The Communication Triangle

Picture a Three-Dimensional Triangle with Four Points:

• Writer / Persona / Tone / Ethos

• Audience / Pathos

• Subject / Logos

• Medium / Purpose

Awareness of Persona / Role / Tone in Writing and How this Changes the Writing:

• Credibility, Trustworthiness, etc.

• The role adopted influences the character of an essay

• The tone is set by the writer's attitude toward the subject

• The key or clue to tone is word choice

Awareness of Audience in Writing and How this Changes the Writing:

• Writing for yourself

• Writing for your teacher

• Writing for your classmates

• Writing for your boss

• Writing for the general public

• Writing for experts

• Notes:

  • Have a clear sense of audience.

  • Who is the reader? What is the reader like? What do they know? What do they want or need to know? Etc.

  • Audience analysis will also influence content.

Awareness of Purpose in Writing and How this Changes the Writing:

• Writing to share or express / Expressive aim

• Writing to inform / Referential aim -- informative, exploratory, demonstrative, etc.

• Writing to persuade / Persuasive aim

• Writing to entertain / Literary aim

• Notes:

  • Purposes can be combined.

  • A subject, approached by each of the above 4 different purposes, would yield 4 different essays.

  • Content is shaped by the writer's purpose.