What does purpose mean in writing

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Written by Joseph M. My Page. Writing Center. Contents Introduction. A Definition of Purpose. Types of Purpose. Purposes and Strategies. Illustration and Example. Like authors, audiences have varied purposes for reading, listening to, or otherwise appreciating pieces of communication. Audiences may seek to be instructed, persuaded, informed, entertained, educated, startled, excited, saddened, enlightened, punished, consoled, or many, many others.

There are as many purposes for communicating as there are words to describe those purposes. Attitude is related to purpose and is a much-overlooked element of rhetorical situations.

But attitude affects a great deal of how a rhetorical situation unfolds. Consider if an author communicates with a flippant attitude as opposed to a serious attitude, or with drama as opposed to comedy, or calmly as opposed to excitedly. An arguing essay attempts to convince its audience to believe or act in a certain way. Written arguments have several key features:.

Although the terms argument and persuasion are often used interchangeably, the terms do have slightly different meanings. Argument is a special kind of persuasion that follows certain ground rules.

Those rules are that opposing positions will be presented accurately and fairly, and that appeals to logic and reason will be the primary means of persuasion. Persuasive writing may, if it wishes, ignore those rules and try any strategy that might work. Advertisements are a good example of persuasive writing. They usually don't fairly represent the competing product, and they appeal to image, to emotion, to character, or to anything except logic and the facts--unless those facts are in the product's favor.

Writing to evaluate a person, product, thing, or policy is a frequent purpose for writing. An evaluation is really a specific kind of argument: it argues for the merits of the subject and presents evidence to support the claim. A claim of value --the thesis in an evaluation--must be supported by criteria the appropriate standards of judgment and supporting evidence the facts, statistics, examples, or testimonials.

Writers often use a three-column log to set up criteria for their subject, collect relevant evidence, and reach judgments that support an overall claim of value. Writing a three-column log is an excellent way to organize an evaluative essay. First, think about your possible criteria. Remember: criteria are the standards of judgment the ideal case against which you will measure your particular subject.

Choose criteria which your readers will find valid, fair, and appropriate. Then, collect evidence for each of your selected criteria. Consider the following example of a restaurant evaluation:. Overall claim of value : This Chinese restaurant provides a high quality dining experience.

Problem solving is a special kind of arguing essay: the writer's purpose is to persuade his audience to adopt a solution to a particular problem.

Often called "policy" essays because they recommend the readers adopt a policy to resolve a problem, problem-solving essays have two main components: a description of a serious problem and an argument for specific recommendations that will solve the problem. The thesis of a problem-solving essay becomes a claim of policy : If the audience follows the suggested recommendations, the problem will be reduced or eliminated.

The essay must support the policy claim by persuading readers that the recommendations are feasible, cost-effective, efficient, relevant to the situation, and better than other possible alternative solutions. Traditional argument , like a debate, is confrontational. The argument often becomes a kind of "war" in which the writer attempts to "defeat" the arguments of the opposition. Non-traditional kinds of argument use a variety of strategies to reduce the confrontation and threat in order to open up the debate.

Often, writers use multiple purposes in a single piece of writing. An essay about illiteracy in America may begin by expressing your feelings on the topic. Then it may report the current facts about illiteracy. Finally, it may argue for a solution that might correct some of the social conditions that cause illiteracy. The ultimate purpose of the paper is to argue for the solution, but the writer uses these other purposes along the way. Similarly, a scientific paper about gene therapy may begin by reporting the current state of gene therapy research.

It may then explain how a gene therapy works in a medical situation. Finally, it may argue that we need to increase funding for primary research into gene therapy. A purpose is the aim or goal of the writer or the written product; a strategy is a means of achieving that purpose. For example, our purpose may be to explain something, but we may use definitions, examples, descriptions, and analysis in order to make our explanation clearer.

A variety of strategies are available for writers to help them find ways to achieve their purpose s. Writers often use definition for key terms of ideas in their essays. A formal definition , the basis of most dictionary definitions, has three parts: the term to be defined, the class to which the term belongs, and the features that distinguish this term from other terms in the class.

Examples and illustrations are a basic kind of evidence and support in expository and argumentative writing. In her essay about anorexia nervosa, student writer Nancie Brosseau uses several examples to develop a paragraph:. Another problem, lying, occurred most often when my parents tried to force me to eat.

Because I was at the gym until around eight o'clock every night, I told my mother not to save me dinner. I would come home and make a sandwich and feed it to my dog. I lied to my parents every day about eating lunch at school. For example, I would bring a sack lunch and sell it to someone and use the money to buy diet pills. I always told my parents that I ate my own lunch. Classification is a form of analyzing a subject into types. Comparison and contrast can be used to organize an essay.

Consider whether either of the following two outlines would help you organize your comparison essay.