5f Consider other elements of the writing context.
After you have chosen a topic, shaped a message, and analyzed your purpose, stance, and audience in relation to your message, you still have other important decisions to make about the text you are developing.
Time and length
- How much time do you have to complete the text? Do you need to schedule research? Do you need to find or create images or media content? Be sure to allow time for revision and editing.
- How long is the finished draft of the writing supposed to be? If you are writing a presentation, what time limits do you face for delivering it? If you are creating a work for the public, how much time can you expect the audience to devote to your work?
Genre, medium, and format
You may be assigned—or able to choose—to work in genres other than straightforward essays or in a medium other than print.
- What genre does your text call for—report? review? argument essay? research project? letter? blog posting? instructions for completing a task? promotional brochure? If you aren’t familiar with the conventions of the genre, study examples created by others.
- What format or method of organization is expected for this genre? (See Chapter 7.) Should you conform to traditional formats, or will you gain from going in an unexpected direction?
- In what medium will the text appear—on the Internet? on a password-protected Web site? in a print essay submitted to your instructor? in a spoken presentation? Will your text use images, video, or audio? How will the media you use affect other choices you make?
- What design considerations should you keep in mind? (See Chapter 9.)
Attitude and Point of View in Visuals
AT A GLANCE
Images you choose to include in your work can help establish your credibility, but they always have a point of view and tone of their own. The postcard below, for instance, shows two physical perspectives—a photograph of a highway bridge and a road map showing its location—as well as a time perspective, from 1927, when the bridge was new. Images also reveal attitudes: this one, with the caption “America’s Greatest Highway Bridge,” sees the construction of the bridge as a triumph of technology, but the image might also convey nostalgia if readers know that the bridge became structurally unsound and had to be demolished in the 1970s. So when you choose an image, think hard about how well it fits in with your topic and purpose. What is the image’s perspective and attitude—and do they serve the purpose of your writing?
Tone and style
- What tone do you want to achieve—humorous? serious? impassioned? ironic? sincere? deeply knowledgeable?
- What words, sentence structures, and images or media will help you achieve this tone?
- Is the tone of the writing appropriate to your audience, purpose, and message? Do the words, images, or sounds you choose have the connotations you intend?
Remember that visual and audio elements can influence the tone of your writing as much as the words you choose. Such elements create associations in viewers’ minds: one audience may react more positively than another to an element such as a rap or heavy metal soundtrack, for example—and a presentation with a heavy metal accompaniment will make a far different impression than the same presentation with an easy-listening soundtrack. Writers can influence the way their work is perceived by carefully analyzing their audience and choosing audio and visual elements that set a mood appropriate to the point they want to make.