 Lecture 4. Assalamu alaikum. Welcome to the virtual university's course on business and technical communication. In today's lecture we will be looking at audience analysis. Audience analysis basically means that you as a writer need to analyze who it is that you are writing for. As in every communication there is a person who is doing the communication who is giving out the message, sending the message and there is a person who is receiving the message. The person who is sending the message is you and the person who is receiving the message is your audience and you as a sender need to be very aware of who your audience is and the way you send your message will vary according to who your audience is and what their needs are. In this lecture you will learn to target your audience by identifying audience type, characteristics and level of expertise. You will also determine your audience's needs by assessing their expertise and their purpose in reading the document and you will also look at how to determine document density. People read technical documents for different reasons and readers have varying levels of technical expertise. To be effective technical writing must target its audience or audiences. Now every type of writing has a particular type of audience and technical writing has a particular type of audience as well and later on in this lecture we will look at what different types of audiences technical writing is catered for. You will target your audience by identifying your audience type and level of expertise and also your audience purpose in using the document. When we talk of audience type and the level of their expertise we also need to keep in mind what is the purpose of those people in reading the document that we are writing because that purpose will also determine how we write that document or how we organize that document and also we need to target our audience type by identifying the audience attitude towards both you and the content of your document. If the audience has a positive attitude towards you and your document then you will need to write in a different form than if the audience has a negative or a skeptical attitude towards you and your document. If you have this idea that those who are going to read your document will listen to you more than they like or they will understand you more than they like or they will take it positively then you will write that document in a different way. For example if you have this idea that your audience will resist your document in accepting it because if you have this idea that there will be resistance then you will organize something in that document and use that language and that will be different. All these considerations will influence specific features of the document including organization, introductions, equations and mathematical models, graphics, technical terms and level of detail. Now these considerations of the attitude towards you and your writing, the audience type, the audience purpose all these together will determine all of these factors like organization, introduction, technical detail etc. All these are varying factors and all these varying factors put together will determine all these different aspects of your communication. These features especially the level of detail contributed to the density of the document, the rate at which information is presented to the reader. Density of the document basically means how complex the document is, what type of detail is present in the document and at what rate the information is being presented to the reader. If for example the reader is someone who might not be very comfortable with a lot of information given in the document then the density of the document will be very low. There will be very few information or very few new information given in the document. That means that it has low density. However if you feel that the audience is such who can understand and appreciate a lot of information all together in one instance then there will be you will automatically put a lot of information load within your document and in that case we will say that the document has a high density. If there is a lot of information given then there will be a high density document. If there is less information in a document or a very simple information then there will be a low density document. You need to determine your audience's needs by assessing their expertise and their purpose in reading the document. Effective technical writing recognizes several types of readers reflecting different levels of expertise. Now there are different types of readers and all types of readers have different levels of expertise just like there are different types of people in the world and all people have different types of levels of knowledge. Some people are more expert in something and some people are more expert in something else. Every person is not an expert in everything. So when we are writing our document then we need to think about how many experts are in this particular subject. So there will be different levels of expertise and these will range from somebody being an expert or somebody could be a technician or a manager or they could be lay persons or we could be writing for mixed audiences composed of one or more of these four. Let's have a look at what we mean when we talk about writing for experts. Who exactly experts are and what do we need to do when we are writing for them. There are two different types of experts. They are general experts and specific experts. Both kinds are readers with extensive technical knowledge of the document's subject matter. Now when we say that somebody is an expert obviously that means that they know a lot of what the subject is. So therefore they will know a lot of what your document is talking about. Especially the technical detail. An expert is one who knows the technical details but still there are two types of experts. There will be general and specific experts. Let's have a look at the difference between the two. General experts possess extensive knowledge about a field in general but they may be unfamiliar with particular technical terms, specific equipment or