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Should the liability of mistakes from artificial intelligence be held responsible through the institution (firm) that created the algorithm? 

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Should the liability of mistakes from artificial intelligence be held responsible through the institution (firm) that created the algorithm? 

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Christian Sprague

1. What is your topic, Issue, and briefly explain the

- Artificial intelligence is becoming more predominant and thus more problem are arising with it. Problems from Google's self driving car malfunction leading to an accident to machine learning leading to harassment leaves questions of who should be responsible.

2. Exigency- Why is it exigent?
In the current economy (within US) more jobs are being replaced by learning algorithms also known as artificial intelligence; meaning it applies to an urgent demand of job protection and employee/customer protection.

3. Your proposal: How will it be solved?
It should be regulated if the protection is wanted to carry on to employees/customers throughout multiple industries.

4. Who is/are the stakeholder(s)? Your audience needs to be identified:
employees/customers and firms/instutions

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Abuse within the Tennessee Walking-Horse Industry

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Abuse within the Tennessee Walking-Horse Industry

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Erika Franson

1.     In the Walking Horse showing industry, horse and rider are judged on the height of the horse’s steps when tracking around the arena.  The horse that steps the highest and travels around the arena at the smoothest and fastest of the three gaits wins the competition.  Unfortunately, some of these horses are “stacked” during training and, in some cases, in competition.  In the United States, stacking, or adding weight to the horses’ legs, is illegal, but many competitors still participate in the act. I believe that stacking is dangerous to the horses and puts them through an insufferable amount of pain because some trainers use items like chains or barbed wire to get their horses to pick up their feet.  These training tools, though effective, pinch and harm the horses.

2.     My question is this: “Is there some other training method or training tool that creates the same high-stepping effect, but is less harmful to the horses?”

3.     The stakeholders are veterinarians and trainers who do and don’t participate in stacking.  The counterargument is that this method is effective and has been used for decades.  There are also veterinary approved methods to create the desired lifted effect in the horses’ front legs, but people still cut corners and stack with harmful materials.

4.     The problem that I see is that, while there is already a solution to getting the horses to lift higher in a safe way, the majority of trainers don’t use it and refer to the more barbaric methods.

5.     I would like to try and find another method to training these horses to carry themselves higher, even though there’s a vet approved method, there has to be a more rewarding method to training these high-stepping horses.  I would address this by talking with trainers, veterinarians, and possibly mechanics about developing a safer way to create the same effect.

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Lex Leeds

1. Real sex education means teaching people how to be safe. Not teaching just abstinence. This is a huge problem in our society and if taught right we can avoid the domino affect of teenage pregnancy.

2. How can we affectively educate people on sex education?

3. The counterargument would be to teach absitance. The stakeholders would be those who are conservative or traditionally practice strict religious values.

4. The problem is is that we have created a society with unrealistic standards for sex. We must teach and understand the actual science of human development and compliment it with solutions. Rather that telling people what they should do with their bodies (i.e. not have sex at all). it's like saying how do you not get hurt skiing... don't ski. Not realistic.

5. Above explains this. As well as creating a group similar to D.A.R.E. but with sex education.

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Shannon Lee

1. GMO's have been a new way to grow crops, I am for it because it helps produce more yields in an efficient way.
2. There has been a lot of scientific research with this question because the GMO industry has grown so much and a lot of the foods we eat are genetically modified.
3. stakeholders are consumers of produce in America. The people on the other side are people who think GMO's are bad for people's health because there has not been enough research done on it.
4. The problem is that GMO's have not existed for that long and it is understandable that consumers might have concerns for their health but I believe it's the only way we will have enough resource.
5. I think GMO's should be sold on the market but they should be labeled. I would want to inform the people about the positive impact since creation of GMO's.

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1.

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Should the United States discontinue the Penny? 

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Should the United States discontinue the Penny? 

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Colleen Van Dyke
1. The penny costs more to produce than its current face value. It is heavy, cumbersome, and essentially worthless. Canada, New Zealand, and Australia have all recently phased out their one cent coins without significant adverse effects on their economies.

2. What is the economic impact of discontinuing the Penny? If we were to do so who would shoulder the extra costs the producers or consumers? Would we round up or down when re-pricing retail items? What would happen to all the pennies after they are no longer in circulation? How much money would it save us? Would this rise demand for nickels that also have a cost of production higher than their face value? What would this mean for jobs?

