author's purpose biography

Understanding Author’s Purpose: Why It Matters in Writing

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Welcome to our exploration of author’s purpose in writing! Have you ever wondered why authors write what they do?

Understanding an author’s purpose is like deciphering the code behind their words. It’s about uncovering the intentions and motivations that drive their writing. In this blog post, we’ll delve into the significance of author’s purpose, its impact on the reader, and why it’s essential for both writers and readers to grasp.

So, let’s embark on this journey to unravel the mysteries of author’s purpose in writing.

Now, let’s explore why authors write the way they do, and why it’s crucial for both writers and readers to understand this concept.

The purpose behind a piece of writing is like the North Star guiding a ship through the vast ocean of words. Every word, every sentence, every paragraph crafted by an author serves a purpose beyond mere communication. Whether it’s to inform, persuade, entertain, or provoke thought, the author’s purpose shapes the entire composition, influencing the tone, style, and content.

Consider a persuasive essay advocating for environmental conservation. The author’s purpose is to convince readers of the urgency to protect the planet. They employ rhetorical strategies, emotional appeals, and factual evidence to sway the audience towards their viewpoint. Understanding this purpose allows readers to engage critically with the text, evaluating the effectiveness of the author’s arguments and forming informed opinions.

Similarly, in a work of fiction, the author’s purpose might be to transport readers to a different world, evoke emotions, or convey universal truths about the human experience. By recognizing the underlying purpose, readers can immerse themselves more fully in the narrative, empathizing with characters, and grasping the deeper themes woven into the story.

For writers, clarity of purpose is paramount. Before putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, authors must ask themselves: What do I hope to achieve with this piece? Whether it’s to entertain, educate, inspire, or provoke change, a clear understanding of their purpose guides every decision—from choosing the right words to structuring the narrative.

Moreover, understanding author’s purpose fosters critical thinking skills essential in today’s information-saturated world. When readers approach a text with an awareness of the author’s intentions, they become active participants in the dialogue, questioning, analyzing, and interpreting the content more effectively.

What Is Authors Purpose?

The author’s purpose refers to the reason behind why a writer creates a particular piece of writing. It encompasses the goals, intentions, or objectives that drive the author to communicate their message to the audience. Understanding the author’s purpose is crucial for readers as it helps them comprehend the text better, evaluate its effectiveness, and engage critically with the content.

What are the different types of authors’ purpose?

There are several different types of author’s purposes, each serving a distinct function in communication. Here are the primary categories:

To Inform : The author aims to impart knowledge, facts, or information to the audience. This purpose is prevalent in textbooks, news articles, research papers, and instructional manuals. The author seeks to educate the reader about a specific topic, event, or concept.
To Persuade : In persuasive writing, the author endeavors to sway the audience’s beliefs, opinions, or actions. This could involve presenting arguments, making appeals to emotions or logic, and advocating for a particular viewpoint or course of action. Examples include opinion pieces, advertisements, political speeches, and editorials.
To Entertain : Authors may write primarily to amuse, entertain, or engage the audience. Fictional works such as novels, short stories, poetry, and plays often serve this purpose. Through storytelling, humor, drama, or suspense, the author seeks to captivate readers and provide enjoyment.
To Express : Sometimes, authors write to express themselves, their thoughts, feelings, or experiences. This purpose is common in personal narratives, journals, memoirs, and reflective essays. The author may use writing as a form of self-expression, catharsis, or exploration of identity.
To Instruct : Writing with the intention to instruct involves providing guidance, directions, or step-by-step procedures to help readers learn or accomplish something. This purpose is evident in how-to guides, recipes, manuals, and tutorials. The author aims to facilitate understanding and skill acquisition in the audience.
To Describe : Authors may write to describe a person, place, object, or event in vivid detail, appealing to the reader’s senses and imagination. Descriptive writing is often found in travelogues, nature writing, and creative non-fiction. The author aims to paint a rich, sensory picture for the reader.
To Convey Emotion : Some authors write with the primary goal of evoking emotions in the reader. This purpose is prevalent in poetry, lyrical prose, and personal essays. Through the use of imagery, metaphor, and language, the author seeks to elicit feelings of joy, sadness, nostalgia, or empathy.

Understanding these different types of author’s purposes allows readers to engage more deeply with a variety of texts, discerning the intentions behind the writing and interpreting the messages effectively.

What are the key words for author’s purpose?

Key words for identifying the author’s purpose in a text vary depending on the specific purpose. Here are some key words associated with each purpose:

To Inform : inform, explain, describe, report, detail, educate, illustrate, clarify
To Persuade : persuade, convince, argue, advocate, influence, convince, sway, urge, recommend
To Entertain : entertain, amuse, delight, captivate, engage, charm, entertain, divert, thrill
To Express : express, share, reveal, convey, articulate, narrate, recount, reflect, disclose
To Instruct : instruct, guide, teach, demonstrate, show, explain, clarify, direct, advise
To Describe : describe, depict, portray, characterize, illustrate, paint, evoke, capture, depict
To Convey Emotion : evoke, express, convey, evoke, stir, elicit, provoke, arouse, communicate

What are the characteristics of the author’s purpose?

Clarity : The purpose should be clear and evident throughout the text.
Consistency : The content should align with the stated purpose.
Tone : The tone of the writing often reflects the author’s purpose (e.g., formal for informing, persuasive for persuading, emotive for conveying emotion).
Content : The type of information, arguments, or storytelling techniques used correspond to the purpose.
Audience Engagement : The author aims to engage the audience according to their purpose (e.g., providing information, sparking emotions, guiding actions).

Why does purpose matter in writing?

Understanding the purpose of writing is paramount because it serves as the guiding force behind every word, sentence, and paragraph. Here’s why purpose matters in writing:

Clarity of Communication : Identifying the purpose helps writers articulate their message clearly and effectively. Whether the goal is to inform, persuade, entertain, or express, knowing the purpose ensures that the content is tailored to achieve that objective.
Audience Engagement : Purpose-driven writing resonates with the intended audience, capturing their attention and maintaining their interest. By aligning the content with the audience’s expectations and needs, writers can create meaningful connections and foster engagement.
Effectiveness of Communication : Understanding the purpose allows writers to choose the most appropriate language, tone, and style to convey their message. This enhances the effectiveness of communication, ensuring that the intended message is conveyed accurately and convincingly.
Achieving Goals : Writing with a clear purpose helps writers achieve their goals, whether it’s to inform, persuade, entertain, or inspire action. By keeping the purpose in mind throughout the writing process, writers can stay focused and effectively achieve their objectives.
Impact on Readers : Purposeful writing has a significant impact on readers, influencing their perceptions, beliefs, and actions. Whether the goal is to educate, motivate, or entertain, purpose-driven writing can inspire readers, provoke thought, and evoke emotions, leaving a lasting impression.

Overall, purpose serves as the compass that guides writers through the writing process, ensuring that their message is clear, engaging, and impactful.

What is a top priority for all proposal writers?

For proposal writers, a top priority is to clearly articulate the purpose and objectives of the proposal. Here’s why:

Clarity of Intent : Clearly stating the purpose of the proposal helps stakeholders understand the goals, objectives, and desired outcomes. This ensures alignment and clarity of intent, reducing ambiguity and misinterpretation.
Audience Engagement : Clearly defining the purpose of the proposal captures the attention of stakeholders and engages them in the proposed initiative or project. It communicates the relevance and importance of the proposal, motivating stakeholders to invest time and resources in its success.
Alignment of Strategies : A clearly defined purpose enables proposal writers to develop strategies and action plans that align with the intended objectives. It provides a framework for decision-making and prioritization, ensuring that resources are allocated effectively to achieve the desired outcomes.
Measurable Outcomes : Defining the purpose of the proposal allows for the establishment of measurable outcomes and success criteria. This enables stakeholders to assess the effectiveness and impact of the proposed initiative, facilitating accountability and evaluation.

Overall, clearly articulating the purpose of the proposal is essential for gaining stakeholder buy-in, guiding decision-making, and ultimately achieving the desired results.

In conclusion, understanding the purpose of writing is fundamental to effective communication. Whether informing, persuading, entertaining, or expressing, the purpose serves as the driving force behind every word penned by the author. It guides the tone, style, and content of the writing, ensuring clarity, engagement, and impact on the audience.

Recognizing the writer’s purpose and tone empowers readers to interpret and evaluate the content critically, fostering deeper engagement and meaningful dialogue. For proposal writers, clearly articulating the purpose of the proposal is paramount for gaining stakeholder buy-in, guiding decision-making, and ultimately achieving success.

In essence, purpose matters in writing because it provides direction, relevance, and significance to the text. By understanding the purpose behind the words, both writers and readers can navigate the complexities of communication with clarity, purpose, and effectiveness.

About Sara Cook

Hi, I am Sara! I am the founder of TheWritersHQ! I have loved writing and reading since I was a little kid! Stephen King has my heart! I started this site to share my knowledge and build on my passion!

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Reading Skills

Analyzing author’s purpose and point of view.

The Albert Team
Last Updated On: June 16, 2023

Introduction

Do you ever wonder why writers write the way they do? Why they pick certain words or tell a story in a specific way? The reason behind this is called the author’s purpose and point of view. It’s like a secret code that helps you understand what they really mean.

In this blog post, we’ll learn about this secret code. You’ll learn to figure out what an author is trying to say, and how they see the world. This will help you understand books, articles, and even posts on social media even better!

What is the Author’s Point of View?

When you read a text, it’s important to think about the author’s point of view. The author’s point of view refers to their unique perspective, opinions, beliefs, and biases that shape how they present information or tell a story. They might see things in a way that’s different from you because of their own experiences, beliefs, and backgrounds.

Understanding an author’s point of view allows us to dig deeper into the underlying motivations and intentions behind their words. It can also help you find hidden messages in the text. So, how do we figure out an author’s point of view? Let’s talk about some ways to do this.

How to Determine the Author’s Point of View

You might think figuring out an author’s point of view is hard, but it can be fun, like solving a mystery! Here are some tips to help you do it:

Look at the Words : Notice the words the author uses. Are they showing strong feelings or opinions? The way they write can give you hints about what they think and feel.
Learn About the Author : Knowing more about the author can help you understand their point of view. What kind of job do they have? Where are they from? What are some important things that have happened to them?
Think About Why the Author Wrote the Text: Why do you think the author wrote this? Do they want to teach you something, make you think, or make you laugh? Knowing this can help you understand what they’re trying to say.
Notice Patterns: Look for ideas that come up again and again. These can tell you a lot about what the author thinks is important.
Think About Who the Author is Writing For: Authors often write for specific groups of people. The way they write can tell you a lot about who they are trying to talk to.

Remember, figuring out an author’s point of view is about understanding the text better, not about deciding if they are right or wrong.

Why is the Author’s Point of View Important?

Why should we care about the author’s point of view? Here are some good reasons:

Contextual Understanding : The author’s point of view helps us make sense of the text. It shows us why they chose to write the way they did and what they want us to learn.
Uncovering Bias: No author can be totally unbiased. By understanding their point of view, we can see their own opinions in the text. This helps us think critically about what we’re reading.
Evaluating Objectivity: Knowing the author’s point of view helps us see if the text is objective (without personal feelings) or subjective (based on personal feelings). This can help us decide if we can trust the information in the text.
Enhancing Interpretation: Understanding the author’s point of view helps us understand what the text really means. We can see what arguments the author is making and think more deeply about the text.
Encouraging Empathy and Perspective: By seeing things from the author’s point of view, we can better understand people who are different from us. This helps us be more understanding and open-minded.

As you can see, knowing the author’s point of view helps us understand and think about what we read in a deeper way. It makes us better readers and thinkers!

How to Determine the Author’s Purpose

In addition to analyzing the author’s point of view, it is also key to examine the author’s purpose. Here are some tips to help you figure out the author’s purpose:

Check the Type of Text: Look at what kind of text it is. Is it a story, a news article, or maybe an essay? This can give you clues about why the author wrote it.
Look at the Words and Tone: Pay attention to the words the author uses and how they write. If they use a lot of emotion, they might be trying to persuade you. If they give a lot of facts, they’re probably trying to inform you.
Think About Who It’s Written For: Who is the author writing for? For example, a text for experts might be trying to give new information, while a text for kids might be trying to teach something in a fun way.
Look for Main Ideas: What are the big ideas in the text? What is the author trying to say? This can give you a hint about why they wrote it.
Check for Facts or Stories: Does the author use a lot of facts and data? Or do they tell stories? This can also help you figure out the author’s purpose.
Think About the Time and Place: When and where was the text written? Sometimes, this can tell you a lot about why the author wrote the text.

Remember, you might not always see the author’s purpose right away. But if you look closely, you can usually find clues that will help you figure it out.

How Text Structure Contributes to the Author’s Purpose

Text structure, or the way a text is put together, plays a significant role in conveying the author’s purpose and shaping the overall message of a written piece. The way a text is organized and structured can greatly influence how the information is presented and how the reader engages with it. Here are some ways that text structure contributes to the author’s purpose

Order of Ideas: Authors choose how to order their ideas for a reason. They might use a time order, cause and effect, or compare and contrast to help get their point across.
Important Points Stand Out: Authors use things like headings or bullet points to show important ideas. This can tell us what the author thinks is most important.
Storytelling Techniques: In stories, authors might play with the order of events, use flashbacks, or tell the story from different viewpoints. This can make the story more interesting or help make a point.
Persuasion Techniques: If the author is trying to convince you of something, they will present their arguments in a careful order. They might present a problem, then give evidence, then propose a solution.
Easy to Follow: A well-organized text is easier to understand. The way the author organizes the text can help you follow their ideas and understand what they want to say.

By looking at how a text is structured, you can get a better idea of what the author’s purpose is. So, next time you read something, pay attention to how it’s put together!

Classroom Application: What is the Author’s Purpose in this Passage?

Analyzing the author’s purpose becomes more engaging and relatable when you can apply your skills to historical speeches. One exemplary text for this exercise is Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. Use this step-by-step guide to analyze the author’s purpose in this significant piece of writing:

Step 1: Background Research:

First, start by gathering some background information about Abraham Lincoln, his presidency, and the context of the Second Inaugural Address. Learn about the Civil War and how it impacted the nation during that time.

Step 2: Reading and Annotation:

Next, read the Second Inaugural Address carefully, highlighting or underlining key statements and phrases. Take note of any repeated themes or arguments and mark moments where Lincoln’s perspective or tone seems particularly important.

Step 3: Identifying the Type of Text:

Consider the type of text you are analyzing, which is a presidential inauguration speech. Think about the common purposes associated with such speeches, like inspiring unity, expressing gratitude, or outlining a vision for the nation.

Step 4: Analyzing Language and Tone:

Pay close attention to Lincoln’s choice of language and tone throughout the address. Look for emotional or persuasive language and note instances of unity, humility, or calls for reconciliation. Consider how these choices contribute to Lincoln’s purpose.

Step 5: Reflecting on Historical Context:

Think about the historical context surrounding the Second Inaugural Address. For example, you could reflect on the divided nation during the Civil War and how it affected Lincoln’s presidency. Then, connect these historical events to Lincoln’s purpose in addressing the nation during such a critical time.

Step 6: Identifying Key Statements and Arguments:

Identify the central statements and arguments made by Lincoln in the address. Consider how these statements reflect his purpose and the message he wanted to convey. Think critically about the implications of these arguments.

Step 7: Considering the Audience:

Reflect on the intended audience of the Second Inaugural Address, which includes both supporters and opponents of Lincoln. Analyze how Lincoln’s purpose might have been influenced by this diverse audience and how he aimed to unite the nation through his words.

Step 8: Drawing Conclusions:

Based on the evidence you gathered from the text analysis and understanding of the historical context, draw conclusions about Lincoln’s purpose in delivering the Second Inaugural Address. Make sure to support your conclusions with evidence from the text.

Step 9: Classroom Discussion and Reflection:

Finally, wrap up by participating in a classroom discussion, where you can share your analysis and engage in thoughtful reflection. Compare and contrast interpretations with your classmates to deepen your understanding of the author’s purpose and the complexities of historical texts.

By following these steps to analyze Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, you’ll develop critical thinking skills, gain historical understanding, and appreciate the power of language in shaping significant historical events. This assignment will enhance your ability to analyze texts and provide you with a deeper insight into the intentions of historical figures like Abraham Lincoln.

Analyzing an author’s purpose and point of view is a skill that empowers you to unlock the hidden meanings within texts. By understanding why authors write the way they do and recognizing their unique perspectives, you can gain valuable insights into the world of written communication.

Practice Makes Perfect

Albert provides engaging practice questions for key skills like analyzing the author’s purpose as well as a wide range of texts for students to analyze and interpret. For more practice with the skills covered in this post, check out our Author’s Purpose questions in our Short Readings course, which uses short passages to reinforce fundamental reading skills. Readers at all ability levels may enjoy our Leveled Readings course, which offers Lexile® leveled passages focused on a unifying essential question that keeps all students on the same page regardless of reading level. Learn more about the Lexile Framework here !

With our easy-to-use interface and informative feedback, Albert.io is the perfect tool for learning how to determine the author’s purpose and point of view and helping students develop a deeper understanding of the texts they encounter.

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21 Author’s Purpose Examples

authors purpose examples and definition, explained below

The author’s purpose of a text refers to why they wrote the text .

It;s important to know the author’s purpose for a range of reasons, including:

Media Literacy : We want to make sure we’re not tricked by the author. When reading an article online, for example, we want to figure out what the author’s purpose is in order to determine whether they’re going to write with a particular political bias.
Determining Meaning: We might also want to know the author’s purpose in order to infer and predict what the underlying message might be. If an author’s job is to inform, we can read the text closely in order to examine its logic; but if the purpose is to entertain, we can consume the text with less of a critical lens.
Understand Genre Convention : If we know the author’s purpose, we can predict and develop expectations about how the piece will be written. For example, persuasive texts should cite sources, while in reflective texts, we should expect first-person language and more intimate language.

Below are a range of possible purposes that authors may have when writing texts.

Author’s Purpose Examples

1. to inform.

Common Text Genres: News articles, Research papers, Textbooks, Biographies, Manuals.

Texts designed to inform tend to seek an objective stance, where the author presents facts, data, or truths to the reader with the sole intention of educating or delivering important information to the reader. It is common, for example, in news articles, where journalists must adhere to journalistic ethics and ensure the information is entirely factual. This is also often the purpose of non-fiction books, academic writing, scientific articles, and of course, this very website you’re reading right now.

Example of an Informative Text A National Geographic article on climate change informs readers about the state of the planet, providing facts and figures about global warming, melting ice caps, and so on.

2. To Entertain

Common Text Genres: Novels, Short stories, Poetry, Plays, Comics

This type of writing is meant to captivate the reader’s imagination and provide enjoyment. Here, the content needs to be delivered in a way that doesn’t bore and keeps the reader compelled to keep reading. To do this, the writing might be humorous, suspenseful, mysterious, or touching, depending on the genre. The author may also create characters, plot, and settings to keep the reader engaged and entertained, as with novels.

Example of an Entertaining Text A well-known example is J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series, which was written with the primary goal of entertaining readers with its magical world and captivating story.

3. To Persuade

Common Text Genres: Advertisements, Speeches, Opinion columns, Cover letters, Product reviews

In persuasive texts, the author’s main purpose is to convince the reader to accept a particular point of view or to take a specific action. This involves the use of arguments, logic, evidence, and emotional appeals. Persuasive writing can be found in speeches, advertisements, and opinion editorials. To examine some key techniques and strategies authors use to persuade, consult my article on the thirty types of persuasion in literature .

Example of a Persuasive Text A classic example is Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, in which he persuasively argues for the end of racial discrimination in the United States.

4. To Describe

Common Text Genres: Travelogues, Food reviews, Personal essays, Descriptive poetry, Nature writing

Descriptive texts aim to paint a vivid picture in the reader’s mind. These sorts of texts can take us away to a different place and draw us into a complex world created by the author. For example, the author uses detailed and evocative descriptions to convey a scene, object, person, or feeling. The goal is to make the reader see, hear, smell, taste, or feel what is being described. This can be seen in many forms of writing, but is most evident in fiction, poetry, and travel writing, and can be paired with other author purposes, such as entertainment.

Example of a Descriptive Text An example of descriptive writing is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”, especially in its portrayal of the extravagant lifestyle of Jay Gatsby.

5. To Explain

Common Text Genres: How-to articles, Technical manuals, FAQs, Cookbooks, Explanatory journalism

In this type of writing, the author seeks to make the reader understand a process, concept, or idea. The writing breaks down complex subjects into simpler, more digestible parts. The author provides step-by-step explanations, examples, and definitions to aid understanding. This can be seen in how-to guides, tutorials, and expository essays . Of course, this purpose overlaps significantly with to inform , but tends to be more step-by-step or strips complex ideas into clear-to-understand chunks of information .

