Abstract
To communicate technical material effectively to a particular audience, a writer must not only analyze his readers' background and professional needs, but also incorporate that analysis into his text. This article introduces the concept of the mock reader as a means of giving body to an amorphic audience and relates that concept to the decisions a writer must make. Three situations are presented—writing to the operator, the expert, and the manager—to show how the mock reader can enhance the immediacy and coherence of a text.