## 1.3. Before you start writing

Good writing is an exercise in perspective taking. Before you start writing, first determine which audience you are addressing. Are you writing for a highly specialized professional audience of academics? In which discipline do these academics work? Or will you be writing for a lay audience? Next, imagine what your readers know about your research question, about previous research, and especially what they do not know. Are the concepts you are using familiar? Explain a new or potentially controversial concept or definition the first time you use it in your text. Do not argue about controversial concepts before you have defined them. Use the conventional jargon in the field to which you are contributing.