WritingProcess-Preparing

Step 1 — Preparing

The first and most critical step of the Writing Process. Everything written before a single sentence of the actual document. Skipping this step produces writing that ignores the audience, strays off-topic, and fails to achieve its purpose.

Part of: ADMN 233 — The Writing Process

graph TD
    PR[Preparing] --> S[1. Scope the message]
    PR --> A[2. Target your audience]
    PR --> G[3. Determine the goal]
    PR --> I[4. Generate ideas]

    S --> S1[Deadlines / word limits]
    S --> S2[Medium choice]
    S --> S3[Legal / org constraints]

    A --> A1[Demographics]
    A --> A2[Psychographics]
    A --> A3[You focus]

    G --> G1[Inform]
    G --> G2[Persuade]
    G --> G3[Train]
    G --> G4[Engage]
    G --> G5[Promote Goodwill]

    I --> I1[Research]
    I --> I2[Brainstorm / freewrite]

The Four Sub-Steps

1. Scoping the Message

Define the parameters of the writing task before you start. Does not need to take long, but prevents wasted effort and missed milestones.

Scoping parameters include:

• Deadlines — when is it due?
• Medium — email, print, video, report? If you have a choice, select based on cost, speed, response mechanism, and audience preference
• Word / page limit
• Legal or organizational rules — what topics can and cannot be covered
• Review process — who approves before it goes out?
• Constraints — budget, access to resources

Example: Delivering a layoff notice via email is easier for you but damaging to the employee. Medium choice is a scoping decision.

2. Targeting Your Audience

Definition: Anyone who receives your communication — readers, listeners, viewers, users.

You analyze your audience to determine:

• Which subjects and points to include or omit
• Ideal tone and writing level
• Sensitive subjects to handle carefully
• Personalization techniques
• Channel choice

Two dimensions of audience analysis:

Type	What it covers
Demographics	Age, gender, occupation, education, income, culture, religion, family status
Psychographics	Values, beliefs, interests, hobbies, likes

“You” focus: Professional writing serves the reader’s interests, not the writer’s. Write about the benefits to them, not about what’s convenient for you. Adapt vocabulary and sentence complexity to the audience.

Trap: Don’t stereotype, condescend, or offend based on oversimplified targeting. Use what’s relevant; omit what isn’t.

3. Determining the Message’s Goal

Every message should have ONE overarching goal. Multiple competing goals confuse the audience and dilute impact. If you genuinely have two goals, they should be clearly prioritized (primary + secondary). More than two goals: split into separate messages.

The 5 Communication Goals:

Goal	Purpose
Inform	Disseminate facts, findings, data; share new information
Persuade	Convince someone to follow your recommendations or act in a certain way
Train	Add to skillsets or knowledge; instruct on how to do something
Engage	Attract interest, invite participation or collaboration
Promote Goodwill	Build friendly, cooperative attitudes; build brand image

Knowing your goal drives decisions about style, medium, and direct vs. indirect approach.

See CommunicationGoals for deeper coverage.

4. Generating Ideas

Two components:

Research — If the topic is unfamiliar, research it first. Sources include:

• Printed / online material
• Interviews, surveys, observation
• Prior related communications (look for templates, effective styles, issues to build on)
• Organizational data (customer feedback, media analytics)

Ideation (brainstorming) — Once knowledgeable, generate ideas freely:

• Freewriting — stream of consciousness; write without stopping
• Cluster diagraming — visual grouping of related ideas
• Mind mapping — hierarchical branching of ideas

Key rule: postpone judgment. Get everything out first — good, bad, practical, outrageous. Editing too early blocks the flow.

Key Points for Exam/Study

• Preparing has exactly 4 sub-steps: scope, audience, goal, ideas
• “You” focus = write for the reader’s benefit, not your own
• Demographics = observable facts; Psychographics = values and beliefs
• ONE overarching goal per message; two is a maximum, three is almost never right
• The 5 goals: Inform, Persuade, Train, Engage, Promote Goodwill
• Brainstorming rule: suspend judgment, generate quantity first

Cross-Course Connections

AudienceAnalysis — full deep-dive on audience analysis
CommunicationGoals — full deep-dive on the 5 goals
AudienceAnalysis-Argumentation — audience analysis in writing ↔ audience-aware argumentation in PHIL 252