Suggested Response to “Reporting on the Audience and Purpose of a Website”

WebMonkey is a clear and useful site, full of information for people who create websites. The writing tone is very casual, and the color schemes and design suggest a youthful audience. However, the information is comprehensive and clear.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research site contains clear links (“Our Role & Impact,” “Understanding Parkinson’s,” etc.) at the top of the page and effectively addresses its different audiences: patients, caregivers, researchers, donors, and even fans of the actor. The writing style, graphics, and color schemes are understated and professional, suggesting a more mature audience than that of the WebMonkey site.

The Ford site is clearly organized to help users research Ford vehicles, buy one, or maintain one. The site uses as little text as possible, instead using forms to help readers get the information they seek.

The World Wide Web Consortium site contains many thousands of pages of technical information. The purpose of the site is to present vast quantities of technical information, so the emphasis is on clearly organized text, with very few graphics.

The FOX Network site is a commercial site aimed, presumably, at young people. It contains a tremendous number of links on the home page to help readers find the item they want. But the site also contains numerous thumbnail photos of celebrities to catch the eye of viewers who prefer looking for images rather than reading links. The site contains many animations and striking color combinations.

Suggested Response to “Identifying the Audience and Purpose of Professional Publications”

Responses will vary, but successful responses will cite specific points from Chapter 4 in discussing each publication’s audience and purpose and how they affect content, design, and writing style.

Suggested Response to “Analyzing the Audience and Purpose of a Website”

Responses will vary depending on the site students are studying. Most sites will have standard sections, such as “For Prospective Students”; however, the particular techniques used by the writers will be specific to your school. For example, academically prestigious schools tend to include stories about major research centers or influential faculty; other schools might include more photographs showing the campus and the students.

Suggested Response to “Using Audience Profile Sheets”

Responses will vary. This exercise is a good opportunity to help students start to understand you, their instructor, as an audience for their writing. Understanding you as a reader will help students better communicate with you.

Suggested Response to “Interviewing a Student from Another Culture”

Responses will vary. Since the respondent may not be able to comment much on one specific topic, suggest that students choose two to three topics for the interview and then report on just one. Finally, many students will appreciate some instruction on interviewing techniques (see Chapter 5).

Suggested Response to “Analyzing Techniques Used in a Fund-Raising Letter”

Although responses will vary, successful responses will go beyond mere descriptions of the letter and instead use concepts from the chapter to examine the persuasive tactics. They will also consider not only the text, but also the design and graphics of the letter, and will use examples from the letter to support the student’s claims.

Suggested Response to “Two Audiences, One Subject”

Although responses will vary, successful ones will demonstrate the writers’ understanding of audience and purpose. In addition, they will use concepts from the chapter to characterize and describe the analyses and to speculate on the differences in analysis. Finally, successful responses will comment on several points of agreement and disagreement in the students’ analyses.

Suggested Response to “Analyzing and Contrasting Two Audiences”

Although responses will vary, successful responses will characterize audiences using a number of factors discussed in the chapter. They will offer a detailed description of the audience, going beyond brief descriptions such as “soccer moms” or “construction workers.” Finally, they will identify hidden persuaders and use them as evidence for their claims about the two audiences. Less-successful responses will focus almost exclusively on describing the ads.

Suggested Response to “Writing an Information Booklet”

This case gives students an opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned about audience and purpose in Chapter 4. Working in groups, students should start by defining their own audience and purpose. The audience for this booklet should be easy to define and describe: students considering a study-abroad experience. The purpose of the booklet is also easy to state: to help students learn about the country they are considering for their study-abroad experience.

Students should find the research manageable; there are many sources on the Internet that present the kinds of information called for in the case. You might recommend that students try to seek out a student on their own campus from the country they are writing about and ask him or her to review a draft of the booklet for accuracy.

Successful responses will use a variety of current print and online materials. The guide’s design and organization will reflect the group’s understanding of the readers’ education, study-abroad experience, motivation for studying abroad, personal characteristics, personal preferences, and cultural characteristics. Finally, sources will be cited properly.

Suggested Response to “Making a Question-and-Answer Sheet”

Sample question-and-answer sheet:

Facts About Sexual Harassment

Q. What is sexual harassment?

A. Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Sexual harassment occurs when the harasser’s actions affect the victim’s job, interfere with the victim’s work performance, or create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.

Q. What are some examples of this conduct?

A. Some examples are unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.

Q. Does the conduct have to come from a man to be sexual harassment? Does the victim have to be a woman?

A. No, the victim as well as the harasser may be a woman or a man. The victim does not have to be of the opposite sex from the harasser.

Q. Is the harasser necessarily the victim’s supervisor?

A. No, the harasser can be any employee or even a nonemployee.

Q. Is the victim necessarily the person harassed?

A. No, the victim can be anyone affected by the offensive conduct.

Q. Does the victim have to have suffered economic injury?

A. No, sexual harassment may occur without hurting the victim’s job status. The victim need not be fired for harassment to have occurred.

Q. What should a victim do to stop the harassment?

A. The victim should tell the harasser that the conduct is unwelcome and must stop. The victim should use any employer complaint procedure or grievance system available.

Q. How can employers help prevent sexual harassment?

A. Employers should clearly communicate to employees that sexual harassment will not be tolerated. They can do so by establishing an effective complaint or grievance process and taking immediate action when an employee complains.

Q. How does the EEOC investigate charges of sexual harassment?

A. The EEOC looks at the nature of the sexual advances and the situations in which the alleged incidents occurred. The EEOC treats each case separately.

Suggested Response to “Planning an Apology to a Customer from the People’s Republic of China”

1. Sample set of questions:

Interview Questions for Jun Xiaoyan

2. Sample letter of apology with questions: