 Objective:
Authors have a point to make in their writing. They have
a purpose for their writing. And they write to a certain audience.
These elements of an author's voice determine the way a
passage makes you feel and the ideas it gives you. Analyzing
the author's purpose gives you a major key to becoming an
effective reader. When you know where the author is coming
from, you can then compare your own ideas or gain a new perspective.
This lesson will help you figure out the author's purpose
and evaluate the intended audience for the writing.
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Review the meaning of tone and
persuasive devices
- Identify strategies to help you determine author's
purpose in an informational passage
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Practice analyzing writing for
author's tone and viewpoint
- Practice analyzing writing for author's purpose
- Practice identifying facts and opinions
- Practice identifying persuasive strategies
- Score and evaluate
your answers.
Vocabulary:
These words will be used in this lesson. They might be quite
familiar to you, or you might want some review. For review,
just click the Tools tab and open Vocabulary.
- Purpose (why write?)
- Audience (write to whom?)
- Tone (what attitude revealed?)
- Fact / Opinion (what is true, what is the author's idea?)
- Persuasive Devices (just do it because . . . )
Tips and Tools:
What does it mean to talk about the author's purpose?
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The author's purpose answers the question .
. .Why?
Why
is the author writing this particular article, interview,
editorial, chart or graph?
Maybe . . . to inform, to persuade, to discourage,
to explain, to entertain, to describe, to demonstrate.
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About audience:
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Writers ask:
Who am I writing to? What response
do I want them to have to my writing? Joy, indignation,
anger, shame, pride, sorrow, understanding, empathy, fear,
satisfaction, contentment, compassion, conviction, determination?
Do I want to give them information to make a decision
or complete a task? Do I want to fire them up for action?
Do I want to inspire them?
Readers ask:
Who is the author writing to? Me or
another group of people? What response do they expect from
their readers or from me? Should I laugh, cry, scream in
terror or anger, jump up to fight for a cause, giggle, shudder,
be convinced or not, swell with pride or warm with compassion?
Should I be able to understand facts, or complete a task?
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Tone? What is it? How do I recognize author's tone?
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Speakers use voice and facial expressions
to indicate tone. You can tell if a speaker is objective,
informative, process-oriented, determined, light-hearted,
or angry. Writers choose their words and details to create
a 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.
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How do I describe author's tone or attitude?
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It's just a matter of words, words and more words. Here are
some tools:
- Vocabulary
of Attitudes: Great resource to print and keep in your
notebook. This link has a million or more words to define
attitudes of:
| thinking |
pleasure |
pain |
passion |
| friendliness |
unfriendliness |
comedy |
animation |
| apathy |
self-importance |
timidity |
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How do I tell the difference between fact and opinion?
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A FACT is a true statement. FACTS can be proven by
data, scientific information, real events, and dates. Facts
can be checked. They are true.
An OPINION is a view or belief held by a person.
A good opinion may be based on facts, but it is not a fact
itself.
If a statement is an opinion, it is likely there are people
who agree, and people who disagree. A strategy you might
use
to determine if a statement is opinion or fact, might be
to ask if someone might have a different idea. If a different
idea is possible, or a disagreement might be stated, you
are dealing with an opinion. If there cannot be a disagreement,
you are probably dealing with a fact. For example:
Opinion:
- Dogs are loyal, easy to care for, and make the best
pets.
Facts:
- Dogs can be selectively bred to change their characteristics.
- Dogs have wider snouts and jaws than wolves.
- In 1959 a Russian scientist, Dmitry Belyaev, began an
experiment to find out if selective breeding could be
used to make a tame animal out of a wild animal.
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Don't believe everything you hear!
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Recognizing Persuasion
- Authors use persuasive techniques to convince their
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.
- Persuasive writing can be about an important idea,
such as Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream"
speech, inspiring his audience to join in Civil Rights action
for equality for all.
- It can also be superficial, such as advertising
persuading you to buy a certain hair product because superstars
do, implying you'll be just as cool as they are if you do.
- 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.
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In the next section, you'll see some examples of how the Tips
and Tools will help you identify and analyze author's
purpose and tone in informational passages.
Example
1 >>
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