Example of an Explanatory Text A real-world example is Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time”, in which complex topics such as the Big Bang, black holes, and light cones are explained in a manner accessible to non-scientists.

6. To Analyze

Common Text Genres: Critical essays, Business reports, Scientific research papers, Market research, Literary analysis

Authors who write to analyze seek to break down a complex concept, event, or piece of work into smaller parts in order to better understand it. Analytical writing looks closely at all the components of a topic and how they work together. It’s about making connections and recognizing patterns. It could, for example, aim to identify flaws in a topic, or draw connections, similarities and differences, between multiple different concepts. You’ll commonly find these types of texts in professional contexts, such as reports provided to a company to give them guidance that helps them make better business decisions.

Example of an Analytical Text “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu offers a comprehensive analysis of warfare strategies, breaking down the complexities of warfare into key principles.

7. To Teach

Common Text Genres: Textbooks, How-to guides, Cookbooks, Self-help books

The author aims to impart knowledge or skills to the reader. These texts often provide step-by-step instructions or delve deep into a topic to ensure understanding. The goal is not only to inform but to enable the reader to perform a task or understand a concept independently. Examples of texts like this can include self-help books and textbooks, which might also contain ‘tasks’, ‘homework’ or ‘revision quizzes’ at the end of each chapter.

Example of an Educational Text “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” by Stephen King teaches readers about the art of writing and the life of a writer.

8. To Argue

Common Text Genres: Opinion editorials, Political speeches, Legal briefs, Persuasive essays

For these sorts of texts, the author’s purpose is to persuade the reader to accept a particular perspective, worldview, or ideology, often presenting a thesis and supporting it with evidence and logical reasoning. The goal is to make a case and convince the reader of its validity. Authors could use pathos , meaning emotion , to argue a point (e.g. appealing to a person’s emotional side), or logos , meaning logic (e.g. setting out a clear and logical explanation of why the author’s perspective is correct).

Example of an Argumentative Text A famous example is “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” by Mary Wollstonecraft, where she argues for women’s rights and equality.

9. To Inspire

Common Text Genres: Motivational speeches, Inspirational books, Success stories, Motivational posters

Authors with this purpose want to stimulate their readers to act or create a change, instill hope, or provoke a sense of awe. These writings often share success stories, motivational thoughts, or beautiful descriptions of nature or humanity. A wide range of texts aim to inspire, from novels about amazing journeys, biographies about great people from history, and even people writing sales copy for brands.

Example of an Inspirational Text “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou is a work meant to inspire readers through its tale of overcoming adversity.

10. To Reflect

Common Text Genres: Diaries or journals, Vlogs and blogs, Retirement speeches, Reflective essays

In a reflective piece, the aim of the author is to share personal experiences, thoughts, or insights in an introspective manner. The goal is to convey the author’s personal journey or internal thought process. These texts often give readers a window into the author’s mind, and they may invite readers to reflect on their own experiences as well. Sometimes, the author will write the piece as a tool for self-improvement , such as to identify where they made mistakes or weaknesses in their processes, so they don’t make those mistakes next time.

Example of a Reflective Text “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius is a series of personal writings, reflecting the author’s stoic philosophy and ideas on life.

11. To Share

Common Text Genres: Personal Blogs, Social Media Posts, Personal Essays, Anecdotes , Letters.

In this type of writing, the author aims to share personal experiences, thoughts, ideas, or information with the reader. The writer may offer insights into their lives, discuss their passions, or recount an event that happened to them. We might see this, for example, for someone who writes detailed reflections on their travels in their travel blog, or even a personal email back to friends and family each week.

Example of a Text designed to Share Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love” is a memoir where the author shares her journey of self-discovery as she travels through Italy, India, and Indonesia.

12. To Record

Common Text Genres: Historical Accounts, Diaries, Journals, Biographies, Documentaries.

When writing to record, the author aims to create a detailed and factual account of events or experiences, either for personal reflection or to inform future generations. This type of writing can also serve to preserve personal or historical memories. We see this, for example, in historians’ writing as well as in some journalistic work, such as in the New York Times, which has become known as the paper of record for its longevity in recording important moments in US history.

Example of a Text of Record Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl” is a historical record of her experiences hiding during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

13. To Provoke Thought

Common Text Genres: Philosophical Works, Thought-Provoking Novels, Reflective Essays, Social Commentaries.

Authors who write to provoke thought aim to challenge their readers, pushing them to think more deeply about certain topics or to see things from a different perspective. They may raise complex questions, explore ambiguities, or critique societal norms. Such authors might be even aiming to get the reader upset, animated, or otherwise achieving cognitive dissonance in order to shift their thinking in some way.

Example of a Thought-Provoking Text George Orwell’s “1984” provokes thought about totalitarianism, surveillance, and individual freedom.

14. To Criticize

Common Text Genres: Reviews, Critical Essays, Satire, Polemics, Critiques .

When authors write to criticize, their aim is to express disapproval, dissent, or disagreement. They may critique a person, an idea, a societal trend, a piece of work, etc. They typically present their criticisms in a structured, reasoned manner, often supported by evidence. We see this regularly, for example, in ‘letters to the editor’ in newspapers, where everyday people can write into a newspaper in order to share their thoughts or rants for everyone to read.

Example of a Critical Text In his essay “Self-Reliance,” Ralph Waldo Emerson criticizes societal conformity and advocates for individualism.

15. To Predict

Common Text Genres: Speculative Fiction, Futurism Articles, Predictive Analytics Reports, Science Fiction.

Authors who write to predict aim to forecast future events or trends. These predictions could be based on current data, societal trends, scientific understanding, or simply imaginative speculation. This can be anything from a piece written by an economist or political scientist who’s predicting social trends that are upcoming, to a sci-fi novel that attempts to predict a dystopian future where AI has taken over the world!

Example of a Predictive Text In Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World,” the author predicts a future society characterized by technological advancements, consumerism, and a lack of individual freedom.

16. To Express Emotion

Common Text Genres: Poetry, Personal Essays, Novels, Letters, Memoirs.

When authors write to express emotion, their main goal is to convey their feelings, or the feelings of someone else, to the reader. They might explore their emotional reaction to events, or evoke emotion in the reader. This is a common purpose of poetry and song lyrics, which have long genre-histories of evoking emotions in audiences, especially when the lyrics are read or sung to a live audience.

Example of an Emotional Text Sylvia Plath’s poetry, such as in her collection “Ariel,” often expresses deep personal emotions, particularly her struggles with depression.

17. To Explore

Common Text Genres: Adventure Novels, Travel Writing, Scientific Papers, Experimental Poetry, Philosophy Books.

Authors who write to explore aim to delve deeply into a topic, concept, or place. This might involve exploring physical environments, such as in travel writing, or abstract concepts , as in philosophical or scientific texts. Exploratory writing may start without a clear end-goal, and can ramble its way to an unknown conclusion.

Example of an Exploratory Text Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” explores the concept of natural selection and evolution.

18. To Satirize

Common Text Genres: Satirical Novels, Political Cartoons, Satirical Essays, Parodies.

Satirical writing uses humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other societal issues. It could, for example, be a satirical novel which tries to undermine or make a joke out of other famous texts or genres. This, obviously, overlaps with the author purpose of to entertain but may also have elements of social commentary.

Example of a Satirical Text Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” satirizes human nature and the “travelers’ tales” literary subgenre.

19. To Commemorate

Common Text Genres: Eulogies, Obituaries, Commemorative Speeches, Historical Fiction.

Writing to commemorate aims to honor or remember a person, event, or idea. It often involves highlighting the subject’s significance or impact. For example, a person might write a piece that commemorates veterans on Vetertan’s Day. Similarly, an obituary commemorates a person’s life and attempts to sum up their achievements and the things that were of great importance to them.

Example of a Commemorative Text The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln was a speech to commemorate the lives lost during the Civil War and to reaffirm the principles of liberty and equality.

20. To Plead

Common Text Genres: Petitions, Open Letters, Advocacy Articles, Speeches.

When authors write to plead, they aim to make an urgent appeal or request for something. This could be a plea for action, support, change, etc. These texts commonly ask for social change or a change in perspective from the reader. The author may be pleading for themselves and their family (e.g. a refugee who pleads their case in a newspaper op-ed) or for the less advantaged (e.g. an activist pleading for people to donate to children in poverty).

Example of a Text that Pleads a Case In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. pleads for an end to racial segregation and appeals for justice and equality.

21. To Celebrate

Common Text Genres: Commendatory Speeches, Reviews, Praises, Tributes.

Authors who write to celebrate aim to acknowledge, praise, or express gratitude for someone or something. They might celebrate a person, a culture, a historical event, an achievement, or a simple joy of life. A celebratory text, for example, might be a speech someone gives at a graduation ceremony, with the intention of celebrating the graduates’ successes in finally completing their degree.

Example of a Celebratory Text Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise” celebrates the resilience and strength of African American women.

What is the Author’s Purpose & Why Does it Matter?

There’s always a reason a writer decides to produce their work. We rarely think about it, but there’s always a motivating factor behind intent and goals they hope to achieve.

This “why” behind the author’s writing is what we call the author’s purpose, and it is the reason the author decided to write about something.

There are billions—maybe more—of reasons a writer decides to write something and when you understand the why behind the words, you can effectively and accurately evaluate their writing.

When you understand the why, you can apprehend what the author is trying to say, grasp the writer’s message, and the intent of a particular piece of literary work.

Without further ado, let me explain what the author’s purpose is and how you can identify it.

What is Author’s Purpose?

Just as I introduced the term, an author’s purpose is the author’s reason for or intent in writing.

In both fiction and non-fiction, the author selects the genre, writing format, and language to suit the author’s purpose.

The writing formats, genres, and vernacular are chosen to communicate a key message to the reader, to entertain the reader, to sway the reader’s opinion, et cetera.

The way an author writes about a topic fulfills their purpose; for example, if they intend to amuse, the writing will have a couple of jokes or anecdotal sections. The author’s purpose is also reflected in the way they title their works, write prefaces, and in their background.

In general, the purposes fall into three main categories, namely persuade, inform, and entertain. The three types of author’s purpose make the acronym PIE.

But, there are many reasons to write, the PIE just represents the three main classes of the author’s purpose .

In the next section, I’m going to elaborate on the various forms of the author’s purpose including the three broader categories that I have introduced.

How useful is the Author’s Purpose?

Understanding the author’s purpose helps readers understand and analyze writing. This analytical advantage helps the reader have an educated point of view. Titles or opening passages act as the text’s signposts, and we can assume what type of text we’re about to read.

