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"Thinking about what my audience is when writing papers has definitely improved my writing. I've found that thinking about what audience I'm writing for helps me to focus my thoughts before I start my paper as well as while I'm writing it. This is such a good thing! I've always had trouble focusing papers so that they have coherent organization, and thinking about my audience has helped me so much. I've found that sometimes I get so caught up in writing that I forget who I am talking to, and so it's been really helpful for me to read back through what I've written and edit it to fit my audience. I've started to think about my audience while writing papers for other classes too…For example, I was writing a French paper recently and I had this whole huge long paragraph that basically restated the story line of the book I was writing about, so that I could go from there and discuss the ending. But then I was thinking do I really need all this? And I realized that no, I didn't, because my audience was my professor, and she already knew what the story line was. I've heard some people complain that some writing classes don't really teach you how to write, but your telling us to focus on our audience has definitely improved my writing skills."

Michelle seems to accept the important of keeping one's audience always in mind, but isn't sure how her paper would really work with an actual audience. This shows the weakness of the "canned" audience assigned by the instructor:

"In devising an appropriate writing style that would cater to the needs of the audience, namely, bright high school students who have little background knowledge of U.S. v. Nixon, I tried to place myself in their shoes. I endeavored to use simple writing in my paper, and made sure that all legal terms were clearly defined. To ensure that my paper was coherent and easy to understand, I reread the paper each time I finished a paragraph, then asked my friends and a writing tutor to read it. It did not seem particularly difficult to adjust my writing for a theoretical audience outside of the class, but then again, I have yet to find out how well my paper communicates."

One of the great benefits of forcing students to think long and hard about their audience, is the resulting decrease in the number of words devoted to simple summary or rehashing of the legal opinion (in Supreme Court Watchers) or the film in the Law, Literature and Film course). Karen reflects on this point in her portfolio memorandum:

"I probably learned the most in this class from the work that we did writing for a specific audience. I have never really…thought about whom I should write for. With most of my papers, I assumed that the audience would be the teacher, and maybe also my classmates. I found the Inherit the Wind essay particularly difficult to write, because my audience had not seen the film [essay assignment]. When I read a paper about a book or film that I know nothing about, I like to have a lot of background material/ Therefore, I included a fairly detailed summary of the movie in my essay. I now realize that because the paper was so short, I had too much plot summary. At the same time, I found it almost impossible to decide what to cut out when I edited my rough draft. Looking back over this semester, I probably should have tried to write another paper for an audience who had not seen the film that I wrote about. I still need practice deciding what details are significant enough to include in a synopsis."

Karen also begins to see herself as both film critic, and as part of the audience for filmmakers:

"I feel more comfortable writing in a variety of situations. I also feel very confident writing about a film, and I have become a more critical audience member. After analyzing so many movies, watching them over and over again for something to write about, I notice problems with plots and characters much more quickly.

I was conscious, in my emphasis on audience awareness, of contradicting much of what Peter Elbow advocates about ignoring audience concerns in the first draft state of writing. Elizabeth found that the constant discussion of audience in this course created added work for her as she wrote first drafts, but eventually made for better writing:

"I think the class exercises on audience helped a lot. I may have written a paper correctly in terms of adapting it for a particular audience, but the exercises definitely forced me to think more about it. Before, I was just writing to whomever, and I don't think I really care very much if anyone else understood what I was trying to say because I knew what I was saying. Now, I think that I realize more how important it is to make sure that you organize your paper around that audience that you are writing for, similar to the way Wilder [Billy Wilder] adapted Witness for the Prosecution for his audience. I still have trouble giving the right amount of information. I assume that if your audience has watched a film, you don't have to include any plot summary, but that isn't the case. You need to make things understandable and give enough background so that your references make sense. I tried to consider the audience more in these papers, especially the one on Witness for the Prosecution. I really had a lot of trouble with this paper, and part of it was that no audience could ever understand what I was trying to say. I think that the paper is better now, but it is still probably pretty hard for someone else to understand. "

Meghan found that focussing on developing and constructing an audience as she wrote transformed her writing:

"I think that the course's emphasis on writing for different audiences changed my writing. I had never really thought before about the necessity of knowing your audience. It really affects the writing of a paper and what is included (examples, definitions, background, etc.)...Now, any time that I write a paper I will be sure that I know my audience."

