Who Is the User? Researching Audiences for Technical Documents

Emma J. Rose

Volume 6

Chapter Description

When I think about what makes a good technical document, I’m reminded of Janice (Ginny) Redish’s explanation.1 Redish defines a successful document as one that helps the intended audience find what they need, understand what they find, use that information to accomplish a task and do that in the time and effort they are willing to spend. Makes a lot of sense, right? But how do we learn about the needs of our intended audiences and how can we be sure that the information we produce meets their needs? In this chapter, you will learn about how to research your audience and use that information to help create or improve a technical document.

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