Module 1 — Effective
writing: Strategies
and principles
| Course Guide | Module 1 | Module 2a | Module 2b |
Identifying and classifying your reader
The question: 'Who is your reader?' is deceptively simple. It is most likely that you will have multiple readers for your writing, some primary (like your immediate supervisor) and others more remote (secondary) but who, nevertheless, need to be kept in mind. It is useful to identify the key decision-maker among your readers. Who can authorize the action you want taken?
- For someone taking minutes of a meeting, this may be the chairperson who signs off on the minutes.
- For the ILO field office reporter, this may be the person who controls the budget and can authorize expenditure on what is needed.
Writing is more difficult if you have both primary and secondary readers and even more difficult if you don't have a clear idea of your readers’ backgrounds. Nevertheless, you can make some assumptions. Most busy ILO staff, for example, do not have time to read overly long documents.