Writing

Common Core Writing

Knowing Your Audience

Write to Someone
Thinking about your particular audience for each piece of expository
writing will help you zero in on what your readers need to know. Even if
your main readers are your teachers, you should remember every teacher is
different. Think about what each teacher is looking for as you complete
your assignments.
Besides teachers, classmates and other peers will often read and
critique your writing. In addition, when you write personal notes, letters to
friends, job or college applications, or news stories for the school paper, you
must consider various readers. The following questions can help you
develop a feel for your audience.

Understanding Your Audience

 Does this audience care about my topic already, or must I convince

them of its importance?
Interest  Will I need to find ways to overcome apathy or dislike of my topic?
 If this audience has a strong interest in my topic, how can I move
forward swiftly to maintain their interest?

 How much does this audience already know about my topic?

 Do I need to define basic terms and concepts?
Background  Do I need to probe deeply for new insights in order to tell this
audience something it doesn’t already know, or should I concentrate
on clarifying the main points?

 Should I use formal or informal language to reach this audience?

 Should I present my points in non-technical language?
Vocabulary  Will my audience be able to follow complex explanations, or should I
keep sentences short and simple?

Revising Tip : A peer editor can give you valuable feedback on how well
you have responded to the needs of your audience.

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 Grammar Tip
When editing
expository writing,
check that all proper
nouns and proper
adjectives are
capitalized, as in the
literature model.
Statistics help give
readers a sense of the
vastness of the
continent.
Lamb compares the
sizes of the Sahara and
the United States.
What does this
comparison tell you
that statistics alone
cannot?
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Use Details to Appeal to Your Audience
Identifying your audience is just the first step. Here are some
strategies you can use to support your main ideas and make connections clear
to your audience.
Supporting Details and Good Connections
Support main ideas with vivid, interesting examples to help
Examples readers grasp unfamiliar or relate information to their own
experience.
Facts and Use facts and statistics to help readers understand the
Statistics magnitude of an issue.
Use analogies, metaphors, similes, and other forms of
comparison to help readers understand unfamiliar concepts
Comparisons
by relating them to something readers do understand.
Use engaging quotations from experts on your topic to
clarify meanings or lend authority to your writing. Or use a
Quotations
relevant quotation at the beginning of your writing to set
the tone.
Literature Model
Africa occupies 20 percent of the earth’s land surface, or 11.7 million
square miles. Only Asia is larger. Africa is 5,000 miles long, reaching from
the God-forsaken deserts of the north to the lush wine country in the south,
and 46,000 miles wide. Its coastline measures 18,950 miles—shorter than
Europe’s because of the absence of inlets and bays—and the equator cuts
Africa just about in half. Africa’s climate varies wildly, from temperate in
the high plateaus, to tropical along the coastal plains, to just plain intolerable
in the sizzling deserts.
The coastal strip around Africa is narrow, and the interior plateaus
are characterized by wide belts of tropical rain forest, wooded savanna and
grassland plains. In the far north is the Sahara, the world’s largest desert. It
covers one quarter of the continent, an area as large as the United States
mainland. In the far south is the Kalahari Desert, the world’s seventh largest.
The highest point in Africa is Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, 19,340 feet
tall and snow-capped the year round….
David Lamb, The Africans
 Knowing Your Audience
Key Information
Understanding your audience's level of interest in your topic, background
knowledge, and familiarity with the vocabulary will help you decide how to
write your essay. Once you have identified your audience, you must deter-
mine what examples, facts and statistics, comparisons, and quotations will
best reach out to your readers.

A. Identifying Your Audience

Imagine that you are planning to write an essay on one of the topics listed
here. Identify the interest level, background knowledge, and type of
vocabulary appropriate for presenting the topic to each audience named on
the chart below.

What my friends and I talk about at parties

What I learned when I dissected an earthworm
Popular video games
The newly-elected student council president
How my favorite singer compares to a popular 1960s singer
My career plans

Topic: _____________________________________________________
Audience Interest Level Background Type of
Knowledge Vocabulary

Your best friend

Your grandfather

Readers of the school

newsletter

A new student from Argentina,

Ethiopia, or Thailand

Your science teacher

Your four-year-old cousin

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 B. Reaching Your Audience

Prewrite about how you would write an essay on this topic for two different
audiences. Choose any two of the audiences identified on the chart in Part A.
In your prewriting, include the kinds of examples, facts and statistics,
comparisons, or quotations you might use.

Audience : _____________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

Audience: ______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

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 Writing Paragraphs: Developing Paragraphs with Examples
The topic of a paragraph may be developed with examples, which are specific cases that make
general statements clearer and more exact. The following paragraph is built around one main
idea: Grass is a useful plant. Notice how many examples the writer uses. Your audience is a
group of students who are studying science.

