CAP (Context, Audience, and Purpose) analysis overview
CAP analysis: never skip these pre-writing steps!
When was the last time you had a miscommunication with someone? What happened?
- Maybe your friend misinterpreted the tone of your text message and got angry (or thought you were angry).
- Maybe your instructor didn’t respond to your email, which was frustrating because to you, the email was important.
- Maybe you tried to ask your manager to give you a day off on a cultural holiday or your best friend’s birthday, but they didn’t understand your reasoning and scheduled you anyway.
If one or more of these situations sound familiar to you, don’t worry: you’re not alone, and there is a solution.
So often, miscommunications like this happen when we don’t take the time to consider the context, audience, and purpose of our messages before we write and send them. In other words, we don’t complete a crucial pre-writing step we call context, audience, and purpose analysis, or CAP analysis for short.
When writing a message, especially a tricky one, it’s a good idea to first analyze our context, audience, and purpose, and then use this information to determine the correct channel (or method) for sending it. When we do this, we are much more likely to write and send an effective message and to achieve clear, successful communication.
So often, conducting a thorough CAP analysis can help us avoid the kinds of mistakes, confusion, and frustration described in Anmol’s story, below.
Anmol’s story
Anmol had a question for his accounting Instructor, so he decided to email her. He didn’t know what to put for the email subject, so he left it blank. He was worried about not getting the answer to his question in time to complete his homework, so he just wrote the email quickly and didn’t do a lot of proofreading. He also put a lot of exclamation marks so the teacher would take him seriously. Anmol was surprised when the Instructor told him that the email was rude.
Here’s a copy of his email.
To: Instructor
From: Anmol
Subject: ______________________
Hi mam,
I dont’ understand this weeks homework. What should i do??!! Please tell me right away.
Bye,
Anmol
Questions for reflection:
- What do you think of Anmol’s email to his teacher? Why do you think his Instructor thought the email was rude?
- Has Anmol included enough information in his email?
- Has Anmol used an appropriate tone? (Tip: Who is Anmol’s audience, and what is his relationship with them?)
- What would you change about this email? Why?
In the following pages, we’ll explore each stage of the CAP analysis process in more detail to explain how you can avoid Anmol’s mistake and be well on your way to becoming a skilled writer and communicator.
Key Takeaways
- Every message should begin with an analysis of the context, audience, and purpose (CAP analysis) and a choice of appropriate channel.
- Completing a CAP analysis before writing increases the effectiveness of your messages, ensuring successful communication.
