Writing for public audiences is perhaps the most challenging of the three domains we write for in this class. It is also arguably the most flexible in terms of genre and style. Like academic and professional audiences, public audiences expect logical claims supported by evidence. Unlike academic and professional audiences, public audiences often have higher expectations in terms of enjoyment and entertainment. That is, even as they are reading to educate themselves, public audiences are less likely to continue reading if they are not also entertained or impressed by the writing itself. Despite the challenge of writing for public audiences, many writers find it an exciting opportunity to be creative in framing and developing their writing to reach these critical audiences. To that end, you have the opportunity to choose your own genre for this assignment.
Genres can include (but are not limited to) annotated bibliography, brochure/flyer, report, op ed, PSA, proposal, instructions/descriiption, formal correspondence, memo, podcast, video.
Public audiences read a wide variety of genres, such as: long-form essays published in digital and print magazines (e.g. The Atlantic or the The New Yorker). websites or blogs (e.g., Inhabitat or Bioneers ) podcasts (e.g., This American Life or Radio Lab) op-eds published in digital and print newspapers (e.g., The New York Times or The Boston Globe) You will need to do some genre research, looking into your options for reaching a public audience. Based on what you find—and what you notice in analyzing these genre samples—you can then make a decision about the best way for you to approach this assignment. Details The first decision you will need to make is to choose your genre—and, in tandem with genre, your hypothetical publication venue. If, for example, you decide to write a long-form essay, you will need to also decide on a specific magazine so you can emulate the genre conventions you see in the essays published in that magazine; if you decide on a podcast, you will need to also decide on a specific podcast you wish to emulate. It is important to make a decision about a hypothetical publication venue in tandem with choosing your genre because doing so gives you information about your audience, and gives you examples to follow in your own writing process. Choosing your genre and publication venue are vital decisions because they impact your whole purpose: to educate your readers about the problem, and to persuade them that it is a problem worthy of attention. Sometimes stakeholders in a given problem are unaware of their status as stakeholders (they might not understand how or why the problem impacts them); your job is to frame the problem so they better understand what is at stake for them. All genres are governed by genre conventions. You will need to identify some of those conventions in samples you find in your chosen publication venue, and then emulate them in your own work. Note: you will be required to discuss these conventions (including your processes for identifying and emulating them) in your final for this class. It is difficult to specify a minimum word count for this assignment, given that you will all be working with different genres. As a general guidelines (to be confirmed on a case by case basis in our individual conferences), aim for the following:
1,200-1,500 words for an alphabetic text;
7-10 minutes for a video text (perhaps broken into 2-3 short videos, depending on target publication venue);
8-10 minutes for an audio text (perhaps broken into 2-3 short clips, depending on target publication venue).