Those green blades of grass you walk on belong to a family of plants that are among the
most useful on earth. Cereal grasses such as oats, rye, barley, wheat, and corn are used for
food, beverages, pastes, plastics, and a variety of other products. Most of our sugar comes
from a member of the grass family known as sugar cane. Grass clippings, leaves, and
stems are used for both fertilizer and paper products. Tall, hollow bamboo grass furnishes
the cane used for furniture, fishing poles, and even water pipes and weapons. Grass does
not even have to be cut to be useful. Wherever grass grows, its root system helps bind the
dirt and keep the surface soil from wearing away during rain and wind storms. Thick prai-
rie grass, for example, serves as a protective material and a natural habitat for some wild-
life. Since grass cools the soil, some people live in homes that are sheltered by grass-
covered earth.

Exercise C

Use the following information to write a paragraph developed by examples. You need not
use all of the information. Arrange the examples in the order you think best, and write in-
teresting sentences that read smoothly. Be sure to proofread your paragraph for errors in
spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.

Many different kinds of turtles live in water.

Fall into two groups: saltwater (marine) and freshwater
Alligator snapper of Mississippi valley – largest freshwater turtle (up to 200
pounds)
Freshwater snapping turtles – vicious when on land
Largest of all living turtles, marine leatherback – average adult 1,000 pounds
Marine green turtle used for food – turtle soup and canned turtle meat
Diamondback terrapin – edible turtle found in coastal salt marshes

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 Writing Paragraphs: Developing Paragraphs with Data
Whenever you are asked to write a paper in history class, you must create unified paragraphs
that present data (fact and figures). A fact is something that can be proved to be sure. Figures
are numbers or symbols. When you state that there are 1,000 kilograms in one metric ton, you
are using figures to state a fact. The important point to remember when using data to develop or
to illustrate a topic is that all the facts and figures must be accurate, for they can be checked and
verified. Your audience is your teacher.

Exercise D

Use the data in the following list to write a well-developed paragraph based on the topic
sentence. Check your paragraph for both unity and coherence. Be sure to proofread your
paragraph for errors in spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.

TOPIC SENTENCE: In the few short months after their birth, kittens
change from helpless balls of fur to playful pets.

Right after birth, kittens are put in dark place by mother; eyes closed – helpless
Eyes open ten days after birth; kittens still can’t see
See clearly at about three weeks; teeth appear at about that time
Mother cat teaching kittens to hunt and fight – play a lot
Eat solid food at about two months
Can be adopted as pets at three months

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Writing About Action
When you write about action, your job is to use words that will help your readers see and
hear the action clearly. Careful selection of specific action words (verbs) will help you. In
the following sentence notice that the italicized words tell two things: (1) what the action
is, and (2) how the action is done.

She ambled along the deck to the railing, lounged against it, and gazed up at
the stars.

To say a person ambles is much more specific than to say she walks. Amble
means ―to walk in a relaxed and unhurried way.‖ Lounge, which means ―to lean against
something in a lazy or relaxed way,‖ gives a clearer picture than the verb lean. To gaze
at something is to take a long look at it. This verb also adds more to the description than
a general verb like look. The example not only tells readers what was done, but also
gives a feeling for the way in which it was done. It even establishes a mood of relaxa-
tion.

A good way to learn about specific verbs is to use a thesaurus. Don’t forget to
use a dictionary to understand exactly how a verb should be used. Do not assume that
all words in the thesaurus are synonyms!

Exercise 1

For each of the following sentences, underscore the action word in parentheses that
gives the clearest and most specific picture of the action.

EXAMPLE The Jackson Jaguars (beat, trounced) the Bensenville Bullets.

Rebecca (looked, squinted) up at us from her beach blanket.

Our parents (chatted, spoke) with the adviser after the program.

The squirrel (ran, scrambled) up the tree trunk just as the dog snapped at its tail.

Charlie (walked, sauntered) past the girls, pretending to ignore them.

A tall, thin young woman (held, clutched) her briefcase tightly.

The delivery boy (hurdled, jumped) the gate when he saw our pit bull.

The moth’s wings (shimmered, shone) delicately in the flashlight’s circle of light.

I (saw, glimpsed) a young buck as it sprang across the path.

The group of hikers (sang, chanted) ―Row, Row, Row Your Boat‖ as they walked.

The swim team members (churned, moved) the water with their feet.
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 For each of the numbered sentences, write a brief description of no more than two
sentences. Use specific action words, such as the ones in the following list, to help your
readers see and hear the action. Use a dictionary!

teeter bump collide tangle

squeal swoop bound hop
dash scramble drip slosh
claw spit streak tear
peer clench tremble quake

EXAMPLE Puppies trying to walk.

The pups teetered uncertainly on their fat paws. More than once they
bumped each other clumsily and tangled their legs, tumbling in a
heap.

Cheerleaders reacting to the winning play

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Sixth-graders caught in the rain at a class picnic.

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A cat resisting a bath.

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