In this chapter, you will learn how to:

1.1 Establish the purpose for your writing.

1.2 Determine the audience for your writing.
1.3 Identify the qualities of good writing.
1.4 Employ techniques to think critically about your writing.
1.5 Apply writing techniques for multimedia.
1.6 Write ethically and avoid plagiarism.
Why write? Aren’t texting, e-mail, voice mail, and cellular phones dooming ordinary writing?
Not long ago, some people thought and said so, but events haven’t supported those
predictions. In fact, much electronic media, such as blogging and tweeting, have increased
the amount of writing people do. Although devices such as cell phones have made some
writing unnecessary, the written word still flourishes both on campus and in the world of
work.
Writing offers very real advantages to both writers and readers:
 ■■ It gives writers time to reflect on and research what they want to communicate
and then lets them shape and reshape the material to their satisfaction.
 ■■ It makes communication more precise and effective.
 ■■ It provides a permanent record of thoughts, actions, and decisions.
 ■■ It saves the reader’s time; we absorb information more swiftly when we read it
than when we hear it.
 What kind of writing will people expect you to do?
 ■■ At college you may be asked to write lab reports, project proposals, research
papers, essay exams, or marketing plans.
 ■■ Job hunting requires application letters.
 ■■ On the job, you might describe the advantages of new computer equipment,
report on a conference you attend, explain a new procedure, suggest a new security
system, or present a marketing plan.
 ■■ Personally, you may need to defend a medical reimbursement, request a refund
for a faulty product, or find a solution to a personal problem.
Chapter
The Purposes of Writing
1.1
Establish the purpose for your writing.
Here is the raw truth: the ability to write will help you earn better grades, land the job you
want, and advance in your career. Writing will help you create the future you want in a
competitive world.
When we write, it is often in response to a situation that shapes the purpose and audience of
our writing. We rarely write in isolation, but instead write to others who have an interest in
our message.
The Purposes of Writing
Whenever you write, some clear purpose should guide your efforts. If you don’t know why
you’re writing, neither will your reader. Fulfilling an assignment doesn’t qualify as a real
writing purpose. Faced with a close deadline for a research paper or report, you may tell
yourself, “I’m doing this because I have to.” An authentic purpose requires you to answer
this question: What do I want this piece of writing to do for both my reader and me?
Purpose, as you might expect, grows out of the writing situation. You explore the
consequences of the greenhouse effect in a report for your science instructor. You write an
editorial for the college newspaper to air your frustration over inadequate campus parking.
You propose that your organization replace an outdated piece of equipment with a state-of-
the-art model.
Following are four common general writing purposes, two or more of which often join forces
in a single piece:
To Inform We all have our areas of expertise and often share that information with each
other. A student in computer science could post a blog on a class instructional site on how to
create a Web page. A medical researcher shares her research in her publications with other
doctors and other research professionals.
To Persuade You probably have strong views on many issues, and these feelings may
sometimes impel you to try swaying your reader. In a letter to the editor, you might attack a
proposal to establish a nearby chemical waste dump. Or, alarmed by a sharp jump in state
unemployment, you might write to your state senator and argue for a new job-training
program.
To Express Yourself When you text a friend, you choose words and phrases to show off
who you are. By your topic, word choice, example, or turn of phrase, you display a bit of
yourself whether in e-mails, journals, poetry, essays, or fiction.
To Entertain Some writing merely entertains; some writing couples entertainment with a
more serious purpose. A lighthearted approach can help your reader absorb dull or difficult
material.
4 Chapter 1 Writing: A First Look
More Specific Purposes
Besides having one or more general purposes, each writing project has its own specific
purpose. Consider the difference in the papers you could write about solar homes. You might
explain how readers could build one, argue that readers should buy one, express the
advantages of solar homes to urge Congress to enact a tax credit for them, or satirize the
solar home craze so that readers might reevaluate their plans to buy one.
Having a specific purpose assists you at every stage of the writing process. It helps you
define your audience; select the details, language, and approach that best suit their needs;
and avoid going off in directions that won’t interest them. The following example from the
Internet has a clear and specific purpose.

