim to have a high-level discussion about solar power, maybe exploring the newest developments or ideas for making it better.
- Why are you communicating? To explain? To persuade? To inform? To describe? To entertain? To analyze? To evaluate?
- For the five-year-old, you’d likely be communicating to explain and entertain, making solar power simple and fun. With the physics professor, your purpose is more likely to inform or analyze by discussing new developments and their implications in depth.
RAFT
The RAFT writing strategy helps you understand your role as a writer and how to most effectively communicate your ideas to your target audience.
| R.A.F.T. Acronym | Related Question | Your Answer |
| Role | Who are you as a writer? | (e.g., a student, an expert, a professional, etc.) |
| Audience | To whom are you writing? | (e.g., professor, parent, peers, leader, political official, etc.) |
| Format | What format is most appropriate for your audience? | (e.g., letter, speech, essay, poem, instruction manual, etc.) |
| Topic | What is the subject of your writing? | (e.g. What points do you want to make?) |
RAFT – Check out this skill in action:
How to survive your first year of college
| R.A.F.T. Acronym | Related Question | Your Answer |
| Role | Who are you as a writer? | An expert – someone who has survived the first year of college |
| Audience | To whom are you writing? | Incoming first-year college students |
| Format | What format is most appropriate for your audience? | Essay organized by subtopics (courses, housing, campus involvement, etc.) |
| Topic | What is the subject of your writing? | How to survive the first year of college |
RAFT – Your Turn!
Practice using the RAFT strategy with your own topic to plan your writing.
Downloadable Resources (Lesson, Graphic Organizer)
Click here to download a PowerPoint version of this lesson:
Click here to download a Word Doc version of the RAFT Graphic Organizer:
Attribution:
Morley, Brandi. “Audience and Purpose [Lesson].” Strategies, Skills and Models for Student Success in Writing and Reading Comprehension. College Station: Texas A&M University, 2024. This work is licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).