Author's Purpose

Author's Purpose

What is Author's Purpose?

The Author’s Purpose is the reason why the text was written. There are three main purposes to an author’s passage.

TO:

1. Persuade

2. Inform

3. Entertain

*A text might use all three, but generally a author has one primary purpose. Still, I would argue that a short story with a strong message is a persuasive text that uses narrative technique. A story might be entertaining, but the author purpose might be to persuade us to think, feel or act in a certain way.

Why do we care about identifying an author's purpose?

I always want to know the reason behind why an author created a text. This helps me decide their motive behind what they are saying. Understanding the author's purpose or motive helps me evaluate the information and decide if I want to believe it.

What are the three main purposes for why authors create a text?

Author’s Purpose: To Persuade

· It’s the author’s goal to persuade the reader to agree with the author’s opinion.

· Even though the author shares his opinion, he may provide facts or examples to support the opinion. x

· Examples: advertisements, commercials, newspaper editorials, etc.

Author’s Purpose: To Inform

· It’s the author’s goal to enlighten the reader with topics that are usually real or contain facts.

· Facts are used to teach, not to persuade.

· Examples: textbooks, cookbooks, newspapers, encyclopedias, etc.

Author’s Purpose: To Entertain

· It is the author’s goal to tell a story or describe real or imaginary characters, places, and events

· Examples: poems, stories, plays, comic strips, etc.

*When we say "entertain" we can include that an author wants us to feel or experience something through their story.

Essential Questions: How can the reader use the text features to determine why the text was written? How can we use inductive reasoning to determine the author’s purpose? How do readers identify the author’s purpose in a text?