In order for students to write for a general audience, they must be able to address unknown readers. Research into how successful writers perceive their audience suggests that they write to an audience who is an idealized version of themselves. Writing for an unknown audience can be a writer's search for common ground, for a set of beliefs and…

To address the questions of whether writers create their audiences and, if so, how, a case study of three skilled student writers sought to elicit the students' tacitly held knowledge about composing and audience. The students wrote an essay that they were told would be published in a campus anthology, and then responded to questions in taped…

A writer's audience may sometimes be actual readers (real individuals) or implied readers (the reader role the text imposes). Intended readers are individuals the writer expects will actually read the text while the addressed readers are those to whom the writer directs his or her comments--an important distinction in academic writing. For…

Discusses the possibility that a writer's audience may be more malleable than it is normally assumed to be and describes how one researcher worked with several advanced college writers to learn more about the dynamics of their composing processes. Suggests that the use of these writing strategies may benefit both teachers and students. (JD)