recent advances in your document subject matter. Now obviously general experts have a different level of knowledge from specific experts. General experts may know things in general. They know enough about the technical aspects of the document but they might not know specific technical terms or in-depth details. Whereas specific experts share or surpass your knowledge about a document subject matter. Specific experts will be those who will probably know at least as much as you if not more because they are specific experts in that field. They will definitely know a lot of the technical terms so you will not need to define them for these people. Experts whether they are general or specific experts read documents, especially technical documents for a variety of purposes. Firstly they read them to maintain and expand their own general expertise or to obtain specific answers to their own research and writing or to evaluate a document's technical or scientific content. Now they could also be reading them for a combination of all of these three purposes. They don't have to be separate purposes. A lot of the times the purposes do overlap as well. There are different strategies when you are writing for experts. If your audience consists solely of specific experts you may not need to give extensive background or define key technical terms or acronyms. If you are writing for specific experts and you know that the readers are going to be specific experts then a lot of the times you don't really need to define concepts or terms because it's understood that those experts do know them and they are aware of them. You also do not need to expand on any acronyms or abbreviations that you have used because again it's understood that the experts would know what you are talking about. However if your audience includes general experts then you should provide sufficient background information and define any terms that they might be unfamiliar with. You will do this because general experts might be familiar with the area or might be experts in the area in general but they might not be familiar with the specific concepts that you are talking about or they might not at least know so much detail about the specific concepts that you are talking about. So then if you feel that the audience is going to be of general experts then you should define any technical terms that you are talking about but not in a lot of detail you don't have to go to the root of them because they are still experts and they do have enough background knowledge but you would need to define the specific terms that you are using. You won't also just present a concept to an expert. You will also need to explain the parts and processes in detail. Obviously, since they are experts they will understand the processes and the details that you will explain. So you should go into detail about the explanations about the parts, the processes, how something will happen, what needs to be done, what the different levels in the process would be to the expert because it is understood that when you are doing so they will understand. You might not be doing this if you are writing for people who are not experts because for them the purpose would be different and they might not need to know the processes and the different parts but experts will need to know and they will understand as well. Now when you are writing for technicians, technicians are people who construct, operate and fix things. For example, an office worker who is an expert in publishing is a technician and so is the person who repairs your telephone or washing machine. Technicians are experts in what they do but they might not be experts in other things, in things that they do not do and the way technicians vary from experts is that technicians are actually handling things themselves and expert might be someone who has the knowledge about something but might not be handling the actual applicability of that thing himself or herself. Whereas a technician knows how to use and operate things and is actually actively doing it as well. The technicians have different levels of knowledge. They are often more expert than anyone else in how a particular thing works or why it does not work. They are also usually familiar with the common technical terms associated with the devices they use and the processes they perform. However, they may not be familiar with general or abstract concepts about a device or a process. Now the technicians are experts as I said earlier but they might not know the theory of something. They would know in great detail about the practice of something but not why it happens. For example, if somebody is a technician related to computers they would know how to fix a computer, how to hook it up, how to network it but they might not know the background detail of why for example, the circuits work the way did they do. He will know how the circuits work but not the why of it. Technicians will have a variety of purposes for reading technical and scientific documents firstly they will want to read them to learn how to perform particular tasks. Now if a technician is an expert in something but does not know how to perform a particular task then he will need to look at a manual or a document or a scientific technical report or specifically a manual to learn how to perform that specific task within his field of expertise. For example, coming back to the computer example if a technician is an expert in computers and he knows how to fix most problems related to computers but there are specific problems or one specific problem that he or she does not know about then they will need to read up on it in order to learn how to fix a particular problem that is causing them confusion. They will also read scientific and technical documents to learn how to as I said solve particular problems or perform particular tasks and to learn about new devices and procedures relevant to their particular tasks. Now there may be new things new devices new processes coming up in their field that they are not familiar with so then they will need to read up more to learn what new developments have taken place and what new devices have