Situation Analysis Worksheet
Business and technical writers need to be aware of the audience, purpose, writer, and design
when composing and publishing technical documents. Use the following worksheet to
brainstorm important factors that influence how documents are written. Writers who reflect on
their writing situation before writing are more successful and efficient than those who don’t. As
you become more familiar with the worksheet, it will take less time and energy to complete
Preliminary Considerations
Writer’s name, title:
Record your answers inside these boxes
Department, project number or name:
Subject/Assignment:
Audience
1. Who the primary audience(s) for this document?
Be specific. If you are writing for an individual within an organization provide a name and title.
Should the document be for a broader audience, what assumptions can you make about the
audience? Who are they?
2. What level of technical knowledge or expertise about the subject will the primary
reader(s) have? Is the reader an unfamiliar novice or informed expert in the subject that you are
writing about? Will you need to write a highly technical document, a semi-technical document,
or a non-technical document?
3. What preconceptions will the primary audience(s) have?
Are there any preconceptions that you can identify? What preconceptions that you can infer
from you knowledge with the primary audience? How will the preconceptions influence the
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Situation Analysis Worksheet
reader(s)? Will they be resistant to the information contained in the text? Will they
agree/disagree with the information provided?
4. Are there any cultural considerations that the writer needs to consider?
The WWW and advances in communication technologies has made the business environment in
the new millennium global. How likely is it that someone from another country will read the
document? Do you need to tailor the content to accommodate a worldwide audience? Do you
need to at least acknowledge that this document will be read by a international audience?
5. Who else will read the document?
You must assume that others, besides the primary reader(s) will have access to the document.
Consider your "supplementary" or “secondary” audience. Who might that be, and why would
they be reading the document as a secondary reader? For example, the company’s lawyer may
need to review your response to a client.
8. What is their level of knowledge or expertise?
9. What assumptions and/or preconceptions will supplementary readers have?
Purpose and Intended Use(s)
1. What is the main purpose that this document is intended to accomplish?
Do you wish to convey information? Are you seeking to inform the reader(s)? Instruct them in a
policy, method of operation, and/or a procedure? Are you offering a solution to a problem or
concern?
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Situation Analysis Worksheet
2. What are the secondary, tertiary, etc. purpose(s) of this document?
You may identify and explain any other purpose(s) that you have or that you wish to accomplish
with this document. What else do you hope to achieve with this text? Don’t forget about the
important purposes of maintaining positive relations and creating a legally binding record.
3. What information and/or content does the audience expect to find in the document?
Another way of approaching this question is to consider what the primary reader(s) are
expecting to find in the document. Have you provided the necessary information and/or content
required by the audience?
4. How will the audience use the document?
What are the identifiable uses of the contents of the document? Having an understanding of how
the audience will use the document will help you to compose an effective (i.e., useful to the
reader) document. Will users rely on the information to build something, buy something, act
differently, avoid harm or death, etc.?
5. What is the best way to organize the information in the document?
Given the purpose and audience’s intended use, how should you organize the document? Should
your organization be direct or indirect? You could sketch a preliminary outline here.
The Writer
1. What is your relationship to the primary reader(s)?
Defining and expressing the relationship between writer and reader(s) is important since this
will influence much of the information in a document. Is the primary audience your teacher,
manager, employee, client, etc.? What are you to your audience: superior, subordinate, friend,
enemy, etc.?
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Situation Analysis Worksheet
2. Given your audience and purpose, what tone should you adopt to convey your message?
In general, your tone should always be professional and sincere, but are any other moods
appropriate, such as humility to admit a mistake, or courtesy to welcome a new employee, etc.
You should generally avoid hostile or arrogant tones.
3. Given your audience and purpose, what level of vocabulary should you employ?
Unless you are on a first-name speaking basis with your reader, assume a more formal style of
language use. Should you avoid jargon, slang, or colloquialisms (conversational style)? Should
you use first-person (“I”) and second-person (“you”) or should your voice be in the more
traditional third-person (“they” or “it”)? Are there any concepts or ideas to your message that
may have to be defined or clarified depending on your audience’s technical background
knowledge? For each term that needs clarification, what level of definition should be used?
4. Are there any political or ethical considerations?
Do you risk “stepping on anyone’s toes” with your message? For instance, how will you report
a costly error to your company, during your first assignment at work? How will your message
impact others, negatively or positively? Are there any financial, legal, or ethical factors related
to your message that you should consider? How should you adjust your message?
Design
1. What are the specific design components that are required to effectively complete the
document?
This focuses on the issues of the use of a required template or format, type style, font size,
inclusion of charts, graphs, illustrations or other visuals. Are you required to follow a specified
format? Are there any complex ideas that could be clarified through the use of tables or charts,
e.g., numbers, instructions, systems, or specifications?
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Situation Analysis Worksheet
2. Are there additional design considerations that will influence the
production/composition of the document?
3. When is this document due? Are there any other deadlines (drafts etc.) that you need to
consider?
List the exact days, dates and times.
Notes
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