3. The stakeholders are the American people as every single one of us deal with money every day it will impact everyone. Perhaps some more than others but anyone who uses American currency will be effected by this. The people on the other side, typically coin collectors or those who have a stake in the production of pennies don’t want to see the penny go. The counter argument typically revolves around who will bear the burden the additional cost of either rounding up or down to the nearest nickel. Some believe that it would have a negative impact on charities. Others argue that it will increase inflation.

4. The problem is that the penny simply costs too much to produce to be practical and it is not possible for us to reduce production costs any more than we already had. I believe that in the long run discontinuing the penny will be beneficial to our economy.

5. My solution would be to stop producing pennies and slowly taper them out of circulation.

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-Devin Lewis

1.  My topic is the debate of vaccinations, with the issue being the anti-vaccination movement. My point of view is pro-vaccination because of what I feel like is scientific evidence in support of it.

2. The question guiding the research is is how the anti-vaccination fad came about and if it is accurate.

3. The counter-argument comes from the anti-vaccination movement, which is that vaccinations cause autism in children or something. The stakeholders are new parents, grandparents, and soon-to-be parents of children who will need to be vaccinated. Or maybe not;).

4. The problem is that children are going unvaccinated with deadly results. My stance is that vaccinations are important and should be taken very seriously.

5. I'm not sure on my solution yet. Possibly an educational commercial, or introducing the stakeholders to pathos-driven horror stories about children who had parents who bought into the anti-vaccination movement.

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1. Topic: Illegal immigration from Mexico to U.S.
Theme: Immigration
Issue: The misconception that Mexicans are stealing our jobs
My point of view: I feel like a misconception

2. Are they really stealing jobs from Americans if so how many?

3. The counterargument is that Mexicans steal our jobs. Americans are the stakeholders.

4. I believe they aren’t stealing our jobs and that they actually take the jobs most Americans wouldn't take.

5. My solution would be to inform people of this misconception.

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- Rupal Vaidya

1. A new survey conducted by CNN focusing on

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Equality within Professional Sports- Madeline Ilgen

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Equality within Professional Sports- Madeline Ilgen

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1.

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Grain Fed vs. Grass Fed Beef-Nicole Pietrafeso

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Grain Fed vs. Grass Fed Beef-Nicole Pietrafeso

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1. The debate over which is better (overall) between grain and grass fed beef

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Theme : captivity of orcas
Topic : if orcas should be in captivity and how it affects them.
Issue: how life span, mental and physical health and reproductive success is affected by captivity.
The stakeholder would be seaworld, marine world.
Their view would be they donate millions to conservation and allow the public to learn about orcas up close and provide vet care.
My beliefs are they are harming orcas over all health. They should not capture wild orcas or breed them for show to make a profit.

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1. I wanted to explore the idea of sustainable water use, not only from the perspective of making sure that the water is used in a responsible manner, but also that it increases the economic stability in impoverished areas. I would be interested to see what systems are available to developing countries that would be economically sustainable and provide for their water use needs.
2. What systems are available in specific countries to provide drinking water and the water for basic needs (farming, ranching, etc.) that are going to have a positive economic impact.
3. The counter argument may be that a charity is trying to supply for a need. But are they doing it in a responsible way that is economically sustainable?
4. Current water systems in developing countries are often provided by charities and do not consider the economic impact, positive or negative, to their action. Does it provide for the need on the long term, not just the short term.
5. I do not have a current solution. That would be part of my research.

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1. Topic: is euthanasia.
Issue: if euthanasia should be legal nationwide.
Theme: human rights.
Point of view: euthanasia should be legalized all across the United States.
2. Question: why should euthanasia be legalized nationwide?
3. Counterargument: euthanasia is not ethical.
Stakeholders: doctors, politicians, patients, families of patients.
The people on the other side believe that euthanasia would ruin the chance of miraculous recovery or treatment, and is against God's intentions (religious views).
4. My stance is pro euthanasia because I believe that everybody has right to their own life and dignity.
5. My solution is to push for legalization, addressing the government.

