Audience

Overview and research

Probably the most important quality of good writing is being aware of the audience:

"In one way or another all authoring involves you in constantly managing readers' expectations and recognizing that different people in the readership will have different perspectives on your text" (Dunleavy, 2003 p. 12).

Not only will different people view the text differently, different texts will attract different readers. Helping candidates to appreciate these variations is a critical role for supervisors. In addition, there are different types of expectation relating to expectations of academic writing e.g. forms of citation and referencing, as well as discipline expectation. assisting candidates to appreciate these variations can be complex.

In most cases candidates will be involved in communicating their research through the following means:

Seminar and conference papers and presentations

Journal articles: either those in top tier refereed journals or in the more popular discipline-related magazines and publications

The dissertation with generally only a few readers, mainly the examiners

A book, based on the dissertation

Furthermore, for many candidates there will be a progression from communicating their research through seminar and conference presentations, through to journal articles, and then the dissertation, and in some disciplines, culminating in a book.

For each of these communication means the readership will be different and have different expectations.

The above text was based on the following research:

Craswell, G. (2005) Writing for academic success: A postgraduate guide, London, Sage.

Dunleavy, P. (2003). Authoring a PhD: How to plan, draft, write and finish a Doctoral thesis or dissertation. Hamps: Palgrave Macmillan.

Ideas and tools

ANU information

The Academic Skills and Learning Centre has a staff member specialising in research student assistance.

The Centre for Public Awareness of Science has workshops and staff members specialising in science communication. 

For College-specific information contact:

Currently ANU colleges are compiling information for identifying and tailoring communication to a specific audience. In the meantime, contact the College Associate Dean (HDR) for more general college information.