come in and how they can use them and operate them. They will also read to acquire and expand background knowledge helpful to the performance of their tasks. As I said a lot of the times technicians will know how to operate how to actually apply the knowledge but they may not have the background knowledge they may not know the concepts so they might also want to read to expand their horizons to get more information about the background of how a thing works so that they can be better when they are applying their knowledge. The different strategies when you are writing for technicians you need to keep introductions and background information brief this is obviously because again as I said technicians are more interested in the practice they do not want the theory and therefore and a lot of the times they might not be qualified to understand the background theory so therefore it is better to keep introductions short, concise and to the point. Also apart from the factor of understanding a lot of the times they might not even have the time to read the background because it is not of their interest they will not create the time so you would be wasting your time in writing a lengthy background. Also you need to make information accessible and we will talk about this in a couple of seconds you also should provide short definitions or explanations of unfamiliar terms tools, devices or procedures. If you feel that there are any unfamiliar terms or you are starting to discuss such concepts which may not be familiar to the technicians or they are not familiar to them then you will have to define them and you will have to give them some explanation. Now coming back to making information accessible when appropriate you have to reduce information to instructions on how to perform a procedure or diagnose and fix a problem. Accessibility means that whatever information is given should be brief to the point and easily understood and accessible to the reader. Wherever possible you need to make sure that that information whatever it is that you are giving is brief, concise and the reader does not have to look for it it is easily accessible they just need to open the book or open the document and it is there and you can actually find it without having to search for it within a text. Wherever possible also use graphs and tables this is again because visually graphs and tables can give the information at a quick glance. One thing that is written in a paragraph form we have to find information out of it. Whether it is written in a point form or in graphs or tables, facts or figures or any procedure explained or diagram made it is very easy to understand. In the description of the diagram we have to read 10 sentences. Also you need to keep sections and overall instructions as short as possible. If there are long sections then obviously there will be more paragraphs or longer sections. And then the information will not be so accessible it cannot be understood or searched so easily. So it is better that your sections are as short as possible. And the instructions that you are telling them that you have to do something as short as possible as possible is better. Also you need to index and cross reference material. This means that if you have been talking about material previously in the document then you need to refer to it cross reference between what has been talked about earlier and what you are talking about later. And indexing means that you need to maybe provide a list of where each section is. If you see in a lot of documents, manuals you have an index where there is a number of either the page or section and a quick guide on how to access a particular problem. So it is very useful to then make an index so that the reader just needs to look at the index and go to their particular problem they don't have to read the whole document to find what they are looking for. When you are writing for managers who are a completely different type of audience from technicians or experts then you need to have different rules in mind. Managers you will assume are busy people who need to use documents primarily as tools in making decisions because managers read and review many documents you need to be brief and to the point. Now managers are people who might not be expert in everything that they are doing but they will have a general knowledge of what they are doing. They might be experts in one or two fields but they might be handling other fields or they might be handling other areas in which they are not experts but they do have knowledge of them. They vary in their technical knowledge many managers especially in technical organizations are general experts in a document subject matter. Rarely however are managers specific experts in the content of a document. As I said they have the subject knowledge but they might not be specific experts in that subject so they are general experts many times but not specific experts. Managers usually supervise a number of projects so they may not be familiar with every recent technological advance and this is why they might want to read up on a technical document so that they can update themselves on the technological advances that have taken place. Often managers are specialists in fields such as marketing or management and have little detailed technical knowledge. They will know how to manage technical products or market technical products but they might not know how those technical products operate or how they are made or how they can be fixed and for that they will need to rely on documentation so that at least they know what the technicians or the experts who are working under them are doing. The purposes vary for managers in reading technical documents and scientific documents. They read them to aid in making decisions to assess current situations to maintain their general level of expertise to evaluate projects and employees. Obviously if they have a knowledge of the technical documents that they are reading or if they can understand them it helps them in making decisions it helps them when they are assessing current situations and it obviously increases their level of expertise but more than