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1. My topic is marketing and advertising. The issue is the health/morality/annoyance issues with advertisements. Certain advertisements and marketing campaigns regarding alcohol and prescription drugs should not be allowed to air on certain media outlets.
2. Do advertisements about alcohol and prescription drugs show a false view of their product to the audience?
3. The counterargument would be the warning labels, quotes like drink responsibly, and side effects listed are included showing the risk of using these products. The stakeholders would be the American population, alcohol companies, and prescription drug companies. People on the other side would be the drug and alcohol companies. They would say the negative effects of their products are shown at the end of the advertisement so people know the risk.
4.The problem is the misconceptions shown in the advertisements promoting their products. I believe certain advertisements can be harmful to the public especially children.
5. Certain advertisements and marketing campaigns should have more restrictions for the content they can show.

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Questions to post:

1. Define and explain your topic, issue(s), and theme? What is your point of view and why?

2. What is the question guiding this research?

3. Identify the counterargument and who are the stakeholders? Who are the people on the other side, and what do they believe?

4. What is the problem and your stance or belief?

5. Do you have a solution and what is it? How will you address this?

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Lex Leeds

Problem: Standardized testing is a one-size-fits-all system in a diverse world. Testing as such also kills creativity and punishes teachers. It is not a real intellectual indicator.

Proposal: Develop to portfolio-based assessments in schools. A more accurate way of testing a students knowledge. I went to a school where this is the base and helped me grow in my educational career.

Audience: Colorado Department of education, the American education system, teachers, parents, students.

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Issue with Separating WSCHA Youth Class -Nicole Pietrafeso

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Issue with Separating WSCHA Youth Class -Nicole Pietrafeso

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1: Western States Cutting Horse Association (WSCHA) is currently separating the junior and senior youth into separate classes, which though it seems like a good idea, it has many downfalls.
2: This is exigent because it has always been a problem, and is especially critical to the people who are hauling for the World.
3: They need to combine the two classes and if necessary utilize the novice youth concept.
4: The Stakeholders are the WSCHA board of directors/club officers
5: The audience is the same as the stakeholders. These people range in age from 25-75. They are mostly men who don't necessarily have a high education level. They are anywhere from middle to upper class, mostly republicans (if not all) and mostly Christian. Considering this information, I need to use a professional, mature tone. I need to also take into consideration if they have kids who currently show in the youth or not. They should know a lot about this topic, but maybe haven't taken into consideration some of the factors I will present. Some of them have first hand experience with this topic. They should value freedom of speech and I know they are pretty open to ideas. I can appeal to some of the ones who have already had experience with having kids show in the youth and know how hard it is to accumulate points when the classes are separated.

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Improving School Lunches
Carolyn Voth
1. The quality of school lunches in the United States needs to be improved.
2. This is an urgent situation because what children eat today will effect the rest of their lives including obesity, malnutrition, and their learning and brain development.
3. Gather more funds from the government.
4. Stakeholders are the Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Congress, National School Lunch Program
5. The audience mostly consists of the government and the National School Lunch Program. Those are both female and male college-level educated adults with no specific religious or political views. They are of high economic status as well as social status. When speaking to these people I must speak professionally and not use any inappropriate or unsophisticated words.  The government and organization that I am writing to know a lot about the subject because it has been a well-known subject nationwide and they have heard a lot of complaints from the public. My audience views financial securities, which is in part why school lunch programs aren’t getting enough funding to provide healthy school lunches across America.

Ethos: showing my credibility by knowledge of the subject, number of articles I’ve educated myself with.

Pathos: the audience values financial security and the students in schools around America.

Logos: showing them the facts about the school lunches about how they look and how students are turning them away, more about articles.

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-Rupal Vaidya

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) has established the primary causes for construction hazards-

“Potential hazards for workers in construction include: Falls (from heights); Trench collapse; Scaffold collapse; Electric shock and arc flash/arc blast; Failure to use proper personal protective equipment; and Repetitive motion injuries.”

Despite publishing certain safety standards, fatal hazards happens every day on the construction site; 70%-80% of the time the cases are linked to the source of not following very basic safety procedures.

The problem is exigent, as the fatality rate is not decreasing despite an agency being established by the federal government. Additionally, the system of teaching safety standards to construction workers is at fault as, there are several cases where vital elements of safety standards are ignored while working on site.

(Ref: https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3252/3252.html)

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Christian Sprague

Problem:
Facebook's algorithms promote pages with stolen content and monetize these views.

Proposal:
There should be a better claiming process on Facebook so content creators can claim their content faster and receive revenue from stolen content.