If you can identify the author’s purpose, it becomes easier to recognize the proficiencies used to achieve that particular purpose. So, once you identify the author’s purpose, you can recognize the style, tone, word, and content used by the author to communicate their message.

You also get to explore other people’s attitudes, beliefs, or perspectives.

Why does the Author’s Purpose Matter for the Writer?

The intent and manner in which a body of text is written determine how one perceives the information one reads.

Perception is especially important if the author aims to inform, educate, or explain something to the reader. For instance, an author writing an informative piece should provide relevant or reliable information and clearly explain his concepts; otherwise, the reader will think they are trying to be deceptive.

The readers—particularly those reading informative or persuasive pieces—expect authors to support their arguments and demonstrate validity by using autonomous sources as references for their writing.

Likewise, readers expect to be thoroughly entertained by works of fiction.

Types of Author’s Purpose

Mostly, reasons for writing are condensed into 5 broad categories, and here they are:

1. to Persuade

Using this form of author’s purpose, the author tries to sway the reader and make them agree with their opinion, declaration, or stance. The goal is to convince the reader and make them act in a specific way.

To convince a reader to believe a concept or to take a specific course of action, the author backs the idea with facts, proof, and examples.

Authors also have to be creative with their persuasive writing . For instance, apart from form complementary facts and examples, the author has to borrow some forms of entertaining elements and amuse their readers. This makes their writing enjoyable and relatable to some extent, increasing the likelihood of persuading people to take the required course of action.

2. to Inform

When the author’s purpose is to inform or teach the reader, they use expository writing. The author attempts to teach objectively by showing or explaining facts.

When you look at informative writing and persuasive writing, you can identify a common theme: the use of facts. However, the two forms of the author’s purpose use these facts differently. Unlike persuasive writing, which uses facts to convince the reader, informative writing uses facts to educate the reader about a particular subject. With persuasive writing, it’s like there’s a catch: the call to action. But, informative writing only uses facts to educate the reader, not to convince them to take a specific course of action.

Informative writing only seeks to “expose” factual information about a topic for enlightenment.

3. to Entertain

Most fiction books are written to entertain the reader—and, yes, including horror. On the other hand, non-fiction works combine an entertaining element with informative writing.

To entertain, the author tries to keep things as interesting as possible by coming up with fascinating characters , exciting plots, thrilling storylines, and sharp dialogue.

Most narratives, poetry, and plays are written to entertain. Be that as it may, these works of fiction can also be persuasive or informative, but if we fuse values and ideas, changing the reader’s perspective becomes an easier task.

Nonetheless, the entertaining purpose has to dominate, or else, readers are going to lose interest quickly and the informative purpose will be defeated.

4. to Explain

When the author’s purpose is to explain, they write with the intent of telling the reader how to do something or giving details on how something works.

This type of writing is about teaching a method or a process and the text contains explanations that teach readers how a particular process works or the procedure required to do or create something.

5. to Describe

When describing is the author’s purpose, the author uses words to complement images in describing something. This type of writing attempts to give a more detailed description of something, a bit more detail than the “thousand words that a picture paints.”

The writer uses adjectives and images to make the reader feel as though it were their own sensory experience.

Main elements and examples of Author’s Purpose

A great way to identify the author’s purpose is to analyze the whole piece of literature. The first step would be to ask “What is the point of this piece?” One can also look at why it was written, who it was written for, and what effect they wanted it to have on readers.

Another method is to break down the text into different categories of purpose. For example, if someone wants their writing to persuade, they would use rhetorical devices (i.e., logical appeals).

Below are the types of publications dominated by each purpose and the things to look for when identifying the author’s purpose.

Persuasive Purpose

Persuasion is usually found in non-fiction, but countless other fiction books have also been used to persuade the reader.

Propaganda works are top of the list when it comes to persuasion in writing. But we also have other works including:

Political speeches
Advertisements
Infomercial scripts and news editorials meant to persuade the reader
Fiction writing whose author has an agenda

How to Identify Persuasive Purpose

When trying to identify persuasion in writing, you should ask yourself if the author is attempting to convince the reader to take a specific course of action.

If the author is trying to persuade their readers, they employ several tactics and schemes including hyperboles, forceful phrases, repetition, supporting evidence, imagery, and photographs, and they attack opposing ideas or proponents.

Informative Purpose

Although some works of fiction are also informative, informative writing is commonly found on non-fiction shelves and dominates academic works.

Many types of academic textbooks are written with the primary purpose of informing the reader.

Informative writing is generally found in the following:

Textbooks
Encyclopedias
Recipe books

How to identify Informative Purpose

Just like in persuasive writing, the writer will attempt to inform the reader by feeding them facts.

So, how can you spot a pure intent to inform?

The difference between the two is that an author whose purpose is persuasion is likely going to provide the reader with some facts in an attempt with the primary goal of convincing the reader of the worthwhileness or valuableness of a particular idea, item, situation, et cetera.

On the other hand, in informative writing, facts are used to inform and are not sugar-coated by the author’s opinion, like is the case when the author’s purpose is to persuade.

Entertaining Purpose

The entertaining purpose dominates fiction writing—there’s a huge emphasis placed on entertaining the reader in almost every fiction book.

In almost every type of fiction (be it science fiction, romance, or fantasy), the writer works on an exciting story that will leave his readers craving for more.

The only issue with this purpose is that the adjective ‘entertaining’ is subjective and what entertains one reader may not be so riveting for another.

For example, the type of ‘entertainment’ one gets from romance novels is different from the amusement another gets from reading science fiction.

Although entertainment in writing is mostly used in fiction, non-fiction works also use storytelling—now and then—to keep the reader engaged and drive home a specific point.

How to identify Entertaining Purpose

Identifying works meant to entertain is fairly easy: When an author intends to entertain or amuse the reader, they use a variety of schemes aimed at getting the readers engaged.

The author may insert some humor into their narrative or use dialogue to weave in some jokes.

The writer may also use cliffhangers at the end of a page or chapter to keep the reader interested in the story.

Explaining Purpose

Authors also write to explain a topic or concept, especially in the non-fiction category. Fiction writers also write to explain things, usually not for the sole purpose of explaining that topic, but to help readers understand the plot, an event, a setting, or a character.

This type of purpose is dominant in How-to books, texts with recipes, DIY books, company or school books for orientation, and others.

How to identify Explaining Purpose

Texts with explaining purpose typically have a list of points (using a numbered or bulleted format), use infographics, diagrams, or illustrations.

Explaining purpose also contains a lot of verbs that try to convey directions, instructions, or guidelines.

Every author’s purpose or motive should be more than just entertaining the reader, it should be about more than just telling a good story.

A lot of authors tell stories to accomplish different objectives – some want to teach, provoke thought and debate, or show people that they’re not alone in their struggles. Others—like yours truly—write an article about the different types of Author’s purpose and hope it changes your writing style accordingly.

Authors must take their audience’s needs and interests into account, as well as their purposes for writing when writing something they intend to publish.

The author should find a way to make a piece that both generates interest as well as provides value to their reader.

5th grade reading & vocabulary

Course: 5th grade reading & vocabulary > unit 3.

The structures of informational texts | Reading

Analyzing an author's purpose | Reading

What is an argument? | Reading
Evaluating a source’s reasoning and evidence
Reading more than one source on a topic | Reading
Inventing Progress: reading informational text; Competition and Collaboration 5

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Video transcript

Your Reading Comprehension Toolkit: Identifying the Author's Purpose

Identifying the author’s purpose is an important comprehension strategy for all readers to master. luckily it’s an easy strategy to teach. that’s because identifying the author’s purpose is pretty intuitive..

Ask a first grader who loves the pigeon books why Mo Willems is such a good author and they’ll likely tell you he’s a good author because he’s funny. Likewise, a fifth grader who’s into books about the American Revolution will tell you that they read the books to learn facts about the war. Both students know why they enjoy what they’re reading. And if they can tell you why they enjoy a text, they can easily identify the author’s purpose.

Identifying the Author’s Purpose Is Easy as Pie

Most students learn to use the following acronym when thinking about the author’s purpose:

P is for Persuade - the author shares their opinion with the reader

I is for Inform - the author presents facts to the reader

E is for Entertain - the author amuses the reader

The PIE acronym is a helpful tool to use when introducing readers to the concept of the author’s purpose. You can use it to build an anchor chart or as a springboard for a whole-class activity like the one outlined below:

Make a PIE to Track Author’s Purpose

Display 3 large paper circles (pie pans) on your wall. Label each circle with an author’s purpose “flavor” (persuade, inform, entertain). Then begin to fill your pies:

Read a variety of texts with your students

Work with students to identify the author’s purpose for writing the text

Make a slice of pie for each text. Write why the text is an example of a specific author’s purpose

Add the slices of pie to the correct pie pan

Track author’s purpose throughout the year and discuss any trends across the books and articles that you read.

Moving Beyond PIE

Once readers are familiar with the basic reasons for an author to write a text they can use what they know to deepen comprehension, think critically about text, and just plain enjoy what they read.

Connect Author’s Purpose to Genre

An author’s purpose for writing is almost always connected to the genre of the text they write. By teaching students to connect common genres to the author’s purpose, you can help them set a purpose for reading and set expectations for the text.

Fiction and Author’s Purpose

When an author like Doreen Cronin seeks to entertain her reader, she does so with a fictional cast of silly animals who make laugh-out-loud mischief. Duck for President , for example, was clearly written to entertain the reader. The basic premise of the story is that Duck becomes frustrated with Farmer Brown and holds an election to take over the farm. If this book featured a cast of human characters, it would not be nearly as funny. But through personifying farm animals, Cronin is able to write a truly funny and engaging book thereby achieving her purpose of entertaining readers.

But what happens when a fiction writer has more than one purpose?

What happens when an author seeks to both entertain their reader and share a message or a lesson with readers? With fictional storytelling, expert authors like Kevin Henkes can craft stories that work to share life lessons with readers. Take Chrysanthemum, for example; a highly relatable story about teasing, self-esteem, and acceptance. Through relying on basic story elements and a cast of appealing characters, Henkes is able to both entertain his reader and persuade them to treat people with kindness.

And so, as a result of sharing fiction books like Chrysanthemum with readers, you can teach your students that an author’s purpose can be two-fold. Not only can fiction be entertaining, but authors can also use fiction for the purpose of persuading readers to consider important life lessons.

