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| Wesley Nitsckie. "A Thinking Man". 3-3-11 via Flickr. CC A-SA 2.0. |
Who specifically, is going to be reading this essay? Or who am I trying to reach with my argument? (My instructor, my classmates, members of my academic community, members of the local community, etc.)
My professor and my classmates will be reading this essay. Although there isn't really an argument, it's more of an assessment of my writing and the way that it has progressed. With this in mind, I think I can avoid going into too much detail about the assignments that I worked on in this course and instead focus more on my actual writing.
What biases might my readers have? Am I respecting their opinions while also achieving my own purpose?
I don't think they have any major biases. Some of them might think that the class was significantly easier than I thought it was, others might think the opposite. So I think as long as I make sure to emphasize that everything I'm saying is my own than I should be okay with respecting their opinions.
What are their values and expectations? Am I adequately meeting those expectations?
I think they all value English to some extent so I should make sure not to completely insult English composition and rhetorical analysis, but other than that I don't think they'll come in with many expectations besides wanting to understand my writing experience a little better. With that in mind, it shouldn't be too difficult to meet those expectations because I've already put a good amount of work into getting content for my draft, and now it's just a matter of turning that draft into an actual letter.
How much information do I need to give my audience? How much background information or context should I provide for them without insulting their expertise?
I don't think I need to give them much information about the course, but they'll probably need some background information describing my experiences as a writer leading up to this course and how they've changed upon the course's completion. I don't think background on my personal experiences would insult their expertise at all, but too much background about this specific course could definitely leave them feeling belittled.
What kind of language is suitable for this audience?
I think I can be pretty casual. My classmates are all college students so they shouldn't be expecting some super formal letter, and then my professor does have the right to expect a little bit more formality but again, it's a letter. With that said I'm going to try not to be exceedingly casual, although I definitely want the letter to have a calm, relaxed feel when they read it.
What tone should I use with my audience? Do I use this tone consistently throughout my draft?
Casual. A casual tone is definitely the way to go and I plan on using it throughout the letter. I also want to make sure that my writing is descriptive so that they really get a good idea of what I'm saying, but it should be descriptive in a pleasantly informative sense.
Reviewing Mark and Brandon's letters really helped me to see what I wanted to convey and what format would be good. I was debating having it be a really long paragraph, but after reading through Mark's draft and being able to jump from paragraph to paragraph so easily, I knew that the shorter style would be the best way to go.
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