Reasons Behind the Writing

Information can be presented in a variety of ways. It can also be used for a variety of purposes. The words that authors choose to use provide insight into their motivations and intentions. These motives or intentions are called the author’s purpose. Authors always have a purpose in mind. As metaliterate learners, we can analyze the presented information and the author’s purpose while we decide if the information meets our needs and serves our purposes. Evaluating the author’s purpose allows us to think objectively about information. Why did the author choose to use that phrase? Why was the author presenting information in that particular order? What does the author hope the reader will feel while reading this? How does the author want the reader to respond? What action does the author expect the reader to take? Does the information contain a lot of opinion or is the material presented objectively? Is humor present in the writing? Is the language the author is using formal or informal?

Using Tone to Detect the Author’s Purpose

Tone describes the attitude portrayed in the author’s writing. By looking at the word choice that is used, you can tell how the author feels or wants you to feel about a topic. The author’s tone may be passionate, sarcastic, pleasant, or neutral. Recognizing that the writing may cause you to feel a specific emotion like empathy, anger, happiness, or embarrassment can also give you clues regarding the author’s purpose. Sometimes you may respond differently than the author intended. This indicates that the author’s intentions do not always match the reader’s reality. It is important to identify and consider the author’s purpose so that you can think critically about the information that is presented to you. Being aware that authors are motivated to depict information in a certain way will help you to understand how to respond by thinking critically and reflectively about the source. Questions that may help you detect the author’s purpose:

• Was the author providing you with instruction? Were you being informed?

• Did the author aim to encourage or frustrate you? Were you motivated to take action?

• Were you convinced by the author’s well-supported argument? Were you persuaded?

• Was the author’s purpose to make you laugh or cry? Was he or she entertaining you?

Examples of Purpose and Tone

MEDIA EXAMPLES:

Like many campaign ads, this video is meant to be persuasive. A condescending tone and patronizing questions combined with personal examples help you to recognize that the author of the video wants to convince you to vote against Congressman Walsh. Opinions and emotions are expressed in this ad. This video may cause you to feel frustrated or angry toward Walsh if you agree with the view expressed in the video.

This video is meant to inform the audience by providing factual information. The professor speaks in a neutral tone when explaining the migratory patterns of butterflies. The tone is objective; it is not influenced by personal feelings or opinions. The professor’s intention is to make you aware of the habits of the butterflies and how they are studied. This video could cause you to feel neutral about the topic or it could cause you to feel concern for the species.

TEXT EXAMPLES:

"In a world afflicted by murder, mayhem, and malnutrition it may seem bizarre to suggest the worst thing to happen this year is for some words to come out of a man’s mouth – but that may turn out to be so. Last week President Bush reneged on a campaign promise to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide from power stations. This is a serious setback in a world that is already failing to respond responsibly to global warming. The short term effects of Bush’s decision may be merely political but the long term effects are likely to be catastrophic. As usual, the worst affected will be the world’s poorest, those who have contributed the least to global warming.”

Smith, R. (2001). Death Through Selfishness And Failure Of Imagination: President Bush Should Lead On Global Warming, Not Retreat. BMJ: British Medical Journal, (7288), 690. doi:10.2307/25466525

The underlined sentence indicates the author’s opinion. The frustrated and impassioned tone in this paragraph reveals that the author’s purpose is persuasive.

Music education is practiced in a variety of different ways around the world that are influenced by the quality of a nation’s educational system, the values that society places on music, music’s role in the culture, the training and availability of music teachers and other numerous factors. There are also many similarities in the way music education is practiced from society to society owing to geographical proximity, common religious practices, common political philosophies, or cultural transplanting through colonization, enslavement, diaspora, or immigration."

Groulx, T. J. (2013). Three nations, one common root: a historical comparison of elementary music education in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia.(Report). Journal Of Historical Research In Music Education, (2), 137.

The underlined text in this sentence provides evidence of an objective tone. This demonstrates that the purpose of the paragraph is informative.

Your Writing, Your Purpose

As an author of information, you also choose what information to include within your writing and what you hope to accomplish as your purpose. In a scholarly environment, your purpose may be to demonstrate your knowledge of presented material, argue your point of view, inform your peers about a particular topic, or describe a belief you hold. In a social media environment, your purpose may be to inform, entertain, convince, describe, prove, or amuse.

In this exercise you are asked to review the two articles below and complete a chart as your submission. As you read, identify the author’s tone and purpose while reflecting upon your own reactions to each article. Once you’ve viewed the work of these authors, you will craft your own responses, each with a different purpose. Download and attach the Purpose Chart as your submission.

Article 1: Regulating our Sugar Habit by Mark Bittman

Article 2: Beliefs about Drinking Problem Causation by Susan Bullers

Download the Purpose chart and save it to your computer (Click the upper right arrow of the document below to open in Google Drive. Select File-->Download as -->Microsoft Word (.docx)). Submit the completed worksheet to earn this achievement.