Nonfiction and Author’s Purpose

Nonfiction by definition is all about the facts. Strict nonfiction, like National Geographic Kid’s Planets , uses features of nonfiction text and matter-of-fact language to present facts – and just the facts. But nonfiction is not always simple. Some authors use it to persuade and entertain readers as well. Here are some examples of authors who blend their purpose of sharing information with another author’s purpose.

Doreen Rappaport is the author of dozens of books that seek to tell the stories of influential and inspiring people in history. Through her writing, Rappaport shares information. She also seeks to persuade her readers to consider the lessons we can learn from the people she writes about. In Martin’s Big Words , for example, Rappaport shares many facts about Martin Luther King Jr.’s life. She also tells his story in such a way that readers can’t help but acknowledge that King was a strong leader who worked hard to change the world. As a result, students should be able to identify Doreen Rappaport’s two-fold author’s purpose for writing.

Similarly, authors like Judith St. George seek to share information by way of comedy. In her book, So You Want to Be President? , St. George tells fun and interesting facts about each of America’s presidents. She pairs those facts with illustrations done in the style of political caricature. By blending these two elements together, Judith St. Geroge is able to inform and entertain her reader.

Focus on the Facts and Opinions

Moving students to think about the author’s purpose beyond PIE can make it easier for readers to comprehend what they read. That’s because you’re helping them to think critically about the texts they read and set a purpose for reading based on the author’s goals as a writer. However, for many students, the task of distinguishing between facts and opinions can be a stumbling block that interferes with the comprehension of nonfiction. Why? Because opinions can easily be disguised as facts. Here is an example:

Flamingos are interesting birds. Their bright pink color makes them more beautiful than other birds.

Because the sentence is about Flamingos, many students will identify it as nonfiction. This quick categorization might also lead students to believe it is a fact that Flamingos are interesting and more beautiful than other birds. But they would be wrong. These two statements can not be researched and proven. Therefore they are not facts. Instead, these statements are two examples of opinions, because other people might disagree with them.

So, how can you help your students become better at separating fact from fiction?

Give them plenty of practice separating facts from opinions. You can invite students to write fact and opinion statements they find while reading on a class anchor chart or you can play a quick game of I Have… Who Has…? Click here to download your printable . Both options will help readers identify the author’s purpose when reading nonfiction.

Identifying the Author's Purpose in the Real World

Chances are students don’t think of authors as real people. We rarely see pictures of the authors we read or know what they have to say beyond the pages of their books, so it’s easy to think of an author’s purpose as isolated to the books they write. Help your students draw connections between the text they read and the authors who write them by following the author’s social media profiles.

You can collect tweets, interviews, and other short pieces of content that will deepen your student’s perspective on the authors they read. Try using these short pieces of content to identify whether or not an author’s purpose is visible across all the content they write. And, as an added bonus, you’ll begin to teach them to think critically about all of the media that surrounds us.

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A Guide To The Author’s Purpose

What does persuasion mean, some examples of persuasion in writing:, clues to look for persuasive purpose:, what does inform mean, some examples of information in writing:, clues to look for informative purpose:, what does entertain mean, some examples of entertainment in writing:, clues to look for entertaining purpose:, what does explain mean, some examples of explanation in writing:, clues to look for explaining purpose:, what does describe mean, some examples of description in writing:, clues to look for descriptive purpose:.

An essential concept in mastering reading is understanding the why behind the words. What is the author trying to say? What is the motivation, the message, the intent of the literary work?

The reason why the author writes a particular piece of fiction or non-fiction is called the author’s purpose. Authors choose the genre, writing format, and language based on the author’s purpose. Therefore, a student cannot assume the purpose because the text falls in a specific genre category or because it’s a story and not a textbook.

What is authors purpose and how does the reader identify the author’s purpose?

The 5 Types of Author’s Purpose

To persuade.

This is an extremely common form of writing where the author attempts to convince the reader to agree with them or for the reader to act in a specific way. Persuasive writing is easily recognized by a call to action in the text or the author sharing their opinion backed with facts, proof, and examples to help convince the reader.

While it’s commonly found in non-fiction, many well-written fiction books are also attempting to persuade the reader.

Propaganda pieces that influence people to think or act in a certain way
Speeches that attempts to convince the reader to agree with the speaker’s opinion
Advertisements that persuade a person to buy the product or service
Commercial and news editorials that inform and persuade the reader
The author’s purpose is in the motivation behind an essay.
Fiction writing where the author has an agenda intentionally or unintentionally.
Is the author attempting to convince the reader to take a specific action or believe something specific?
Does the author make use of hyperbole?
Does the author use forceful phrases?
Does the author attack viewpoints that oppose theirs?
Is the writing filled with imagery and graphics to extract specific types of emotions from the reader?

When the author’s purpose is to inform, they write objectively and use facts. Although both informative writing and persuasive writing use facts, the goals are different. Persuasive writing uses facts to support an opinion; it’s part of the process to convince the reader and present itself as “informative.” Informative writing, however, uses facts to educate the reader about a certain topic. There is no hidden goal; the author presents informative facts to teach the reader and is not interested in convincing the reader to believe or act in a certain way.

You’ll often find a liberal dose of text features in an text when an author’s purpose is to inform.

Informative writing is generally found in non-fiction writing. Fiction may also present information throughout the text.

School textbooks are written for the primary purpose of teaching students about a subject.
Recipe books provide the ingredients and methods of how to cook a specific dish.
Newspapers inform the public about current events and news happening locally, nationally, or internationally.
Encyclopedias and dictionaries define, explain, and inform about a word or subject.
Does the author use facts to inform and educate without wanting to persuade the reader?
Is the content objective where the author does not give their opinion to convince the student in a specific way?
Does the text contain hidden opinions that are not informative but persuasive?
Did the reader learn something when reading the text?

To Entertain

The author’s purpose in fiction books is generally to entertain the reader. Non-fiction texts, however, may also be entertaining while informing the reader too. Fiction writers use fascinating characters, sharp dialogue, an exciting storyline, or an action-packed plot to keep readers interested and engaged. Readers may prefer reading genres that they find more enjoyable than others.

Although entertainment in writing is generally found in fiction, non-fiction writers also may use storytelling to engage the reader and accentuate a point.

Genre fiction authors write for readers who enjoy reading the type of stories typical to that genre. Readers could be picky with the genres they prefer. For example, science fiction readers may not find romance novels as entertaining, and romance lovers may not enjoy suspense that much.
The author tells an entertaining story that the reader wants to read.
Does the writer use techniques to keep the reader engaged?
Do chapters end with cliffhangers or in such a way that all the questions aren’t answered entice the reader to read the next chapter to find out what happened next?
Does the story or text contain humor, funny incidents, or characters telling jokes?
Do action-packed scenes build on each other to increase suspense?
Does the reader identify with a character or circumstances that invite them to read further?

Authors write explanatory text when they want to bring across a particular method or process. The text contains explanations to help the reader understand how the process works or what the procedure requires to do, create, or complete something.

Authors who write to explain a topic generally write non-fiction books. An author may also explain a topic in a novel, for example, how a drone works, to better understand the situation or character better.

How-to books explain to the reader how to do something or how something works.
A book with recipes is a classic example of explaining a method to the reader. The reader follows the instructions to cook that specific dish.
Step-by-step guides like DIY methods instruct the reader through each step by explaining what to do to complete that step.
Companies may use procedural outlines in orientation or training outlining the steps and the order the actions should take place.
Does the writing contain a list of points in numbered or bullet format?
Are there infographics, diagrams, or illustrations that reinforce the written explanation?
Is the writing action orientated with lots of verbs that portray commands, orders, or instructions?
Does the text focus on telling the reader how to do something?

To Describe

If describing is the author’s purpose, then the text may contain adjectives and images to illustrate something in detail. The writer may write with such detail that the reader experiences the imagery through their sense as if it were real.

Fiction authors use descriptions in their writing to engage and entertain the reader. Non-fiction may also use detailed reports expanding on a point.

Novels and short stories contain descriptions to paint a picture drawing the reader into the story.
Businesses use product descriptions to show potential customer what they will buy.
Descriptive essays and other non-fiction writing use descriptions to help the reader understand the point, product, or service.
Does the writer use adjectives to describe something?
Does the author use language that appeals to the reader’s senses?

Retha Groenewald is a professional writer working for FractusLearning. When not working with Fractus, she is web copywriter for the Christian market. Her writing is featured at Christian Web Copywriter and at Writing That Breathes Life.

What is the purpose of biography and autobiography?

Table of Contents

1 What is the purpose of biography and autobiography?
2 What is the author’s purpose of writing an autobiography?
3 What are some good topics for an autobiography?
4 Can you write an autobiography for a college paper?

The purpose of writing a biography is to introduce and inform the readers about the person and his life whereas an autobiography is written in order to express, the life experiences and achievements of the narrator.

What is the author’s purpose of writing an autobiography?

Author’s Purpose: The author’s intent to inform or teach someone about something, to entertain people, or to persuade or convince the audience to do or not do something. Autobiography: The story of a person’s life written by himself or herself.

What makes an autobiography a autobiography?

Simply put, a biography is the life history of an individual, written by someone else. An autobiography is the story of a person’s life, written by that person.

What is the purpose of writing an autobiography?

What are some good topics for an autobiography?

Can you write an autobiography for a college paper.

Where do you put the title in an autobiography?

Privacy Overview

How to Write a Biography

Biographies are big business. Whether in book form or Hollywood biopics, the lives of the famous and sometimes not-so-famous fascinate us.

While it’s true that most biographies are about people who are in the public eye, sometimes the subject is less well-known. Primarily, though, famous or not, the person who is written about has led an incredible life.

In this article, we will explain biography writing in detail for teachers and students so they can create their own.

While your students will most likely have a basic understanding of a biography, it’s worth taking a little time before they put pen to paper to tease out a crystal-clear definition of one.

What Is a Biography?

how to write a biography | how to start an autobiography | How to Write a Biography | literacyideas.com

A biography is an account of someone’s life written by someone else . While there is a genre known as a fictional biography, for the most part, biographies are, by definition, nonfiction.

Generally speaking, biographies provide an account of the subject’s life from the earliest days of their childhood to the present day or their death if the subject is deceased.

The job of a biography is more than just to outline the bare facts of a person’s life.

Rather than just listing the basic details of their upbringing, hobbies, education, work, relationships, and death, a well-written biography should also paint a picture of the subject’s personality and experience of life.