The Audience for Your Writing

Everything you write is aimed at some audience—a person or group you want to reach. The
ultimate purpose of all writing is to have an effect on a reader (even if that reader is you),
and therefore purpose and audience are closely linked. You would write differently about
your college experience to a young relative, your best friend, your parents, your advisor, or
a future employer.
■■ School is fun and I am learning a lot—to a young relative to reassure
■■ I went to the greatest party—to your best friend to entertain
■■ I am working hard—to your parents to persuade them to send extra support
■■ I have learned many things that will help me contribute to your company—to an employer
to persuade him or her to consider you for a job
It is important to recognize that writing, even texting, is very different from face-to-face
conversations.
1.2
Determine the audience for your writing.
6 Chapter 1 Writing: A First Look
Face-to-Face Writing
You can observe body language and vary what you are saying in response.
You don’t get to see how people are responding.
You can respond to immediate questions. It would be hard for people to get questions to you.
There is little record of what you say.
Readers can reread your text.
Once written work has left your hands, it’s on its own. You can’t call it back to clear up a
misunderstanding or adjust your tone. What this means is that as a writer, you need to be
able to anticipate your readers’ needs and responses.
Establishing rapport with your audience is easy when you’re writing for your friends or
someone else you know a great deal about. You can then judge the likely response to what
you say. Often, though, you’ll be writing for people you know only casually or not at all:
employers, customers, fellow citizens, and the like. In such situations, you’ll need to assess
your audience before starting to write and/or later in the writing process.
A good way to size up your readers is to develop an audience profile. This profile will emerge
gradually as you answer the following questions:
1. What are the educational level, age, social class, and economic status of
the audience I want to reach?
2. Why will this audience read my writing? To gain information? Learn
my views on a controversial issue? Enjoy my creative flair? Be
entertained?
3. What attitudes, needs, and expectations do they have?
4. How are they likely to respond to what I say? Can I expect them to be
neutral? Opposed? Friendly?
5. How much do they know about my topic? (Your answer here will help
you gauge whether you’re saying too little or too much.)
6. What kind of language will communicate with them most effectively?
(See “Selecting the Best Level of Diction” in Chapter 7.)
College writing assignments sometimes ask you to envision a reader who is intelligent but
lacking specialized knowledge, receptive but unwilling to put up with boring or trite material.
Or perhaps you’ll be assigned, or choose, to write for a certain age group or readers with
particular interests. At other times, you’ll be asked to write for a specialized audience—one
with some expertise in your topic. This difference will affect what you say to each audience
and how you say it.
The Effect of Audience on Your Writing
Let’s see how audience can shape a paper. Suppose you are explaining how to take a
certain type of X-ray.
The Audience for Your Writing 7
If your audience is a group of lay readers who have never had an X-ray, you might
■■ Avoid technical language. ■■ Compare an X-ray to a photograph.
■■ Explain the basic process, including the positioning of patient and equipment.
■■ Comment on the safety and reliability of the procedure. ■■ Indicate how much time it
would take.
If, however, you were writing for radiology students, you might
■■ Consistently use the technical language appropriate for this audience. ■■ Emphasize
exposure factors, film size, and required view.
■■ Provide a detailed explanation of the procedure, including how to position patients for
different kinds of X-rays.
■■ Address your readers as colleagues who want precise information.
Audience shapes all types of writing in a similar fashion, even your personal writing. Assume
you’ve recently become engaged, and to share your news you write two e-mails: one to your
minister or rabbi and the other to your best friend back home. You can imagine the
differences in details, language, and general tone of each e-mail. Further, think how
inappropriate it would be if you accidentally sent the e-mail intended for one to the other.
Without doubt, different readers call for different approaches.