Determining audience, purpose, and tone This essay is a few years old but i hope that people will still take it into acount.

Before you can begin to plan an essay, you need to think seriously about whom you are writing for, what your purpose is in addressing the audience, and what tone or attitude about your subject-serious, indignant, happy, tongue-in-cheek, conversational, or humorous-you want to convey. Once you have a general idea of each of these, you can begin to plan out how to organize and develop your paper. Knowing your audience is necessary to keep your …

…serious purpose. On the other hand, if your purpose is to write a descriptive piece concerning the habits and habitats of polar bears for a wildlife magazine, you will choose words and arrange material to help the readers "see" what you are describing. The tone you use will probably be light and conversational, and holding and keeping the attention of your nature-oriented audience will be a deciding factor in how the piece will be written.