that it helps them evaluate what their team is doing or what is happening in their project so that they can assess, they can evaluate and they can help in their team performing much better if they actually know what they are doing. In general managers read for the bottom line a concise summary of the present situation and specific recommendations for action. A lot of the times managers are not interested in all the details they just want the bottom line, they want the end result or the conclusion any recommendations that are present they might not always want to look at all the detail or even if they do they might initially be interested more in what the summary is of the document and then when they have the time they will look at more detail. There are different strategies when you are writing for managers than when you are writing for technicians or experts for managers you need to distill key information into an executive summary. This is so that they can get the gist of the matter in one glance or in one summary. A manager has a lot of different projects he is working on a lot of things he does not have that much time he has to read all the details so to attract their attention it is better to give the document as a summary at the beginning and then if they find the summary interesting then they will read more details of the document. In general you need to present information in order of importance. The most important thing is to list it first discuss it first and the least important thing is to meet it later because managers do not have that much time to read the unimportant things so if they find the starting things unimportant then they may not read the document and they may not reach the important part so it is better to keep the important part first. As far as the question of importance is concerned it should be kept in mind that the important thing that you are looking at is not important to the manager so it should be kept in mind what is important to the manager and what is more important should be presented at the beginning. Also you need to emphasize information that will aid in making decisions especially if you want to take that decision or do some action do some change in the company then that information which will help in taking that decision should be kept at the beginning or should be emphasized or should be emphasized or should be emphasized or should be emphasized or should be emphasized or should be emphasized or should be emphasized so that the manager knows the importance and can easily absorb that information and can take that decision easily. You need to present sufficient background information in your document. A lot of the times it is very important for managers to know and to make you come to writing the document or what had prompted you to write the document because it is important for them so that they can take a decision which will be based on what you have suggested in your document. Therefore it is important that they know the background that they have some background information maybe it is something that you are talking about so then you need to explain how that process happened or the changes that you want in the process. You also need to summarize all recommendations for action in your conclusion. You may in your whole document have written about given an introduction, given a background what had happened, why it had happened what needs to be done but in your summary and your conclusion you need to highlight what needs to be done because a lot of the times the managers will just look might just look at the executive summary in the beginning briefly glance at the introduction and then say okay let's come to the point what do you want me to do what is the conclusion you need so therefore it is important to highlight the action that you want in the conclusion. Many times the managers will not read the whole document they will just say what is the meaning of this what do we want from this what is the decision what is the bottom line as we talked about earlier they need to know the bottom line you have all your recommendations preferably in point form you also need to segment information to allow easy reading of parts of the document the manager is not going to sit for hours and read a long essay type document you need to divide your document in segments in sections, give clear headings make clear sections so that the manager can skip to the section of their interest or the manager can just look at the headings what is in each section and then decide if they want to look at the detail or not you also need to if necessary put long technical explanations into appendices as I mentioned managers are not experts or technical experts so if there is any technical information that you feel is important to be included in the document then it should come in an appendix at the end of the document within the document you will just refer to it for example you will say when you are talking about technical information then you will say C appendix A or C appendix 1 and then attach any technical details diagrams, facts, figures which might be confusing to read at that point or which might break the flow of reading you will put them as an appendix if we include all technical details in the document then many times the manager because he is not an expert or if he does not have time then he will think it is very long, we will have to read it later and then it will remain so it is better that the technical details are more elaborate then attach them separately and just refer to them in the document also try to use graphs to summarize information the use of graphs, figures makes things more visual easy to understand and see in a nutshell and explain any unfamiliar terms that you might be talking about they might be technical terms so you need to then explain them if you feel that the manager will find them unfamiliar if obviously that you know that the manager is an expert in this particular field then you do not need to go into these explanations so you need to decide what needs to be explained and what does not based on what you know about your manager when you are writing for lay