1. Audience awareness
1) Who is the audience? (Immediate/primary audience and Secondary audience)
2) Is the audience's needs and interest properly addressed in this writing? In other words, is all the requested information provided successfully? If there is any missing/redundant information, describe what it is.
Tip: Read the (professor's) writing prompt's "content instructions" section to learn what kinds of information the audience requested.
3) Are there appropriate amount of details about the subject that the audience needs? In other words, did the author successfully show awareness of the audience’s previous knowledge on the subject? If the amount of details in certain part seem inadequate based on the audience’s previous knowledge assumed, what would you recommend the author to do?
Tip: Note that at the end of the writing prompt, the professor writes, "the reader (me) knows what has transpired in the case; thus, reiterating information clearly stated in the case is not satisfactory. Please use facts and descriptive data sparingly, and only when it is relevant to your point and would bolster your case".
4) Are other alternative options and actions (options that are different from the author’s) effectively addressed? In other words, did the author sucessfully show his/her awareness of the audience’s potential objections by addressing other alternatives? If there is no such evidence in writing, what would you recommend to the author?
Tip: the audience may question why other alternative solutions (alternative recommendations) wouldn't work. For example, if the recommended marketing strategy for Heineken is "global standardization of its brand", the author should explain why other marketing strategies such as lowering the price or other sales promotions are not good options.
Note: The guiding questions above are mostly focused on meeting the intended audience’s expectations on the content of the writing. The audience awareness also influences the language (style and tone) and formatting of a writing. However, these issues will be addressed in other guiding questions.
1) Who is the audience? (Immediate/primary audience and Secondary audience)
2) Is the audience's needs and interest properly addressed in this writing? In other words, is all the requested information provided successfully? If there is any missing/redundant information, describe what it is.
Tip: Read the (professor's) writing prompt's "content instructions" section to learn what kinds of information the audience requested.
3) Are there appropriate amount of details about the subject that the audience needs? In other words, did the author successfully show awareness of the audience’s previous knowledge on the subject? If the amount of details in certain part seem inadequate based on the audience’s previous knowledge assumed, what would you recommend the author to do?
Tip: Note that at the end of the writing prompt, the professor writes, "the reader (me) knows what has transpired in the case; thus, reiterating information clearly stated in the case is not satisfactory. Please use facts and descriptive data sparingly, and only when it is relevant to your point and would bolster your case".
4) Are other alternative options and actions (options that are different from the author’s) effectively addressed? In other words, did the author sucessfully show his/her awareness of the audience’s potential objections by addressing other alternatives? If there is no such evidence in writing, what would you recommend to the author?
Tip: the audience may question why other alternative solutions (alternative recommendations) wouldn't work. For example, if the recommended marketing strategy for Heineken is "global standardization of its brand", the author should explain why other marketing strategies such as lowering the price or other sales promotions are not good options.
Note: The guiding questions above are mostly focused on meeting the intended audience’s expectations on the content of the writing. The audience awareness also influences the language (style and tone) and formatting of a writing. However, these issues will be addressed in other guiding questions.
- Can you identify the purpose(s) of this paper as one of the following?
- Problem essay - defines and diagnoses a problem with proof of causes and suggested improvements
- Decision essay - recommends a decision with description/critique of several decision options
- Evaluation essay - provides a bottom-line evaluation of a case with description of evaluation criteria
- Was this purpose achieved successfully with all necessary elements of the writing? Why or why not?
- What do you think is the thesis/position statement of this paper?
- Does the statement satisfy all four criteria: specific, focused, offers original perspective, and has a clear position? If not, what needs to be improved?
- Does the statement also helps the reader predict the scope (main agenda for an argument), purpose, and direction of the paper, summarizing the conclusions that the writer has reached about the topic?
- What do you think is the problem statement of this paper?
- Does this problem consider the 5W's: Who, what, when, where and why? If not, what needs to be explained more so that the problem statement is focused, specific and clear?
- Is writing organized coherently, using old/new information and word chains, which makes it easy for the audience to follow? Does the information flow smoothly? If not, which part needs to be revised and how?
- Tone: 1) What degree of formality was expected by the audience? 2) How is this similar / different from what you previously learned about business tone in this course? 3) Is this tone of language used consistently throughout the paper? 4) Is there any place where inappropriate tone/style of language used? If so, how would you revise it?
- Conciseness: 1) What degree of conciseness and clarity is expected by the audience? 2) How successfully was this expectation met? 3) Based on what you learned about strategies for achieving conciseness in writing (i.e. avoiding repetition, wordiness, and eliminating dead-weight phrases), is there any place where the conciseness of the language can be improved?
