Dissertation Success Keys - Writing to Your Audience

As you begin the preparations for your dissertation, it is important to keep in mind who your audience is going to be. Your target audience will greatly affect the style and quality of your work.

On the opposite ends of the audience spectrum are the audience who knows nothing about the topic you are writing about and your dissertation advisor and review panel who probably know a great deal on the topic. Too many students write towards the low end of this spectrum, wanting to be understood by a majority of readers but forgetting that it is primarily people equal to their own education level who will actually be reading the document. When preparing a dissertation, it is more desirable to aim higher on the spectrum, though not so high that a reviewer outside your field will be lost when trying to read your dissertation.

The question is, how do you objectively judge the quality of writing regarding a document you have written yourself?

Using Readability Measurements

As an example, let us examine the introduction to this paper. Putting the above paragraphs through a readability analysis (one of which is located at http://www.online-utility.org/english/readability_test_and_improve.jsp), we find its scores to run 10.79 to 16.30, depending upon which test you prefer.

The site mentioned supplies five different scales: Gunning Fog index, Coleman Liau index, Flesh Kincaid Grade level, Automated Readability Index and SMOG. My personal preference is to take the five numbers generated and average them. In this case, this gives the introduction to this paper a grade rating of 14.00, meaning to understand the introduction on first reading, one would need to be at least a second year college student. Another matter to consider regarding audience awareness is the knowledge of your audience, meaning the level to which they are familiar with your topic. Since you do not necessarily know the one reading is from your particular discipline, it is important to define discipline specific vocabulary and concepts for those from outside your discipline.

Understanding the Ten Rules of Audience Awareness

Fundamentally, there are ten basic rules for audience awareness and respect, as defined by Jennifer Jordan-Henley in her report “Tone and Audience Awareness” (found August 26th, 2008 at http://www.rscc.cc.tn.us/owl&writingcenter/OWL/Tone.html).

• Talk to your audience, not down at them. This is condescending and will not be appreciated by your audience.
• Keep in mind the knowledge and experience level of your audience. Using discipline or industry jargon that has not been previously defined can frustrate your audience’s attempt to understand what is being talked about.
• Keep tabs on your emotions. Try not to write when excessively tired, upset or angry. It will show in the quality of your writing.
• Avoid drawing conclusions to which the evidence is weak or non-existent. This is insulting the reader's intelligence and will be unlikely to be overlooked.
• Avoid trying to push your philosophy or interpretations onto your audience, particularly on matters already settled or generally accepted. The proverbial preaching to the choir is a waste of your readers time, not to mention your own.
• Watch the use of sarcasm, irony, exaggeration or unsuitable humor. This tends to undermine the opinion of your audience regarding the quality of your document.
• Avoid using cute or information words. Dissertations, for the most part, are very serious documents and should be treated as such.
• Although your dissertation may be an opinion and idea document, avoid being too aggressive or opinionated. Present your argument and allow your audience to draw its own conclusion. I am not saying do not present your view or evaluation of your topic, but present it and let the audience judge the merits of your position for themselves.
• Avoid buttering up the reader by being insincere. Dissertation reviewers are well aware of their own knowledge and qualifications. Using phrases such as “as anyone can see” or “as is commonly known” can appear to violate this rule as can using complex words or long, elaborate sentences. Never think you know more about a topic than your audience.
• Avoid using the reader as a sounding board or complaint department. They are reading your dissertation to learn something, either new knowledge or your view on a given topic. You are not seeking their opinion, at least not directly, nor should your paper sound like a written whining session on your topic.

By keeping these rules in mind, your paper will seem more respectful to your audience and will, hopefully, be favorably received by the review panel.

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