persons a lay person is one who does not possess the technical knowledge of an expert or a technician and also one who might not have maybe any idea of that field maybe not even a manager and therefore there will be a different way of writing for lay people all of us read some documents as lay persons no one is an expert in all fields even if we are experts in our field even if you are a technician or if you are an expert or general or specific expert or a manager with a particular area you may be you will be definitely a lay person in other areas if you are a computer expert then you will be a lay person when it comes to talking about maybe language so then if somebody is writing in technical terms about language or maths then they need to keep in mind that this person is an expert in the area of computers but not in the area of mathematics lay persons will have different levels of knowledge you need to understand that a lay person has has knowledge but not knowledge which is of a particular technicality so do not assume that a lay person has a technical background unless you know that all members of your audience will understand a technical term or concept explain it carefully using examples and analogies with which the reader is familiar now if you feel that all the people who will be reading your document know the concept that you are talking about then you do not need to explain it or you do not need to highlight it but if you feel that some of them will be familiar with it then you need to use examples you need to use analogies show them similar situations or similar examples so that they can understand what it is that you are talking about some lay audiences can be classified as novices people who do not yet possess technical expertise in a field but are in the process of acquiring it now novices will be people who are learning new to that field but they will eventually become experts so but at the moment because they are new to the field because they are novices they are lay people they are aspiring to be experts in that field technical textbooks at different levels for example are written to audiences that are starting out as lay persons but may become experts a lot of the people if they do not know about their field read first to become experts in that field so for example textbooks then are written for novices but then those novices later become experts there are different purposes for which lay persons read technical and scientific documents they read them to expand their general knowledge as a lay person I might not be an expert in computers but a lot of documents related to computers I might just read or glance at because I would like to expand my knowledge about them that does not mean that I will read I will be interested in reading a lot of technicalities about computers but if there is a newspaper article related to the use of computers or advances in computer science I would be interested in reading them even though I am a lay person as far as computers are concerned also lay persons would use them to help make decisions as citizens consumers and investors a lot of the times we are given information about a specific field as lay persons but that helps us in finding out more about those areas and also in making decisions as citizens a lot of the times as investors I might not be again going back to the same example I might not be an expert in computers but depending on what I read maybe in a newspaper or in a company report I might be interested in investing in IBM for example because I know enough about it to be confident that I might want to invest in this company also lay persons would want to read technical documents to learn how to use a device or perform a procedure if I buy a new television I may not be an expert in how the television works I may not even be a manager in a television company or a technician who knows how to put all the circuits together but I would want to read the user's manual the handbook of the television so that I know how to operate it and how to use it even though I am a lay person that is what the documentation is made for the manual is specifically designed for lay people who so that they can understand how to hook the different parts or the cables etc and how to tune the channels but the manual does not give the technicalities of what actually happens within the television set while I am tuning the channels that information would be for technicians or I might want to read a document to become an expert now if I have aspirations to become an expert in the technology that is used within a television then again I would start off by reading basic documentation and then read more documentation related to computers and then eventually become an expert so even though I start off as a lay person I might eventually become an expert so every lay person also has purposes for reading a specific document the purposes and the reasons because of which they will read a document they can be different and you will prepare your document by keeping those different reasons the different strategies when you are writing for lay people depending on what the purpose for reading depending on what type of lay people they are you will use different strategies you will present extensive background information in your introduction you will organize information from the familiar to the unfamiliar now this is very important if you start off with unfamiliar information it will put the readers off if a lot of information starts it will be difficult for the reader because he is a lay person he has no background knowledge and he will not read so that is why you should start with something that is familiar that is comfortable and then gradually you should explain the unfamiliar concepts or should give also you will simplify information to the level sufficient for the audience's purpose in using the document if you feel that the information you are giving is very complicated and the reader doesn't need to read the document for this information they don't need to read this document for example coming back to the example of the television if you are writing an instruction manually that