Tone and Audience

1
Tone and Audience

• Class Four

2
Personal Essay

• Write a paragraph that explains the research that
  you have done this week
• Share what you have learned
• If there are any problems with your research,
  write them down

3
Audience Tone

• Tone is how you write your sentence
• It includes word choice
• Level of emotion in your writing
• If your sentences are smart, ironic, or serious,
  then that is because of the tone
• Audience is who you are writing to
• Your focus will change depending on who you talk
  to
• You will talk about different parts of your topic
  and explain your paper differently if you are
  talking to a Humanities student than if you are
  talking to a International Business professor

4
Tone

• What is imitation scholarship?
• Language that uses large words that dont
  actually say anything important
• Examples
• Sanitation Engineer (Janitor)
• Erudition Inculcator (Teacher)
• Attitudinal Realignment Mechanisms (Incentive
  Programs)
• The tone of the paper must professional while
  using the appropriate word in the appropriate
  place
• If you are not sure how to use a word, do not use
  it in your final paper until you do

5
Tone

• Readers are happiest when you write clearly,
  concisely, and with strong arguments
• Conversely, the reader is unhappy when you use a
  word just because it sounds like an important
  word, use more words to improve your page count,
  or use words that you do not fully
• Studies have proven that people that fill their
  papers with large words just to sound educated
  actually sound less educated

6
Tone

• Things to avoid
• Dont use writing that makes the reader feel like
  they are four years old
• Dont use writing that an educated reader will
  not understand
• It also means defining words that someone in your
  industry might not know
• Dont use an angry tone or write when angry
• Dont use sarcasm, irony, or exaggeration
• Dont shift the level of language that you use
  (i.e., small simple words and then change to
  large words)

7
Tone

• Ask yourself
• What do I want the reader to know?
• What is my emotional focus?
• Will my feelings on the subject hurt my
  objectivity?
• Will my feelings improve or hinder my writing?
• What is the best way to express my emotions on
  the written page?

8
Tone

• Study your word choice
• Know the differences between synonyms/homonyms
• Know the emotional impact of words
• Abstract value words tend to have more emotional
  impact than concrete words
• Use the right word at the right time

9
Audience

• The use of pronouns in academic papers
• Do not use the pronouns I, you, or we
• The person reading the paper can be referred to
  as the reader, but this should happen only
  rarely
• If you must refer to yourself in the paper, then
  write this author

10
Audience

• Once upon a time all academic papers used he or
  his when the author was referring to people in
  general
• For example, A therapist who is too much like
  his client can lose his objectivity.
• Alternate between he and she as well as his
  and her
• Or you can simply use she or her

11
Audience

• You must keep in mind that there are two main
  types of readers
• The educated reader
• A reader that is familiar with your discipline
• The interested reader
• A reader that does not know a lot about your
  discipline but wants to learn more
• You have to find a balance between the two types
  of readers

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Audience

• Points to keep in mind
• If you use an acronym, write out the full set of
  words and put the acronym in parenthesis
• After the acronym has been explained once, use
  the acronym after that
• For example, Accounts Payable (AP) or Management
  Information Systems (MIS)
• If there is a term, a theory, or a concept that
  you think that an interested reader might not
  know, consider putting a short explanation in the
  text

13
Activity

• Work in groups
• Complete the grammar worksheets
• We will cover the answers in class

14
Activity

• One paragraph to six sentences
• Write about something funny that happened to you
• What were you doing?
• Who was involved?
• What happened?
• Why was it funny?

15
Activity

• Look again at your funny story
• Now change the point of view
• Imagine that a person who is sad is watching the
  event
• Write the story again from the sad persons point
  of view
• Will you use the same words?
• What will change?