When writing any kind
of article, an author is confronted with numerous problems. First, he must
analyze his prospective audience. Understanding one’s audience is the key to
writing an article that reaches the greatest number of people. So the success
of his article depends on the success of his analysis. This article details the evolution of the
universe from the Big Bang to present time. Realizing his article would be
detailing a basic subject of astronomy, the author continually used
appositives, participial phrases, and relative clauses to define a term or
action. While there are certain negative side effects to this style, it also
successfully produces the helpful tone of a guide for the reader as he makes
his way through the article.
What different activity systems
could this text function within? This is the key step for the author in
determining how he would approach writing the article. The publishing website
features research results and observations made by astronomers worldwide. Simply looking at the front page of the articles publishing website,
space.com, it is easy to tell that the site is geared mostly towards curious
stargazers and amateur astronomers. But some of the readers might be seriously
intrigued by astronomy, while still others might be younger children who would
be turned away if they were to know the reading level of the article is
suitable for a 12th grader. However, the score is inflated by the
presence of long terms introduced to familiarize the reader with words that are
common in the field of astronomy or astrophysics. In fact, many of the words
and their respective definitions are required to gain an understanding of the
information presented. Anyone who already understands the terms presented has
no need to access this article for reading purposes in the first place. It
could also be accessed by an educator of some sort searching for an
introductory article for a group of beginning students, in which case the
educator would be responsible for choosing an appropriate article. Besides the
average astronomer, this article would be most appropriate for students early
in high school.
The
barrage of information the author throws at the reader begins to feel
cumbersome after a while, a feeling that might detach anyone reading the
article. Such an influx of information could prove difficult for a new or
inexperienced astronomer to absorb, regardless of the grade level he reads at. Because
the article, by its nature, has to include numerous definitions and
explanations to fulfill its goal, the author used a mix of appositives,
relative clauses, and participial phrases to relay information. While
appositives normally contain information that disrupts the flow of ideas, the
author of this article used them in a way to reach the largest possible
audience. The author says, “protons and neutrons collided to make deuterium, an
isotope of hydrogen,” the latter part of which is an appositive, and later uses
a relative clause: “during the epoch of reionization...which lasted more than a
half-billion years...” The continual use of these sentence-combining strategies
makes the article information-heavy but also very accessible. There are plenty
of numbers, facts, and definitions for the reader to take in, but due to the
simplistic writing style, it doesn’t take the reader much time to understand
the basic information of the article.
In
addition to an abundance of appositives and participial phrases, the author
frequently uses the passive voice. While it makes the article boring, the
passive voice is the best to use for relaying information. For example, the
author says, “...the universe was filled with neutrons...,” “...the universe
was essentially too hot for light to shine,” and “the universe was plunged into
darkness...” Using the passive voice is a way for the author to be assured that
he is being as clear as possible in explaining the facts. But the author can’t
make assumptions about the reader’s prior understanding, so he makes every
effort to explain something that might be misunderstood. The article is broken
into sections for the reader’s sake, further simplifying the structure and
formality of the article. And even when the text might bring up questions from
the reader, the author includes a link to another article that could help to
answer the reader's question.
The
style of plain language used in this article is best suited for introductory
topics where the reader expects to be faced with numerous terms and definitions
prior to even reading it.
But this style must be used
cautiously. For example, it wouldn’t be suitable for an article detailing a
more advanced astronomy topic. The target audience would be different, perhaps
scholars or scientists who already understand even the advanced terms;
therefore, the writing style necessary for it to be successful would change as
well. The reader shouldn’t expect any creative styles from articles similar to
this one. But the author must also do his best job to attach the reader to the
article. This raises a few important questions. How wide of an audience is the
author responsible for reaching? How accepting must the reader be to a boring
or cumbersome article? And in what ways can the author make accommodations to
the reader to help answer any further questions? Of course, the answer to those
questions depends on the target audience, which in turn depends on the topic of
the article being written.
This
shows that using plain language offers a wide variety of ways to write simply
and to reach a wide audience. The author of this article, by using a slew of
appositives, relative clauses, and the passive voice, has used a foolproof way
of using plain language to deliver information to the widest variety of
readers. While it does make a boring read or an information-heavy article, it
is a successful way of delivering information. This style is only one of many that
uses plain language, and each different style serves its own particular
purpose.
By: Ethan B
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