The Making Of The Troubles In Northern Ireland
This link posted above is an example of the style of writing I am doing. It’s a traditional research report that starts just as any research essay would- the introduction asking a thesis question and the body of the work breaking it down with different points per paragraph or per page. The advantage of this kind of writing is that it’s really self explanatory- you read the entire article and come away from it with more understanding on a topic than you did prior to reading this, However, this advantage leads directly into the disadvantage of this style of writing. I know this sounds confusing and maybe a little conflicting but my point is this: a lot of people don’t enjoy reading these kinds of reports unless it is something they are assigned to do or are genuinely very interested in, otherwise it may be boring and not something that many people would be interested in. I may be in. the minority in this, but my style of learning suits these kinds of research reports. I am sincerely into sitting in a three hour lecture where a professor goes on about sectarian divides developed between two groups of people over the years, and can sit there and take notes with a smile on my face the whole time. With that being said, I am going to have to direct my audience to something different than previously thought. My writing about how ethnic and cultural bias is effecting education is better suited for people that are studying the field, and not professors who are already inside the ranks of being educators.
As you proceed, then, make sure you consider the degree of background knowledge you expect that your readers will have. Do you expect them to understand some of the theory and vocabulary but not know much about the particular issue? You would provide a different degree of foundational info for them than if you presume them to have a lot of familiarity with the subject. It’s worth imagining yourself in a conversation with the audience–who do you imagine them to be? What do you expect of their attention span? of their interest in seeing your source material? of their facility with specialized language?