Audience:
Facebook legal staff, Facebook Copyright Claims Office

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Jackie Frazee 1. Killing black-tailed prairie dogs, an already endangered key stone species,  will create a hole in predator/ prey relationship.
2. Capture and relocate or leave them alone.
3. Head of the state park.

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1. The income for teachers need to be increased due to higher cost of living and higher taxes.
2. The cost of living is rising and teacher salaries are not. Teachers also need more experience after college through classes and are made to pay for it when the education system can easily pay for it. Due to this, teachers won't be able to afford a comfortable life.
3. The state of Colorado can increases taxes by a curtain amount for everyone and give that excess money to teacher salaries. The increase in salaries will make teaching jobs more popular and the quality will go up. Therefore the test scores will go up and the state will get more money.
4. Richard Crandall, Secretary to the board of Education in Colorado
5. He got his masters and bachelors from Brigham Young and doctorate from Notre Dame.
Because he has a higher education level I will need to use formal English, or like I would be talking to an authority figure.
Also he probably knows a lot about what is going on within the education system due to the fact he is the Secretary to the board of Education in Colorado.
He probably wants to get reelected in his position so he would want to do what would get him reelected. He probably also wants to do what would get him a higher position financially. My solution, making him give up money at first will eventually get him more money in the long run.

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Improving School Lunches
Carolyn Voth
1. The quality of school lunches in the United States needs to be improved.
2. This is an urgent situation because what children eat today will effect the rest of their lives including obesity, malnutrition, and their learning and brain development.
3. Gather more funds from the government.
4. Stakeholders are the Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Congress, National School Lunch Program

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Stricture rules regarding cigarette usage around residence halls. 

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Stricture rules regarding cigarette usage around residence halls. 

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Colorado State University can reduce it's food waste and help the Community

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Colorado State University can reduce it's food waste and help the Community

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Colleen Van Dyke
1. Colorado State University Composts roughly 900 gallons of food daily. The majority of this food never touched a plate.  Because CSU follows stricter food safety policies than what both state and federal regulations require, we are wasting more food than necessary. Proposal: We can send the unused prepared food that has passed the C

2. Food waste is out of hand and hunger is a problem.

3. Your proposal: Rather than composting prepared back of the house food after the CSU use by date, we have a four day window to get that food to the Larimer county food bank. We could affectively make this a reality by creating one position that would act as a liaison between CSU and the food bank.

4. The stakeholders are CSU administrators, CSU alumni, Tony Frank, Liz Poore (Director of dinning services), head of the Larimer county food bank.

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Raise starting wages for waiters and waitresses -McKenna Philips

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Raise starting wages for waiters and waitresses -McKenna Philips

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1. By tips being the only rate of pay, sometimes we are taxed on money that we don't even make, and have to pay out of pocket to tip out other employees.
2. It is difficult to make a living when we work slow shifts and only make $2.13 an hour, but then get taxed on it.
3. Raise the rate of pay for the waiting staff.
4. Stakeholders: Regional Manager of Hooters (Eric Jarvis)

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1. The City of Fort Collins currently has an occupancy limit, also known as "You Plus Two." This rule says that the maximum number of unrelated persons that can live in the same residence is three, and drives up rental prices and forces new residents of the city to search farther and farther abroad for housing that is increasingly expensive.
2. With the current growth of the City of Fort Collins and Colorado at large, housing prices are skyrocketing. Furthermore, development is expanding in an increasingly unsustainable way. In order to curb development and lower housing prices the You Plus Two rule should be removed.
3. Set the occupant limit at either 4 for more residential and quiet areas of the city (see zoning map) and 6 for areas near campus and old town.
4. Stakeholders are the City of Fort Collins, i.e. City Council and the Mayor.
5. Age: Mixed, but mostly middle-aged. Sex: Male and Female Education Level: Varied. Most likely undergraduate at least Economic class: Wealthy. Upper Middle Class. Bourgeois. Political/Social/Religious beliefs: Mixed.
6. This topic should be approached cautiously because of the varied interests represented by the city. Not everyone will want the same things, or even when they do, for the same reasons. It must be a net gain for all parties in order to be a sufficient proposal.
7. Readers will be familiar with the topic.
8. The City of Fort Collins has stated that they are concerned with the health of citizens, as well as the atmosphere in residential areas. Both of these concerns will be necessary to address in order to make an adequate proposal.

