Forum Analysis

Look over the forum you have identified as a target for your next publication. Remember that a forum can be a magazine, newspaper, bill board, radio station, web page, blog, brochure, newsletter, etc., so some of these questions may not apply to your forum.

Answer the following about your forum:

• Identify the forum by name and organizational affiliation.
• Is there an expressed editorial policy, philosophy, or expression of belief? What purpose does the forum serve? Why does it exist?
• How large is the forum? Who are its members/readers? Its leaders (or people it values)?
• What kind of people speak/write in this forum? What are their credentials? Academic or professional background?
• Who are the most important figures in this forum?
• What are the characteristics of the assumed audience?
• What are the audience's needs assumed to be? To what use(s) is the audience expected to put the information you will provide in your globally revised draft?
• Why do people in this field write (to entertain, persuade, educate, discuss, inform, present research findings, question earlier studies, add to those earlier studies)?
• What are the beliefs, attitudes, values, prejudices of the addressed audience?
• What might their education level be? How do you know this?
• What types of discourse does the forum admit (articles, reviews, speeches, poems)? How long are these discourses (approximately)?
• What documentation form is used (for sources)? MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian, CBE?
• What specialized language is used (Jargon, technical terms, formal or standard English, slang)?
• Do writers assume their readers will know certain things (like names of people in the field, important events, works, movements)? how much background information would you need to fully engage in a conversation with these readers/writers?
• What stances do the writers take relative to the audience (describe the relationship between writer and audience)? Why?
• What voice is used here (1st, 2nd, 3rd person)? Why?
• Is this article written in passive (an experiment was conducted) or active voice (we conducted an experiment)? Why?
• Are there graphs, pictures, drop quotes, introductory summaries, short biographies of the writers, end notes, footnotes, works cited pages?
• Is there anything else you will need to take into consideration as you revise for this audience/forum?