If your topic involves interpreting a scientific development or process to a non-specialist audience, simplify and analyze the topic in your own mind by brainstorming as many statements as possible under these categories:
Bouncing ideas means talking about your project to someone. The aim here is to listen to yourself talk about your task, so it is not important if your interlocutor is versed in your topic or not. In fact, some writers find that talking about their topic to someone who is a total outsider helps them to clarify issues. If you are having trouble solving a particular problem, talk about why you are having trouble. Variations on this method include talking to yourself or talking into a tape recorder, which has the advantage of capturing your thoughts exactly. Some people are most productive in generating and developing ideas when they can move around and create kinetic energy.
Journalists’ questions begin with what is known as the ‘5W’s and 1H’ interrogatives:
You can approach your task by listing as many journalists’ questions about your topic as you can. Questioning encourages you to look at a topic from many different perspectives, and may help you to narrow the issue that you are investigating. Journalists’ questions are especially useful when your task involves much factual information, because they actually force you to answer them by providing specifics rather than open-ended or ambiguous statements.
After analyzing your audience and determining the purpose and format of your document, it is time to think about the content. This is where researching and thinking come in. Depending on the audience and purpose, different types of research would be relevant. For example, you may decide that interviewing would supply you with essential facts; or you may decide that doing a historical research on a topic would be more suitable; or perhaps a combination of methods would help (more on research in the next chapter). Collecting facts, however, is not sufficient. You need to think about the significance of these facts and to interpret them. This is where your skills of analyzing ideas (tracing their constituent elements) and synthesizing them (evaluating their significance in a given context) come in. The process of generating ideas tests your capacity for critical and creative thinking: your ability to imagine all possible aspects or factors of a problem. Analytical thinkers do not simply arrive at the most obvious solution to a question; they test out a range of possible answers and keep an open mind. As happens with chaos theory, sometimes information that initially seemed irrelevant proves to be the key. To be able to trace analogies between seemingly disparate topics and to suggest innovative solutions are skills highly sought in corporate environments. In fact, at the cutting edge of many industries and business endeavors, you will find individuals who are not only highly motivated and organized, but also creative and versatile in their thinking. After analyzing your audience and determining the purpose and format of your document, it is time to think about the content. This is where researching and thinking come in. Depending on the audience and purpose, different types of research would be relevant. For example, you may decide that interviewing would supply you with essential facts; or you may decide that doing a historical research on a topic would be more suitable; or perhaps a combination of methods would help (more on research in the next chapter). Collecting facts, however, is not sufficient. You need to think about the significance of these facts and to interpret them. This is where your skills of analyzing ideas (tracing their constituent elements) and synthesizing them (evaluating their significance in a given context) come in. The process of generating ideas tests your capacity for critical and creative thinking: your ability to imagine all possible aspects or factors of a problem. Analytical thinkers do not simply arrive at the most obvious solution to a question; they test out a range of possible answers and keep an open mind. As appens with chaos theory, sometimes information that initially seemed irrelevant proves to be the key. To be able to trace analogies between seemingly disparate topics and to suggest innovative solutions are skills highly sought in corporate environments. In fact, at the cutting edge of many industries and business endeavors, you will find individuals who are not only highly motivated and organized, but also creative and versatile in their thinking.
Matters get complicated when a document has different levels of audience – primary, immediate and secondary – who have different interests and/or subject knowledge. Such cases make it difficult to imagine who you are writing to. A solution to this problem is to include a section that gives background and definitions of terminology for novices, and/or to include an appendix with more technical details for experts. This way you would be distributing information in a clearly marked and accessible way to the different groups of readers. Returning to the example of the article to the editor, you should include a letter with your article explaining to the editor your goals in writing the article, and justifying your content and stylistic choices (indeed article submissions are generally accompanied by a proposal). This way you address the editor’s concerns, and cater for your primary audience’s anticipated questions. These factors of audience analysis will become increasingly familiar and relevant as you progress through your writing experience.