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Traffic and delays due to trains in Fort Collins. (Kyle Young)

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Traffic and delays due to trains in Fort Collins. (Kyle Young)

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1. Trains come through Fort Collins at random times through out the day causing traffic.
2. The traffic causes people to be late and possibly more agressive/angry due to the traffic.
3. Some of the expensive solutions include creating tunnels or raised train tracks. A more cost effective solution is posting a weekly train schedule online or posting some sort of sign at the train tracks.
4. The stakeholders are the city of Fort Collins, the train companies, and the population of Fort Collins.
5. The demographic is city elected officials, whoever deals with the train schedules, any anyone living in Fort Collins. The topic is more relevant for the Fort Collins population. Anyone who has lived in Fort Collins has a first hand experience waiting for the train at one of the many intersections.

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Erika Franson

1.      Equine Manager at Wheeler Historic Farm, SLC, UT

2.      With the addition of six new equines to the facility, maintenance and care become more vital due to the limited space and use of the equines.

3.      Create a new position at the Farm for experienced and educated individuals who know how to maintain equine health, welfare, and care.

4.      City councilman of Salt Lake County Sam Granato and facility managers Kathleen Bailey and Brad Smith.

5.      Who is the Audience?

a.      Age:  30 – 70

b.     Sex:  both men and women

c.      Education Level: bachelors, masters, doctorate

d.     Economic Status: upper middle to upper class

e.     Political/Social/Religious Beliefs:  Republican; appearance, family, cleanliness, communication, education, happiness, image, others’ opinions; Mormon

6.      How does this change or affect how to appeal to this person?

a.      Yes – Social Beliefs:  appearance, family, cleanliness, communication, education, happiness, image, others’ opinions

b.     Derogatory, insulting, etc.; use informative, educational, etc.

c.      Use CSU Equine Sciences, facilities with multiple equines, humane societies

d.     Yes – the Farm is a very prideful facility and insulting the way things are currently run may not get the desired affect

7.      Consider what level of information they have about the subject

a.      There is a head farmer, however, the other two stakeholders do not have a broad education in animal maintenance and welfare.

b.     The head farmer has first-hand experience, but neither the councilman nor the head facility manager has much experience in equine management

8.      Consider what the value in the context of the issue and think about how you can appeal to that

a.      Equines require: space, physical and mental stimulation, a clean environment, quality nutrition that depends on activity, age, breed, etc., and herd-based interaction

b.     The Farm is a family friendly historic park that encourages education in all aspects of agriculture, which includes animal husbandry.  For people to receive a good, healthy experience at the Farm, they should be allowed access to a more hands-on interaction with the equines, such as grooming, riding, and behavior.  With access to these features, the Farm can not only receive more income, but they develop a better reputation about the well-being of the animals in their care.

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Fort Collins is one of the few cities in Colorado that don't have mountain bike/BMX dirt jumps
The solution is to build dirt jumps, most likely on public unusable land
I'd be writing to city council and tax payers
Christian Lund

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Once you have focused your problem and solution topic, post it here with your name, and answer these questions:

1. What is your topic, Issue, and briefly explain the

Problem:

2. Exigency- Why is it exigent?

3. Your proposal: How will it be solved?

4. Who is/are the stakeholder(s)? Your audience needs to be identified:

5. First (this means BEFORE you start writing), you must determine WHO your audience is. Think about specific demographic info for this audience – it will help you understand them better:

         Age

         Sex

         Education level

         Economic status

         Political/social/religious beliefs

Then think: how does knowing this information change or affect how you’ll try to appeal to this person?

         Are some of the things listed above more relevant than others?

         Is there language you can/can’t use?

         References you can/can’t make?

         Should you be cautious about how you word some things? Why?

Second: Consider what level of information they have about the subject.

o          Does your reader already know a lot about this topic?

o          Do your readers have first-hand experience with this topic?

If they don’t know a lot about the topic, you’ll need to spend some time explaining it.  If they do know a lot, spend less time with the basics.

Third:  Consider what they value in the context of the issue and think about how you can appeal to that.

o          Does your audience value freedom of speech? Privacy? Academic freedom?  Financial security?

o          How can you consider what the audience cares about and use it to shape what you write?

Craft your appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos based on your audience’s needs, the purpose of your writing, and the context in which you’re writing.