A COMPLETE UNIT ON TEACHING BIOGRAPHIES

how to write a biography | biography and autobiography writing unit 1 | How to Write a Biography | literacyideas.com

Teach your students to write AMAZING BIOGRAPHIES & AUTOBIOGRAPHIES using proven RESEARCH SKILLS and WRITING STRATEGIES .

Understand the purpose of both forms of biography.
Explore the language and perspective of both.
Prompts and Challenges to engage students in writing a biography.
Dedicated lessons for both forms of biography.
Biographical Projects can expand students’ understanding of reading and writing a biography.
A COMPLETE 82-PAGE UNIT – NO PREPARATION REQUIRED.

Features of a Biography

Before students begin writing a biography, they’ll need to have a firm grasp of the main features of Biography. An excellent way to determine how well they understand these essential elements is to ask them to compile a checklist like the one blow

At a minimum, their checklists should contain the items below. Be sure to help them fill in any gaps before moving on to the writing process.

The purpose of a biography is to provide an account of someone’s life.

Biography structure.

ORIENTATION (BEGINNING) Open your biography with a strong hook to grab the reader’s attention

SEQUENCING: In most cases, biographies are written in chronological order unless you are a very competent writer consciously trying to break from this trend.

COVER: childhood, upbringing, education, influences, accomplishments, relationships, etc. – everything that helps the reader to understand the person.

CONCLUSION: Wrap your biography up with some details about what the subject is doing now if they are still alive. If they have passed away, make mention of what impact they have made and what their legacy is or will be.

BIOGRAPHY FEATURES

LANGUAGE Use descriptive and figurative language that will paint images inside your audience’s minds as they read. Use time connectives to link events.

PERSPECTIVE Biographies are written from the third person’s perspective.

DETAILS: Give specific details about people, places, events, times, dates, etc. Reflect on how events shaped the subject. You might want to include some relevant photographs with captions. A timeline may also be of use depending upon your subject and what you are trying to convey to your audience.

TENSE Written in the past tense (though ending may shift to the present/future tense)

THE PROCESS OF WRITING A BIOGRAPHY

Like any form of writing, you will find it simple if you have a plan and follow it through. These steps will ensure you cover the essential bases of writing a biography essay.

Firstly, select a subject that inspires you. Someone whose life story resonates with you and whose contribution to society intrigues you. The next step is to conduct thorough research. Engage in extensive reading, explore various sources, watch documentaries, and glean all available information to provide a comprehensive account of the person’s life.

Creating an outline is essential to organize your thoughts and information. The outline should include the person’s early life, education, career, achievements, and any other significant events or contributions. It serves as a map for the writing process, ensuring that all vital information is included.

Your biography should have an engaging introduction that captivates the reader’s attention and provides background information on the person you’re writing about. It should include a thesis statement that summarizes the main points of the biography.

Writing a biography in chronological order is crucial . You should begin with the person’s early life and move through their career and achievements. This approach provides clarity on how the person’s life unfolded and how they accomplished their goals.

A biography should be written in a narrative style , capturing the essence of the person’s life through vivid descriptions, anecdotes, and quotes. Avoid dry, factual writing and focus on creating a compelling narrative that engages the reader.

Adding personal insights and opinions can enhance the biography’s overall impact, providing a unique perspective on the person’s achievements, legacy, and impact on society.

Editing and proofreading are vital elements of the writing process. Thoroughly reviewing your biography ensures that the writing is clear, concise, and error-free. You can even request feedback from someone else to ensure that it is engaging and well-written.

Finally, including a bibliography at the end of your biography is essential. It gives credit to the sources that were used during research, such as books, articles, interviews, and websites.

Tips for Writing a Brilliant Biography

Biography writing tip #1: choose your subject wisely.

There are several points for students to reflect on when deciding on a subject for their biography. Let’s take a look at the most essential points to consider when deciding on the subject for a biography:

Interest: To produce a biography will require sustained writing from the student. That’s why students must choose their subject well. After all, a biography is an account of someone’s entire life to date. Students must ensure they choose a subject that will sustain their interest throughout the research, writing, and editing processes.

Merit: Closely related to the previous point, students must consider whether the subject merits the reader’s interest. Aside from pure labors of love, writing should be undertaken with the reader in mind. While producing a biography demands sustained writing from the author, it also demands sustained reading from the reader.

Therefore, students should ask themselves if their chosen subject has had a life worthy of the reader’s interest and the time they’d need to invest in reading their biography.

Information: Is there enough information available on the subject to fuel the writing of an entire biography? While it might be a tempting idea to write about a great-great-grandfather’s experience in the war. There would be enough interest there to sustain the author’s and the reader’s interest, but do you have enough access to information about their early childhood to do the subject justice in the form of a biography?

Biography Writing Tip #2: R esearch ! Research! Research!

While the chances are good that the student already knows quite a bit about the subject they’ve chosen. Chances are 100% that they’ll still need to undertake considerable research to write their biography.

As with many types of writing , research is an essential part of the planning process that shouldn’t be overlooked. If a student wishes to give as complete an account of their subject’s life as possible, they’ll need to put in the time at the research stage.

An effective way to approach the research process is to:

1. Compile a chronological timeline of the central facts, dates, and events of the subject’s life

2. Compile detailed descriptions of the following personal traits:

Physical looks
Character traits
Values and beliefs

3. Compile some research questions based on different topics to provide a focus for the research:

Childhood : Where and when were they born? Who were their parents? Who were the other family members? What education did they receive?
Obstacles: What challenges did they have to overcome? How did these challenges shape them as individuals?
Legacy: What impact did this person have on the world and/or the people around them?
Dialogue & Quotes: Dialogue and quotations by and about the subject are a great way to bring color and life to a biography. Students should keep an eagle eye out for the gems that hide amid their sources.

As the student gets deeper into their research, new questions will arise that can further fuel the research process and help to shape the direction the biography will ultimately go in.

Likewise, during the research, themes will often begin to suggest themselves. Exploring these themes is essential to bring depth to biography, but we’ll discuss this later in this article.

Research Skills:

Researching for biography writing is an excellent way for students to hone their research skills in general. Developing good research skills is essential for future academic success. Students will have opportunities to learn how to:

Gather relevant information
Evaluate different information sources
Select suitable information
Organize information into a text.

Students will have access to print and online information sources, and, in some cases, they may also have access to people who knew or know the subject (e.g. biography of a family member).

These days, much of the research will likely take place online. It’s crucial, therefore, to provide your students with guidance on how to use the internet safely and evaluate online sources for reliability. This is the era of ‘ fake news ’ and misinformation after all!

COMPLETE TEACHING UNIT ON INTERNET RESEARCH SKILLS USING GOOGLE SEARCH

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Teach your students ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF THE INFORMATION ERA to become expert DIGITAL RESEARCHERS.

⭐How to correctly ask questions to search engines on all devices.

⭐ How to filter and refine your results to find exactly what you want every time.

⭐ Essential Research and critical thinking skills for students.

⭐ Plagiarism, Citing and acknowledging other people’s work.

⭐ How to query, synthesize and record your findings logically.

BIOGRAPHY WRITING Tip #3: Find Your Themes In Biography Writing

Though predominantly a nonfiction genre, the story still plays a significant role in good biography writing. The skills of characterization and plot structuring are transferable here. And, just like in fiction, exploring themes in a biographical work helps connect the personal to the universal. Of course, these shouldn’t be forced; this will make the work seem contrived, and the reader may lose faith in the truthfulness of the account. A biographer needs to gain and maintain the trust of the reader.

Fortunately, themes shouldn’t need to be forced. A life well-lived is full of meaning, and the themes the student writer is looking for will emerge effortlessly from the actions and events of the subject’s life. It’s just a case of learning how to spot them.

One way to identify the themes in a life is to look for recurring events or situations in a person’s life. These should be apparent from the research completed previously. The students should seek to identify these patterns that emerge in the subject’s life. For example, perhaps they’ve had to overcome various obstacles throughout different periods of their life. In that case, the theme of overcoming adversity is present and has been identified.

Usually, a biography has several themes running throughout, so be sure your students work to identify more than one theme in their subject’s life.

BIOGRAPHY WRITING Tip: #4 Put Something of Yourself into the Writing

While the defining feature of a biography is that it gives an account of a person’s life, students must understand that this is not all a biography does. Relating the facts and details of a subject’s life is not enough. The student biographer should not be afraid to share their thoughts and feelings with the reader throughout their account of their subject’s life.

The student can weave some of their personality into the fabric of the text by providing commentary and opinion as they relate the events of the person’s life and the wider social context at the time. Unlike the detached and objective approach we’d expect to find in a history textbook, in a biography, student-writers should communicate their enthusiasm for their subject in their writing.

This makes for a more intimate experience for the reader, as they get a sense of getting to know the author and the subject they are writing about.

Student Examples of Biography Writing

Year 5 Example
Year 7 Example
Year 9 Example

“The Rock ‘n’ Roll King: Elvis Presley”

Elvis Aaron Presley, born on January 8, 1935, was an amazing singer and actor known as the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Even though he’s been dead for nearly 50 years, I can’t help but be fascinated by his incredible life!

Elvis grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi, in a tiny house with his parents and twin brother. His family didn’t have much money, but they shared a love for music. Little did they know Elvis would become a music legend!

When he was only 11 years old, Elvis got his first guitar. He taught himself to play and loved singing gospel songs. As he got older, he started combining different music styles like country, blues, and gospel to create a whole new sound – that’s Rock ‘n’ Roll!

In 1954, at the age of 19, Elvis recorded his first song, “That’s All Right.” People couldn’t believe how unique and exciting his music was. His famous hip-swinging dance moves also made him a sensation!

Elvis didn’t just rock the music scene; he also starred in movies like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock.” But fame came with challenges. Despite facing ups and downs, Elvis kept spreading happiness through his music.

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Tragically, Elvis passed away in 1977, but his music and charisma live on. Even today, people worldwide still enjoy his songs like “Hound Dog” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Elvis Presley’s legacy as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll will live forever.

Long Live the King: I wish I’d seen him.

Elvis Presley, the Rock ‘n’ Roll legend born on January 8, 1935, is a captivating figure that even a modern-day teen like me can’t help but admire. As I delve into his life, I wish I could have experienced the magic of his live performances.

Growing up in Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis faced challenges but found solace in music. At 11, he got his first guitar, a symbol of his journey into the world of sound. His fusion of gospel, country, and blues into Rock ‘n’ Roll became a cultural phenomenon.

The thought of being in the audience during his early performances, especially when he recorded “That’s All Right” at 19, sends shivers down my spine. Imagining the crowd’s uproar and feeling the revolutionary energy of that moment is a dream I wish I could have lived.