how to operate the television then at that time the reader doesn't need to read how the circuits are joined inside the television so you will simplify the information that if you put the plug wrong then the circuits can be damaged but you don't need to tell the details of what exactly will happen in the circuits that they will be damaged you also need to explain all technical terms whatever you use whatever terminology which is very technical you should explain it because it is not necessary that the audience should know that you will need to illustrate and explain technical terms and concepts with analogies for example you will need to say things like your hard disk is like an attic if it is too full you may have trouble retrieving a specific item analogies means that you should compare the concepts which are more familiar to the audience if you feel that the concept is difficult for the audience that they are using in their everyday life or they are watching so that they can compare it and then they can understand that this is what it means or to make it easy you can use a small anecdote, a joke a humor so that they can remember and understand it when you are writing for a mixed audience we talked about experts, technicians, managers laypersons, etc we can also be writing for a mixed audience it is not necessary that everything we write we know that we will only read the technicians or only experts or managers there are many documents which are read by everyone so therefore when you are writing for a mixed audience you need to be clear that the document may be read by readers with different levels of expertise some of the audience may be at a higher level of expertise than other audience some of the audience may be specific experts whereas some of the audience may be completely laypersons so then it becomes slightly more complicated in how you target that audience computer documentation may be written for experts who are familiar with all the hardware and software processes involved technicians who will install and support the application a manager who may be deciding whether to use the software and laypersons who may occasionally use it now this is although it is computer documentation it may be targeted for all these different people looking at the same documentation an expert may be making it looking at the same documentation a technician will install it looking at the same documentation a manager will decide whether to install it in his company this is computer hardware and a layperson who will use it may be reading the same documentation therefore there are different audiences and according to that you have to write that documentation so therefore there will be different strategies when you are writing for mixed audiences if appropriate you need to create separate documents for each audience type obviously if you have a choice it would be better to create a different document for each audience type or at least do different sections in one document which are for each audience type for executives, managers for technicians, experts for laypersons then as a writer it is easy for you because you will target each section for a particular audience however if that is not possible then you need to obviously find other ways then you need to make sure that the language that you are using is accessible to all different types of audiences you should also use an executive summary to present the gist of your document in understandable language an executive summary just like how we will create an executive summary for managers so that the main idea of that document can be understood by your audience if any of you readers will not be experts or technicians place all lengthy technical discussion in appendices and refer to them in the main body just like how we talked earlier about managers if you feel that there are many people in your mixed audience who want to show technical details then you should apply that technical detail also you should segment the document into sections so that different audiences can read different parts this is as I said before you need to put it in if preferable if possible in fact put it in different parts so that the audiences can choose which part they are looking at also you need to include in the front matter or introduction a short discussion of what sections are appropriate to each type of reader and for what purposes it might be better to then give a section in the beginning so that the readers just need to look at the beginning and get a short detail of what section is appropriate for for them so they need to just there might be small paragraphs or two or three lines about each type of reader and where they will find the information that is of interest to them so in the introductory section if you tell each reader that the details of your meaning are in this section it will be easier also you should explain all technical terms thoroughly in any section that may be read by a lay reader if you feel that in parts of your sections you are using technical terms and that section will be read by lay people by people who are not experts then you need to explain those technical terms so the experts who are reading that section they will skip or ignore that but at least the lay people who are reading that section it will be easier to understand also you should include an exhaustive glossary section explaining all technical terms in either the front matter or the end matter obviously when you have mixed audience there are experts too technicians, managers, lay people and if you are using too many technical terms then it is better that you have made a glossary or index of that terminology so that all the technical terms you should put definitions or explanations as a list and in alphabetical order you should include them in the back or in the beginning so that when the technical terms come in the text then only the reader should see the definition or meanings of those technical terms in that glossary the readers of technical and scientific writing whatever their level of expertise read a document for three general purposes they read them to acquire information to help make decisions