Argumentation: Write for a specific, powerful audience

Once, in a persuasive writing class, I had students write down their intended audience. Then I had them write down their proposals for their essays. Then, I had them put the word “should” between the two:

[Intended Audience] should [Proposal]

It was an eye opening experience as many of my students looked at the sentences they had written and realized the people they were writing for were not in positions to make the changes they were arguing. They quickly realized they needed to either change their proposal to fit their audience or change their audience to fit their proposal.

Picking an audience varies from genre to genre and purpose to purpose. Unfortunately, students frequently default to “parents,” “teachers,” and (this one makes me want to break things) anything that starts with “people who...” The problem with these audiences is it’s difficult, if not impossible, to address them as a whole because there will be so many different groups within the larger body. Writing for them can mean relying on logical fallacies and broad assumptions that reflect your own bias more than your understanding of the demographic you're trying to write to.

On the other hand, a specific audience (one that has a formal name, whether it's an individual or an organizational body) is a far better option.

This leads to the next important aspect of picking your audience: what power or authority do they have? For example, if you think the local high schools should change from a semester to a trimester system. Writing to the teachers would be a bad idea because they're too far down the administrative hierarchy to make the decision. The administrators may value their input, but the teachers won't be making the decision. So, the next step is to go up the hierarchy to the powers-that-be.

The next two options are either the principal or school district personnel. Unfortunately, principals won't be able to make the change themselves, but they are closer to those who make the decisions and are in a valued position to give feedback.

Therefore, if writing to principals, you'll be arguing they should go to the district and convince them – but you'll have to convince the principals first.

Information like research, pedagogy, interviews, and surveys of the student body and faculty will be useful. However, where the principals will be more invested in the teachers and students, and would have to deal with scheduling on a regular basis, the administrators at the district will be more concerned with policy, legislation, and the public reception of the change. Two different audiences, two different sets of interests and capabilities.

Different information, appeals, and research will be needed in each situation; there will be some overlay, but not enough to simply cross off one set of names or titles and replace them with another. Every audience is going to have different concerns, regulations, and authorities, and an argumentative piece or any piece of writing must be written to a specific audience’s interest and ability.