Elvis wasn’t just a musical prodigy; he was a dynamic performer. His dance moves, the embodiment of rebellion, and his roles in films like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock” made him a true icon.

After watching him on YouTube, I can’t help but feel a little sad that I’ll never witness the King’s live performances. The idea of swaying to “Hound Dog” or being enchanted by “Can’t Help Falling in Love” in person is a missed opportunity. Elvis may have left us in 1977, but he was the king of rock n’ roll. Long live the King!

Elvis Presley: A Teen’s Take on the Rock ‘n’ Roll Icon”

Elvis Presley, born January 8, 1935, was a revolutionary force in the music world, earning his title as the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Exploring his life, even as a 16-year-old today, I’m captivated by the impact he made.

Hailing from Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis grew up in humble beginnings, surrounded by the love of his parents and twin brother. It’s inspiring to think that, despite financial challenges, this young man would redefine the music scene.

At 11, Elvis got his first guitar, sparking a self-taught journey into music. His early gospel influences evolved into a unique fusion of country, blues, and gospel, creating the electrifying genre of Rock ‘n’ Roll. In 1954, at only 19, he recorded “That’s All Right,” marking the birth of a musical legend.

Elvis wasn’t just a musical innovator; he was a cultural phenomenon. His rebellious dance moves and magnetic stage presence challenged the norms. He transitioned seamlessly into acting, starring in iconic films like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock.”

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However, fame came at a cost, and Elvis faced personal struggles. Despite the challenges, his music continued to resonate. Even now, classics like “Hound Dog” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love” transcend generations.

Elvis Presley’s impact on music and culture is undeniable. He was known for his unique voice, charismatic persona, and electrifying performances. He sold over one billion records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling solo artists in history. He received numerous awards throughout his career, including three Grammy Awards and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Elvis’s influence can still be seen in today’s music. Many contemporary artists, such as Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, and Justin Timberlake, have cited Elvis as an inspiration. His music continues to be featured in movies, TV shows, and commercials.

Elvis left us in 1977, but his legacy lives on. I appreciate his breaking barriers and fearlessly embracing his artistic vision. Elvis Presley’s impact on music and culture is timeless, a testament to the enduring power of his artistry. His music has inspired generations and will continue to do so for many years to come.

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Teaching Resources

Use our resources and tools to improve your student’s writing skills through proven teaching strategies.

BIOGRAPHY WRITING TEACHING IDEAS AND LESSONS

We have compiled a sequence of biography-related lessons or teaching ideas that you can follow as you please. They are straightforward enough for most students to follow without further instruction.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 1:

This session aims to give students a broader understanding of what makes a good biography.

Once your students have compiled a comprehensive checklist of the main features of a biography, allow them to use it to assess some biographies from your school library or on the internet using the feature checklist.

When students have assessed a selection of biographies, take some time as a class to discuss them. You can base the discussion around the following prompts:

Which biographies covered all the criteria from their checklist?
Which biographies didn’t?
Which biography was the most readable in terms of structure?
Which biography do you think was the least well-structured? How would you improve this?

Looking at how other writers have interpreted the form will help students internalize the necessary criteria before attempting to produce a biography. Once students have a clear understanding of the main features of the biography, they’re ready to begin work on writing a biography.

When the time does come to put pen to paper, be sure they’re armed with the following top tips to help ensure they’re as well prepared as possible.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 2:

This session aims to guide students through the process of selecting the perfect biography subject.

Instruct students to draw up a shortlist of three potential subjects for the biography they’ll write.

Using the three criteria mentioned in the writing guide (Interest, Merit, and Information), students award each potential subject a mark out of 5 for each of the criteria. In this manner, students can select the most suitable subject for their biography.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 3:

This session aims to get students into the researching phase and then prioritise events and organise them chronologically.

Students begin by making a timeline of their subject’s life, starting with their birth and ending with their death or the present day. If the student has yet to make a final decision on the subject of their biography, a family member will often serve well for this exercise as a practice exercise.

Students should research and gather the key events of the person’s life, covering each period of their life from when they were a baby, through childhood and adolescence, right up to adulthood and old age. They should then organize these onto a timeline. Students can include photographs with captions if they have them.

They can present these to the class when they have finished their timelines.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 4:

Instruct students to look over their timeline, notes, and other research. Challenge them to identify three patterns that repeat throughout the subject’s life and sort all the related events and incidents into specific categories.

Students should then label each category with a single word. This is the thematic concept or the broad general underlying idea. After that, students should write a sentence or two expressing what the subject’s life ‘says’ about that concept.

This is known as the thematic statement . With the thematic concepts and thematic statements identified, the student now has some substantial ideas to explore that will help bring more profound meaning and wider resonance to their biography.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 5:

Instruct students to write a short objective account of an event in their own life. They can write about anyone from their past. It needn’t be more than a couple of paragraphs, but the writing should be strictly factual, focusing only on the objective details of what happened.

Once they have completed this, it’s time to rewrite the paragraph, but they should include some opinion and personal commentary this time.

The student here aims to inject some color and personality into their writing, to transform a detached, factual account into a warm, engaging story.

Get our FREE Biography Writing Graphic Organizer

Use this valuable tool in the research and writing phases to keep your students on track and engaged.

WRITING CHECKLIST & RUBRIC BUNDLE

To Conclude

By this stage, your students should have an excellent technical overview of a biography’s essential elements.

They should be able to choose their subject in light of how interesting and worthy they are, as well as give consideration to the availability of information out there. They should be able to research effectively and identify emerging themes in their research notes. And finally, they should be able to bring some of their personality and uniqueness into their retelling of the life of another.

Remember that writing a biography is not only a great way to develop a student’s writing skills; it can be used in almost all curriculum areas. For example, to find out more about a historical figure in History, to investigate scientific contributions to Science, or to celebrate a hero from everyday life.

Biography is an excellent genre for students to develop their writing skills and to find inspiration in the lives of others in the world around them.

HOW TO WRITE A BIOGRAPHY TUTORIAL VIDEO

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How to write an Autobiography

How to Write a Historical Recount Text

15 Awesome Recount & Personal Narrative Topics

Personal Narrative Writing Guide

Finding the Author's Purpose

Test Prep Strategies
Study Skills
SAT Test Prep
ACT Test Prep
GRE Test Prep
LSAT Test Prep
Certifications
Homework Help
Private School
College Admissions
College Life
Graduate School
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Distance Learning

B.A., English, University of Michigan

Knowing what author's purpose questions look like is one thing. Finding it is quite another! On a standardized test , you'll have answer choices to help you figure it out, but distractor questions will often confuse you. On a short answer test, you'll have nothing but your own brain to figure it out, and sometimes it isn't as easy at it seems. It may be helpful to practice these types of questions while preparing for standardized tests.

Look For Clue Words

Figuring out why an author wrote a particular passage can be as easy (or as difficult) as looking at clues inside the passage. I've mentioned in the "What is the Author's Purpose" article several different reasons an author would have to write a passage of text, and what those reasons mean. Below, you'll find those reasons, with the clue words associated with them.

Compare: Author wanted to show similarities between ideas Clue Words: both, similarly, in the same way, like, just as
Contrast: Author wanted to show differences between ideas Clue Words: however, but, dissimilarly, on the other hand
Criticize: Author wanted to give a negative opinion of an idea Clue Words: Look for words that show the author's negative opinion. Judgment words like "bad", "wasteful", and "poor" all demonstrate negative opinions.
Describe/Illustrate: Author wanted to paint a picture of an idea Clue Words: Look for words that provide descriptive detail. Adjectives like "red", "lusty", "morose", "striped", "sparkling", and "crestfallen" are all illustrative.
Explain: Author wanted to break down an idea into simpler terms Clue Words: Look for words that turn a complicated process into simple language. A "descriptive" text will use more adjectives. An "explanatory" text will usually be used with a complicated idea.
Identify/List: Author wanted to tell the reader about an idea or series of ideas Clue Words: Text that identifies or lists, will name an idea or series of ideas without providing much description or opinion.
Intensify: Author wanted to make an idea greater Clue Words: Text that intensifies will add more specific details to the idea. Look for superlative adjectives and "bigger" concepts. A baby sadly crying is descriptive, but a baby mournfully howling red-cheeked for 30 minutes is more intense.
Suggest: Author wanted to propose an idea Clue Words: "Suggest" answers are usually positive opinions and try to sway the reader to believe. The author will provide a point, then use details to prove it.

Underline the Clue Words

It helps to use that pencil in your hand when you're reading if you're unsure what the author's purpose is. As you read, underline the clue words in the text to help you get a better idea. Then, either compose a sentence using the key words (compare, explain, illustrate) to show why the author wrote the piece or select the best answer from the choices given.

What is The Author's Purpose?
How to Find the Main Idea
How to Make an Inference in 5 Easy Steps
What Is Author's Tone?
Worksheet 1: Author's Purpose
3 Tricks to Figure out the Author's Tone
Top 5 ACT Reading Strategies
How to Boost Reading Comprehension With Reciprocal Teaching
5 Tips to Improve Reading Comprehension
Worksheet 1: Author's Tone
Tricks, Tips, and the Benefits of Pre-Reading Text
Predictions to Support Reading Comprehension
What Is a Written Summary?
How to Speak Shakespearean Verse
Nonfiction Reading Comprehension Worksheets
English Grammar: Discussions, Definitions, and Examples

13 Author’s Purpose

Authors and audiences both have a wide range of purposes for communicating. The importance of purpose in rhetorical situations cannot be overstated. It is the varied purposes of a rhetorical situation that determine how an author communicates a text and how audiences receive a text. Rhetorical situations rarely have only one purpose. Authors and audiences tend to bring their own purposes (and often multiple purposes each) to a rhetorical situation, and these purposes may conflict or complement each other depending on the efforts of both authors and audiences.

UTHORS’ PURPOSES

In the textbook Writing Today , Johnson-Sheehan and Paine discuss purpose more specifically in terms of the author of a text. They suggest that most texts written in college or in the workplace often fill one of two broader purposes: to be informative or to be persuasive. Under each of these two broad purposes, they identify a host of more specific purposes. The following table is not exhaustive; authors could easily have purposes that are not listed on this table.

Table: Author Purposes

Share This Book

How To Write An Author’s Biography—7 Best Facets To Share With Readers

August 9, 2022

Writing an author bio is a crucial step in your writing career.

How your bio is written will give publishers, critics, and readers their first impression of you.

So, how do you portray yourself well in a short bio using 100-200 words, which is the standard author bio length?

