Decide who will be the audience you are addressing with your research paper. Decide what your rhetorical framework is, and then proceed to imagine your audience. Based on your definition of audiences age, education, gender, social class, race, ethnicity, profession, etc, you may need to consider such issues as: Who is the intended audience? What message does the author hope to convey? What historical/social/political situation does the author respond to? What are the authors purposes? What effects does the text have on the reader? What rhetorical strategies does the author use to establish her ethos/credibility and to appeal emotionally and/or logically to the reader? How do these strategies/textual features help the author deliver her message? How successfully does the author communicate her ideas to the reader?
