Of course. Every essay or paper has an audience. First and foremost, that audience is the instructor who will read and score that piece of writing. But beyond that, instructors do want students to address their audiences. For example, if your piece of writing is a persuasive essay on climate change, it should address those who may be “climate change deniers” or those sitting on the fence about this issue. And at the Ph.D. dissertation level, for example, the audience is a committee that must approve of a proposal or, ultimately, the final research work.