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Assignment 6 Polishing Ideas: The Canon of Style (Lesson 13) In an essay of 400 words, explain how you would adapt for a general audience a piece of technical or specialized writing (from an academic subject, professional field, or specific interest publication). Discuss specifically how you would determine choices of vocabulary, sentence length, and sentence structure in making this adaptation. When adapting a special interest paper I first have to determine my new audience. In determining my audience I know how much to convert the paper for the intended reader.
In adapting a specialized writing for a general audience I am making the complex simple, more readable. In making these changes I increased the power of my writing by reaching more readers rather than limiting it to a specialized group. The vocabulary choice is the major factor in adapting from specialized to general audience. Simplifying the vocabulary I use makes the writing more effective. The use of simple vocabulary will keep the message clear and hold the readers attention. More complicated vocabulary will lose the readers interest. I will use common words as much as possible in order to limit the use of specialized terminology.
Specialized terminology can easily frustrate the general audience and cause them to lose interest. Specialized terms are only effective with a specialized audience. These terms distance the general audience from the writer. Another change is my use of informal speech rather then formal. Informal speech will keep my audience relaxed and interested. The tool of informal speech dissolves any barriers between the writer and the reader, making them equal. My use of simple verbs rather than complicated to describe actions will keep my point clear.
Short, simple, common words will make my writing easier to read and more concise. With this sentence structure ideas can be grouped in paragraphs of three to five sentences. To describe specific details I will use specific sensory language to avoid generalizing. My readers will have a clear picture of what I am describing. I want the reader to get the most meaning without having to do a lot of reading. In making these changes in vocabulary, sentence length, and sentence structure the general audience will have a better understanding of the specialized subject matter.