Demonstrating considerable insight into her own growth as a writer, Meghan goes on, in this final memorandum, to point out aspects of her writing that might be troubling to her readers. Reading what she wrote here, I wonder if I might not have contributed even more to her lack of confidence as a writer by discouraging her from closing her eyes as she speaks, as Peter Elbow, would put it, in early drafts.

"I think that my writing overall can be difficult to comprehend. I believe that I use wordy sentences that employ the passive voice. I must admit that I never thought about using the passive voice while writing, before taking this class...I think that I often have difficult formulating a thesis and this affects my writing. Once I develop a good working thesis, I think that my writing is stronger. My biggest problem overall with writing, though, is a lack of confidence. I have felt for a long time that I am not a good writer, and as a result, I often start writing with a belief that no matter how hard I work, I cannot write a decent paper… Enough ranting, but I guess my overall goal as a writer is just to have more confidence."

And finally, here's one of the pitfalls of dwelling too much on the awareness of audience with these women students. Here's the truly ambivalent student who can't decide if writing for a specific audience is a good thing, or not. Susan likes the trick of retrofitting her audience description to suit her writing:

"The course's emphasis on the audience affected my writing only when one was assigned. If I could choose my audience, I would write in whatever manner came to me and then define my audience to accommodate what I had written. When my papers became too long or my subject began to annoy me, I could edit the audience so that I would not have to describe every scene and its details. In this manner, a specific audience helped me to write a paper and avoid extra information. However, a specific audience hindered me when I simply wanted to write and not worry about what my audience knew or did not know. Sometimes I had to add more details and rewrite paragraphs so that the audience would be able to understand what I wrote. Although a specific audience was a hindrance to me while writing, knowing what type of audience will read my papers improves my writing. If my audience could not understand what I was writing about, I would fail as a writer. Thinking about my audience also helps me choose what type of grammar to use. For example, in everyday writing for a friend, I would not worry about contractions, slang , or cliches. For a professor or a respected adult, I try to use formal grammar and sound professional in both emails and in papers."

Finally, I offer a few words--from my students--on our immersion into electronic technology in these two courses, including email (student to student, student to instructor, and instructor to student) group and one-on-one private chat options, a Student Drop folder which all students could access once I had approved this and lifted protections preventing their access, and an Ask the Instructor message folder for questions about legal issues, technical legal definitions, grammar, mechanics, style and organization.

Most of these students entered the course knowing how to use word processing programs like Word, and how to use e-mail. They quickly became familiar with the quirks of our college's First Class email and conferencing system, and took full advantage of it to pepper me with questions about every writing assignment. Most students wanted to submit drafts, or parts of drafts of papers, to me electronically as well, and I did my best to keep up with--and respond to--this barrage of student writing.

Abby has moved from fear of technology, as the medium for reaching her readers, to feeling comfortable with it, though not yet embracing it. She speaks of being "forced" to communicate electronically, but at the en of the course, she feels that my making her use the computer has resulted in the "demystification" of the medium. What has been mysterious and inaccessible to the young woman writer has become a familiar tool for writing, and for reaching readers.

"I must admit that I was, at first, intimidated by the idea of receiving and submitting the majority of assignments for the course over First Class. Later, however, I became grateful that I was forced to communicate electronically in this way, because it demystified online communication for me, and allowed to learn how to navigate FirstClass with ease. I am now more comfortable participating in [electronic] class conferences and working with online syllabi as a result of this class... When creating this final portfolio, I looked back at pieces of writing from the beginning of this semester and marveled at how much I have grown both as a writer and a thinker. Reading Supreme Court cases proved to be an excellent exercise in critical thinking, and I have seen my understanding of complex legal issues increase, along with my ability to effectively express myself through writing."