Audience Analysis Chart

This was the week in Technical Writing where I began to focus on the reader and their needs, values, and attitudes whenever reading something or making a decision.

This is the photo I had to review for this discussion board. I was required to write a memo to my teacher using the reader analysis chart (shown below) to discuss the readers needs, values, and attitudes.  

Here is what I submitted to my teacher:

Date:               January 17, 2017

To:                   Jannette Dick

From:               Kira Lyell

Subject:           Audience Analysis

Dear Ms. Jeanette Dick:

During the time that it took me to read chapter two, I noticed it mainly focused on a readers’ profile. To efficiently determine a reader’s profile, you must; (1) Identify your readers, (2) Identify your readers’ needs, values, and attitudes, and (3) Identify the contexts of how the reader will experience your document.

On page 22 in Technical Communication Today, there is a Reader Analysis Chart. This chart provides me with a way to determine needs, values, and attitudes of the different readers. By using this chart, I can help determine how Figure 2.7 anticipates the readers’ needs.

Readers	Needs	Values	Attitudes
Primary	Entertainment	Imagination	Excited or ambitious
Secondary	Something that is appealing to the person they want to recommend the product to	Efficiency and profit	Happy or positive
Tertiary	Something that projects a positive to the primary readers	Efficiency and social concerns	Hopeful
Gatekeepers	How appealing is this to the primary reader?	Profit	Careful, concerned, and skeptical

After reviewing Figure 2.7, I could come up with what I thought the needs, values, and attitudes of the readers were. I figured the primary readers would be the children interested in buying the Lego product. These children would be looking for something to play with. I figured that the secondary readers would be a store trying to sell the Lego product. They would be wanting to convince people to buy this product for a child. The tertiary and gatekeepers would be interested in how well they believed the product would sell.

Overall, the Reader Analysis chart is very useful whenever is comes to identifying the readers’ profile. I do believe that this chart will be used throughout this course efficiently.