Avery Richardson

Dr. Frances Johnson

Writing and Rhetoric 2

Reflection
In my Writing and Rhetoric II class we were tasked with presenting extensive research

we did on a subject of our choice to three different types of audiences. For this project, you had

to choose three unique different ways to present your information. We had difficult decisions to

make, such as our project formats in order to optimize the information our specific audiences

learned from our works. In this reflection I will be discussing those decisions I made along the

process of all three of my genres.

The following will be a summary of the choices I made when creating my first genre,

catered to those outside of my discipline, and the justification behind those decisions. The

specific audience I chose to represent this first genre is those without any prior knowledge of

whales or marine biology in general. I created this presentation in hopes that my writing can

reach these groups, since an audience is “the person or group whom you intend to reach with

your writing” (Open Oregon Educational Resources, N/A) Since my topic is “How human

interactions effect whale populations and their activities”, I found it appropriate to create this

presentation with the purpose of educating those who know nothing about whales about the

damage we cause them, since normally people only educate themselves on subjects they find

interesting. My specific format for this genre included an informational PowerPoint presentation.

I decided on this format because you are allowed some creative freedom, which is important
when trying to retain an uninterested audience’s attention. “Writers must have a clear sense of to

whom they are writing (the audience) and what the audience’s values and/or opinions related to

the topic are” (Wray, 2008-2021). (“What to Think About When Writing for a Particular

Audience”) Since some of my intended audience might disagree with my statements on how

certain human activities are harmful to whales, the PowerPoint style presentation allows for

visuals to be used to appeal to the audiences’ emotions. Overall, this helps get my research point

across and allows the audience to critically think about the future of human-whale interaction.

Next, the following will be a summary of the choices I made when creating my second

genre, catered to those inside of my discipline, and the justification behind those decisions. My

genre one audience will include those who are in the marine biology field (perhaps instructors or

professors at the Harte Research Center for example) or those with an extensive background in

marine care (such as workers at the state aquarium who have extreme experience, but no specific

degree associated with marine biology such as psychology or vet med graduates). I created this

flyer in hopes that those who are already advocates in the field also include whales in their

advocacy efforts, since few people think that whales are affected as negatively as other marine

species. I created this presentation in hopes that my writing can reach these groups, since an

audience is “the person or group whom you intend to reach with your writing” (Open Oregon

Educational Resources, N/A). I chose an informative flyer for the format of this genre. I chose

this since my intended audience is already knowledgeable in my field, I am able to include more

rigorous information to my graphic. “Knowing your audience means understanding what it is

that they want to know, what they are interested in, whether they agree with or oppose your

central arguments, and whether they are likely to find your subject matter useful” (Eppley, 1996;

Nordquist, 2018). (“Audience in Rhetoric and Composition - ThoughtCo”) Since my audience

already has prior knowledge on the overall topics I am presenting, this allows me to include

more in-depth research. This also allows for the audience to gain more new knowledge on the

subject compared to those outside of my discipline.

Lastly, the following will be a summary of the choices I made when creating my third

genre, catered to those in the general audience, and the justification behind those decisions. My

genre three audience will include those of the general audience. This could be those in my

discipline, those outside of it, those with prior knowledge or none at all, etc. I chose this

audience because it allows those with no prior knowledge or those with prior knowledge to

consume the same information. I have considered this type of knowledge a “managerial

audience.” “The "managerial audience may or may not have more knowledge than the lay

audience about the subject, but they need knowledge so they can make a decision about the

issue” (Reid et al., 1994-2013). (“Adapting to Your Audience - The WAC Clearinghouse”) I

created this informative social media page that is suggestively ran by a whale to creatively talk

about the negative impacts of human activities on these creatures. I created this presentation in

hopes that my writing can reach these groups, since an audience is “the person or group whom

you intend to reach with your writing” (Open Oregon Educational Resources, N/A). By doing

this type of creative advocacy, it can attract any generation, whether that be older people who use

Facebook to the younger generation who are attracted more to Instagram and Twitter. It can

reach a wide range of people and those people may have a wide range of opinions. “Writers must

have a clear sense of to whom they are writing (the audience) and what the audience’s values

and/or opinions related to the topic are” (Wray, 2008-2021). (“What to Think About When

Writing for a Particular Audience”)

 In conclusion, this project has given me insight into how to properly cater the

presentation of your information to your specific audience. It has also helped me learn how to

translate my research into different types of learning levels, for example I had to make sure that

the audience in my “Outside My Discipline” genre were able to fully understand my information

so I had to make it somewhat simpler to understand. Overall, this assignment has given me value

information that I will definitely be bringing into future classes, especially as a STEM major who

is most likely to focus on extensive research.