• Find professionals in different avenues of your preferred field. Find 3-4 people who work in different contexts in the field that most interests you
after conducting a little research on 2-3 people, narrow it down to one person you would really like to contact. Conduct in-depth research on this professional/academic to understand their backgrounds, training, employment history, and their duties and areas of interest
• Write an Audience Analysis IMRAD report – Using your research,
o Synthesize and explain what you have learned about who this person is, what sorts of positions they occupy, what their career background is like, what their major concerns/interest are, what skills and /or training they prioritize in students and young professionals, and what will be the best ways to appeal to them, and the best types of information to request from them.
o Use your research to come up with 3-7 questions for your professional/academic that they can answer to provide you with information about how they got their jobs/into grad school, what their work entails, what sort of skills or training are particularly useful for getting into a position like theirs,, and what suggestions or advice they could offer you as you prepare to apply for grad school/jobs
• Turn your Audience Analysis and questions into a clear, concise targeted email to your chosen professional/academic.
• Conduct a 250-350 word revision reflection – explain the rhetorical choices you’ve made, revisions you’ve done based on the peer workshop, how you have changed things in each email to target different audiences, what effect you think the emails will have, and why you think they are successful. Also discuss anything that you were not yet able to incorporate, or that you struggled with during the writing process
