The Extended Definition for Two Audiences

Assignment:

Select a technical term from your major ( what is poverty, define in your own way for general audience and for expertise audience, kinds of poverty, reasons of poverty and difference between poverty in urban and rural areas,and how to overcome it? and write two definitions of it, one for a lay (general) audience and one for a knowledgeable audience.  For the lay audience, assume that your readers have a basic, well-rounded education, but no special knowledge of your field, except what they have been able to pick up from such sources as the popular press.  For the knowledgeable audience, you should address fellow students in your field of study (or hobby, or club, or other group); they already have some familiarity with your subject, so they will be comfortable with terminology and more advanced discussions of your chosen term.  (If you wish to address a different knowledgeable audience that you feel is more appropriate, please contact me first.)

It should be clear that neither of these is to be a standard “dictionary definition” of a phrase or two.  (In fact, do not use the dictionary to create your definition.)  Rather, you will be explaining the term, how and in what context it is used, and, in some detail, what it refers to. Therefore, you must present your information clearly and logically for the audience it is intended for.  You may make use of whatever background information your readers can reasonably be assumed to have, but you must make sure that a correct understanding of the material does not rely on their knowing something that they may very well not know.  In other words, if your definition relies heavily on the readers’ understanding of some additional material, make sure you explain that material unless it is common knowledge for those readers. 

Each definition should include at least two (2) of the following:  graphics, examples, partition, principle of operation, comparison and contrast, analogy, negation, etymology, and history of the term.  Be sure to include a clear sentence definition for each audience (see textbook for more on sentence definitions). 

And at least some part of your definition should give your readers a reason for wanting to know what you are telling them (i.e. you must establish exigence for your paper).

Length

4 pages