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Assignment
2: Clarity and Concision Part II--AUDIENCE MATTERS
Due February 7, 2002
Purpose: This assignment continues
our work on clarity and concision. This time, however, we'll take
a more dramatic approach to audience, and this time you'll position
yourself first as an expert in your field writing to a lay audience
(Part I) and second as technical or professional writer writing
on the job (Part II).
Part I of the assignment asks you to
bring in some text from your field of study--some writing that is
rather specialized and difficult to process for those outside the
field. It doesn't have to be a bad piece of writing; good writing
will do nicely. I'll need to see this text by Thursday (1-31) to
be sure it's suitable.
Your task will be to rewrite several
paragraphs of this material for a nonspecialist audience. Let's
say, for example, that you're studying engineering. You might bring
in a piece of writing that works very well for other engineering
students and professors and rewrite it for an interested public
audience. If you have not declared a major, bring in something from
a course in which you became familiar with rather specialized information.
Look through chapters of textbooks for material that uses vocabulary
and concepts that you would not have understood before taking the
course. If this doesn't work, let me know right away and I'll try
to find something suitable for you to work on.
Note well: Learning to speak or write
about your specialization before a lay audience is an ethical obligation
in a democratic society. People who make decisions often are not
specialists, and they need good information in terms they can understand.
You can provide it.
Part II asks you to write two different
documents from a single body of information.. Each document will
be shaped for a different audience.
Pedagogical Goals: Assignment II should
make clear to you that information has no "pure" state.
A good piece of writing is one that becomes useful to your intended
reader. Of course when you have multiple readers with different
purposes for reading, things get a lot more complicated! More about
that later. The lesson is this: Always consider where your readers
are when they read your document, why they are reading it, what
they know already, and what they might do after they read it.
DELIVERABLES: Print documents with
both original texts and rewrites. Include a one-page memo explaining
some of the decisions you've made to accommodate your audiences.
You'll hand in a total of 3 separate pieces of writing.
Part I. Rewrite a document of your own choosing, preferably
in your own field of study, for an audience who knows very little
about the subject at hand. The original material should be out of
reach of your classmates. Your general purpose will be to "translate"
this material into accessible language. We can nuance the purpose
depending on what you bring in to work on.
Approximate length: 400 words (two good sized paragraphs)
**Please bring in candidates for this assignment by Thursday, January
31.
Part II. Select and shape information from the City of Albuquerque's
Public Works Water Resources page for two different audiences. (See
below for rhetorical situation/audience.)
City of Albuquerque's Public Works-Water Resources page:
http://www.cabq.gov/waterresources/index.html
Use the menu bar at the left side of the page to scan the pages
on the site. Do SCAN the site, taking notes about what sorts
of information is available on each link. Note: READ THE AUDIENCE
INFORMATION BELOW BEFORE YOU BEGIN SCANNING. THIS WAY YOU'LL KNOW
WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR EVEN AS YOU INFORM YOURSELF.
Rhetorical Situation
I.
You work at a branch of the Albuquerque city offices that encourages
businesses to locate in Albuquerque. In these times of layoffs and
economic stagnation, attracting new businesses is pretty important
work. You've received a letter of inquiry from a business currently
located in the eastern US that seeks information about water in
Albuquerque. Your job is to write a short letter providing sound
information about ABQ water issues and the ways we deal with these
issues. The inquirer's purpose is to decide whether to keep ABQ
on the list of possible relocation sites. Your purpose is to provide
good information while keeping the inquirer interested. Possibly
you'll want instill confidence in the ABQ way of addressing public
issues. Possibly not! Generally speaking, your job is provide sound
information about the state of water conservation and usage in ABQ.
There are ethical issues involved here, and we will discuss them
in class.
Length: one-two pages, 12 pt. font, single spacing, generous margins
to make the information easy to grasp.
Company Name: Franklin Bookbinders and Paper Designs. You can invent
an address.
Contact: Terry Simms, Owner and Manager
Rhetorical Situation
II.
You're still working for the city of Albuquerque and are
now fielding a letter from a local group of Senior Citizens--a Corrales-based
group. They tell you they're interested in investing their time
in a civic cause and are examining a range of possibilities. Can
you help them, they ask, by providing some information about ABQ's
water problems? They're eager, they write, to work on a "real"
problem and have a large and active group of retirees with roots
in New Mexico.
Length: one-two pages, 12 pt. font, single spacing, generous margins
to make the information easy to grasp.
Group name: Corrales Senior Citizens. You can invent the address.
Contact: L. L. Reyes
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