Author's purpose answers the question:
WHY?
Why is the author writing this particular story, essay, poem?

Writers ask:

Who am I writing to? What response do I want them to have to my writing?

Readers ask:

Who is the author writing to? Me or another group of people? What response is expected from the readers or from me?

Writers choose their words and details to create tone of voice.

Ask: What is the attitude of the writer? How does he feel about his subject?

Tone = words chosen to convey attitude or feeling toward the subject
(angry, emotional, joyous, scientific, disgusted, elated, sorrowful and on and on and on . . .)

Example: A writer describes a girl as shrimpy. The reader understands the writer's negative attitude toward the girl's height. However, if the writer calls her petite, the reader picks up an approving tone.

• Authors use persuasive techniques to convince the audience to join their side. They may want you to adopt an opinion or belief, to buy a product, to join a group, to change your life, your job, your car, your friends, your hair color.
• Watch for these persuasive devices:
  • snob appeal: appealing to social or intellectual pretensions
  • endorsement: basing an argument on what a famous person says
  • name calling: attacking a person rather than an issue
  • bandwagon: urging people to do something because everyone is doing it.

Remember when you evaluate, you should have a set of standards to compare or judge the writing against. Just like the scoring criteria you've used for your own writing, you need to know what elements make a story great, average, or one you'll soon forget.

Ask:

1. Does the setting seem believable? Does it add to the story?
2. Is the plot believable, or does it rely too much on chance or events that don't really belong with the rest of the story?
3. Are the characters believable? Are their motivations clear? Do they change or develop in the story and are the reasons for those changes clear and believable?
4. Does the dialogue sound natural?
5. Does the story's ending resolve the main conflict in a satisfying way?
6. Does the story have a theme or is the author's purpose only to entertain?
7. Is the writer's style interesting to read? Is the language fresh, imaginative, descriptive? Does it make me want to find another book by the same author? Does it make me want to talk with the author?

Generalizations are statements that apply to a whole group of people or things. The word ALL is a clue (All students can learn. All drugs are harmful.), as well as the name of a group of things (students, drugs), such as people, animals, clouds, vegetables, school, cars, musicians, clothing and the list could go on forever.

Watch for false generalizations.

Of course not all drugs are bad for you; aspirin, allergy spray, and chemotheraphy have positive effects if used as prescribed. Of course street drugs damage the user.

Identify true or valid generalizations which must be true for every individual or thing in the group. All people need oxygen is a valid generalization because there is not one human being who can live without oxygen. Valid generalizations must have lots of evidence; they are based on many many observations and experiences.

When you make a generalization from the events, characters, or ideas in a narrative passage, ASK:

• Is it true in all cases?
• Is there any case in which it is not true?
• Is there evidence such as facts, examples, information from experts, to prove the generalization is true?

Merriam Webster says when you draw a conclusion, you make a thoughtful decision about something; you think about the evidence (supporting details and what you know ) and reach a logically necessary end by reasoning; you infer on the basis of evidence in the story.

The two keys are:

1. Evidence. Always always always be able to support your conclusion with evidence from the text. Don't take a side path and make statements that cannot be supported with evidence from the text. Be able to prove it!
2. Logic. A conclusion has to make sense. It has to be reasonable. It has to be something you can explain clearly, and a friend or teacher will say, "Oh, yes, I understand. That makes total sense!"

The skills are the same as those reviewed in Lesson 9. Just remember, you'll be extending the ideas beyond the literary selection into broader areas of experience and life.

• Is a character just like me (or NOT like me?) In what way? Do I know anyone who is like the character? Who and how are they alike?
• Have I ever been in a similar situation, or faced a similar conflict? What was it? How did I resolve it? Did I act/think like the character or not?
• What would I do if I were in the same situation? How would I act? What would I say? How would I solve the problem the character faces?
• Do I know someone who has faced a similar situation? How did they solve the problem the character faces?
• What lesson did the character learn? Have I learned a similar lesson at sometime, but maybe from a different situation?
• What made the character act in a certain way or feel a certain way? Have I ever acted like that and what was the situation? Have I ever felt like that and what was the situation?

Basically, you are saying, "I recognize that action, thought, lesson, situation, feeling!" and actively making a connection between the ideas in a passage and what has happened to you or someone you know or something you know about. You are extending the author's ideas from the story to a bigger picture - human behavior and life.

Questions to ask to figure out your response to an idea or theme presented by an author:

• How do the character's actions, thoughts, words, decision, make me feel?
• What are words that describe my feelings when I read about a character's experience?
• How would I feel in a similar situation?
• Can I understand what the author is describing about how a character reacts or feels in an event in the story?
• Can I identify with the character facing a problem?