Author’s Purpose

1. Author’s Purpose

2. Three Common Purposes for Writing • To inform • To persuade • To entertain

3. To Inform • A common purpose is to pass information along to the reader. • Informative reading materials are textbooks, encyclopedias, professional journals, and newspapers. • The organizational patterns used in informative writing are discussion, description, analysis, explanation, example, or definition.

4. To Persuade • When an author is trying to be persuasive, he or she will use information, ideas, and emotions to influence the readers. • Persuasive reading materials often provide only one side to an argument. • It can be judgmental or controversial.

5. To Entertain • Often authors narrate a story to entertain their readers. • The narrative can be fictional or non-fictional. • Some forms of reading materials that are meant to entertain are romance novels, inspirational books, memoirs, and mystery novels.

6. Source • Hancock, Ophelia. Reading Skills for College Students. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2007.