and to learn how to do something now to acquire information readers at all levels of expertise read technical documents to acquire information whatever level of expertise they have they are very specific experts or lay persons they get some information and that is why they read that document so that their knowledge is added experts read current documents in their own fields to maintain their level of expertise and read documents in related fields to increase the breadth of their knowledge the documents of their field they will read to increase their expertise related fields which are not directly their fields they will read those documents so that their knowledge opens up their horizons furthermore experts or technicians in one field are often novices in another field and read documents to acquire a basic understanding managers read to acquire both the general and the specific information necessary for them to supervise their staffs effectively and to function well in their organization we have talked about this before there are different purposes that people read for and this is basically I am now giving you a summary of why these people may want to read specific documents lay persons read scientific and technical documents to acquire general knowledge about a subject or as novices attempting to become experts to help make a decision that is another purpose readers at all levels of expertise read documents to make decisions just like they read them to acquire information in the same way based on what they have read they will be making decisions an expert may read a technical study to conduct a specific experiment or to use a new design element an expert may read a technical study to decide whether or not to conduct a specific experiment or to use a new design element a manager may need to make or approve a decision a technicians use documents to decide on the selection of specific hardware or software and to determine the best procedure for performing a task lay persons may read documents to help select a particular product or investment the document is also read to learn how to do something all readers whatever their level of expertise sometimes read instructions to help them perform various tasks they might read instructions to learn how they will perform that task or how they will perform that action for example a manager may read a document to learn how to use new budgeting software an expert may read a document to learn how to use a new device and so on a lay person may also be using a document to learn how to use something you also need to be familiar with the readers attitude towards you and your organization when you are writing for them if your audience views you as an expert in some situations you may not need to offer lengthy explanations or video conclusions and recommendations for example when we go to a doctor we do not always ask for a detailed explanation of a diagnosis or procedure if you know that you are an expert in your audience then you do not need to give such detailed explanation or justification that what are you going to do or what are you going to say as I mentioned as a patient we know that he is an expert then we do not ask him why he is giving us medicines similarly when your audience knows that you are an expert they do not ask you or they do not want to hear why you are giving these instructions it is enough for them that you are an expert and they will then read what you have written without questioning you similarly a reader of a technical manual written by the manufacturer is likely to accept a statement of the possible error without further explanation because the reader trusts the accuracy of the manufacturer no explanation is necessary on the other hand if the audience does not know you or does not consider you an expert or if the reader has had past negative experience with you or your organization the document should include extensive explanations of your conclusions and recommendations to create trust and establish credibility obviously if your audience does not have trust then you have to win and then you have to give explanations also we need to consider audience interest in the subject your audience's interest in your document's content will affect its organization if your audience is already interested in your subject you may be able to shorten your introduction if your audience is not interested in your subject or if you do not know the level of their interest explain why the material in the document is important to the reader another thing to consider is audience attitude what subject if your audience initially may be hostile to your major conclusions you may want to present the problem first then your analysis then your conclusions or recommendations if you feel that you have to give your conclusions that audience do not like or initially do not accept them then you have to analyze the problem first then you have to give conclusions so that they understand that it was a problem and this is the conclusion and if you believe your audience to be receptive to your conclusions especially if your audience is a manager begin with conclusions and recommendations if you feel that your audience is going to have no problem with what conclusions you are giving then you do not need to give the background problem and give the analysis document density refers to the amount type, detail, complexity and rate of information presented to the reader the density appropriate to any document is determined by its audience and the ways in which the audience will use it matching the density of information to your audience is crucial for the success of any technical document we talked about density earlier as well the more the information in the document the more dense the document is so basically in this lecture you learnt to target your audience by identifying audience type characteristics and level of expertise you learnt to determine your audience's needs by assessing their expertise by purpose in reading the document and you learnt what document density is and how to determine it in your document that is all for this lecture on audience analysis until next time, Allah Hafiz