Beyond the word limit, how do you write an author bio that makes an impact? Check out the tips and advice below, followed by examples of quality author bios from which to take inspiration.

If you are at a loss about how to write an author’s biography for your originally published work, this article is for you.

How to write an author’s biography

Readers, literary agents, and publishing companies want to know who you are. Artists are also businesses unto themselves, and a great pitch is key to good business.

Consider your author bio as your sales pitch. Why should a reader read your work ? What’s in it for literary agents and publishers?

How many words are in an author bio?

A typical author bio is only around 100 words. As a writer, you know that 100 words are very few to share your entire life experience.

The challenge in writing your own bio lies in condensing all the critical, relevant, and interesting information about yourself in such a short passage.

What to include in an author bio

With all the information about your life, which is relevant to most readers and will pique their interests?

1. Your background

Where are you from? And where do you live now?

Readers often naturally resonate with those from their hometown or favorite city. Your home and current city/country are one line in your bio and may be condensed to half a sentence (examples to follow).

2. Personal background

Who are you, and what made you that way? What experiences have you had that relate to your book’s theme or story?

What do you love to write about? Are you into creative writing focusing on poetry? What’s your niche, your style, your inspiration?

How about your relevant work experience? Have you worked in publishing? Have you been featured in reputable literary journals or magazines?

Use the questions and suggestions above as a guide. You don’t have to include all this information, or you can include more.

The critical thing to remember is to keep everything simple and concise.

Follow the basic author bio template outlined below to get started.

Start your author bio a strong opening line. This is the reader’s first point of contact with who you are, so make it relevant and memorable.

Consider mentioning where you’re from to connect with potential locals or establish yourself as a member of a cultural scene.

New York City and Portland, Oregon are famous scenes for writers, and mentioning that you’re from there (as long as you really are!) can improve how a potential reader views you and your work.

4. Reputation and achievements

After your introduction, show off your previous experience and success by mentioning awards you’ve won or for which you’ve been nominated and previous work published.

Highlighting your achievements in your author bio instills confidence in the readers that your work is high quality and worth their time.

5. Why should readers consider your work?

Now that you’ve introduced yourself and highlighted your achievements, it’s time to show potential readers why you’re a credible author in your niche. How does your experience make you an authority in the subject?

You do not need to be a published author of ten books just to be able to show your authority in the field or genre you’ve chosen.

If you write about war, were you in service? If you write about art, are you an artist or art critic? Help readers feel confident by establishing your authority in your particular field or niche through your author bio.

6. Themes, style, genre

You’ve shown the reader why you can write about the niche. Now it’s time to offer them even more information about what to expect for your work.

Over the next line or two, outline your style and themes.

Are you in to creative writing or are you more focused on academic writing?

Do you mostly write contemporary romance? Historical fiction? Satire?

Readers often choose books by their genre of preference, so it’s essential to highlight your genre , themes, and style in your author bio. Doing so attracts already-interested readers, whereby your style and themes are major selling points.

7. Off-time

What do you do when you’re not writing? You’re human, so you have other qualities, hobbies, and passions beyond your career.

Using your author bio, let readers know what your personal interests are, the activities you like to do in your spare time or causes you are passionate about.

Relatability is vital in readers’ purchasing decisions, so get vulnerable and show a more intimate side of yourself in your bio.

The template

Here are some helpful templates to give you an idea on how to structure your author bio:

[Author] was born in [location] and now resides in [location]. Known for their works [book title] and [book title] (or) published in [journal/publication], [author] has a lot to offer fans of [genre].

Having worked as [experience], [Author] offers experience-based insight into the world of [topic/niche]. [Author] explores [themes] with style, wit, and grace.

In their spare time, [Author] likes to spend time on [hobbies].

The above is a basic author bio template but a good starting point. Use the template to write your own author bio but feel free to edit and change the structure and content as you see fit.

Author bios: First person or third person?

Authors often write their own bios but write in the third person because doing so reads well and helps you sound more reputable and established.

If you write in the first person (using ‘I’ statements), it’s too easy to sound overconfident and conceited.

Keeping the bio narrative in the third person makes it much easier to talk yourself up without sounding arrogant or ‘tooting your own horn.’

The importance of an author bio

Your bio serves as a type of business card.

A bio is crucial, whether as self publishing authors or as someone who published traditionally. It informs potential readers of your background, style, and character.

Essentially, your bio is a sales pitch, one of y our book marketing tools. It’s the ‘why’ regarding a reader’s decision to read or purchase your work.

Your bio helps you establish and improve your reputation, by putting forward a specific perspective on who you are.

Credibility and authority

What qualifies you to write about your niche or topic? If you write a book about travel and you inform readers of your extensive traveling experience, that gives your credibility and authority on the subject.

Readers are more likely to engage with your book if you write a non-fiction book about self-care and have experience working as a therapist or counselor.

Similarly, suppose you inform readers of your past success, such as getting published in a reputable literary journal or magazines like the Wall Street Journal or USA Today. In that case, they feel more confident that your work is worth their time and money.

Relatability

Famous authors such as Stephen King or Haruki Murakami don’t need to rely on their author bio as much as lesser-known or first-time authors.

Such authors already have an established reputation that gives readers confidence and interest.

However, if you’re a first-time freelance writer or don’t have the level of fame as the authors mentioned, your bio is how you instill confidence in the reader.

If a reader chooses to read work by an author whom they’ve never heard of, they naturally want to know more about said author.

In what ways can you relate to the reader? For example, if you write a psychology book about anxiety, your experiences of struggling with and overcoming fear will be incredibly relevant and relatable information for the reader.

Several factors influence a potential reader’s purchasing decision when interested in a book from an author they’ve never heard. Book marketing covers a wide range of tools and activities.

These factors are often surface level, such as the book cover , the size of the book, and how they heard about it in the first place.

Another major factor is the author’s bio. Your bio is not the same as other ‘hard sell’ marketing tactics, but rather a soft sell, a gentle persuasion to give your work a chance.

Examples of Author Bios

If you want to write a killer bio, it’s wise to take inspiration from great author bio examples.

Below we’ve included the author bios of renowned authors John Scalzi ( Old Man’s War , Redshirts) , June Hur (The Silence of Bones, The Forest of Stolen Girls), and John Grisham (The Pelican Brief).

John Scalzi

John Scalzi writes books, which makes perfect sense considering where you’re reading this. He’s best known for writing science fiction, including the New York Times bestseller Redshirts, which won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. He also writes non-fiction on subjects ranging from personal finance to astronomy to film and was the Creative Consultant for the Stargate: Universe television series. He enjoys pie, as should all right-thinking people. You can get to his blog by typing the word “Whatever” into Google. No, seriously, try it.

Scalzi’s wit shines in his opening line. Following the opener, we learn about his genre (sci-fi), previously published work, and literary achievements.

Finally, he adds more humor to give the reader a warm, soft giggle. Scalzi’s personality shines through his bio and earns him the positive reputation he boasts today.

June Hur was born in South Korea and raised in Canada, except when she moved back to Korea and attended high school there. She studied History and Literature at the University of Toronto. She began writing her debut novel after obsessing over books about Joseon Korea. She can be found wandering through nature or journaling at a coffee shop when she’s not writing. June is the Author of The Silence of Bones and The Forest of Stolen Girls and currently lives in Toronto with her husband and daughter.

June Hur’s opening byline offers a crash course in her background. Following her opener, we learn about her education and early days as a writer.

What makes June Hur’s bio so great is that it offers readers a peek into her personal life outside of writing, which makes her more three-dimensional and relatable.

John Grisham

John Grisham is the author of forty-seven consecutive #1 bestsellers, which have been translated into nearly fifty languages. His recent books include The Judge’s List, Sooley, and his third Jake Brigance novel, A Time for Mercy, which is being developed by HBO as a limited series. Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction. When he’s not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system. John lives on a farm in central Virginia.

Grisham’s bio highlights his writing achievements and provides the reader with a sense of his credibility. The personal details of his life emphasize his belief in justice and equality.

Grisham’s bio adds a personal touch that also makes him relatable – he offers the reader information about his home – a bit of information that also helps him come across as relatable to the reader, even amongst all of his accomplishments.

Your author biography is never really finished. The more you write , the more experience you gain, and the greater your reputation, the more you can adapt and come up with your own killer author bio.

Even if you’re a first-time author, don’t be intimidated by the bio. You may not have much experience now, but you can still introduce readers into your life and experience. In time, you will establish yourself as a respectable authority in your niche.

120 Motivational Quotes About Writing To Inspire A New Writer Like You

How To Register A Kindle On Amazon To Enjoy Your Ebooks In 4 Easy Ways

How To Market A Self-Published Book And Be Profitable In 9 Easy Ways

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How Text Sections Convey an Author’s Purpose

Explore excerpts from the extraordinary autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass , as you examine the author's purpose for writing and his use of the problem and solution text structure. By the end of this interactive tutorial, you should be able to explain how Douglass uses the problem and solution text structure in these excerpts to convey his purpose for writing.

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General information, source and access information, aligned standards, suggested tutorials.

Explore and compare objects in the solar system, including planets, moons, the Sun, comets, and asteroids, with this interactive research page.

Explore how weathering and erosion may have affected Pnyx Hill, the ancient Greek democratic meeting place which influenced our modern government with this interactive tutorial.

Continue to study George Vest's "Eulogy of the Dog" speech and his use of rhetorical appeals. In Part Two of this two-part series, you'll identify his use of ethos and pathos throughout his speech.

Make sure to complete Part One before beginning Part Two. Click HERE to launch Part One.

Read George Vest's "Eulogy of the Dog" speech in this two-part interactive tutorial. In this series, you'll identify and examine Vest's use of ethos, pathos, and logos in his speech. In Part One, you'll identify Vest's use of logos in the first part of his speech. In Part Two, you'll identify his use of ethos and pathos throughout his speech.

Make sure to complete both part of this series! Click HERE to launch Part Two.

Continue to study epic similes in excerpts from The Iliad in Part Two of this two-part series. In Part Two, you'll learn about mood and how the language of an epic simile produces a specified mood in excerpts from The Iliad .

Make sure to complete Part One before beginning Part Two. Click HERE to view "That's So Epic: How Epic Similes Contribute to Mood (Part One)."

Learn about how epic similes create mood in a text, specifically in excerpts from The Iliad , in this two-part series.

In Part One, you'll define epic simile, identify epic similes based on defined characteristics, and explain the comparison created in an epic simile.

In Part Two, you'll learn about mood and how the language of an epic simile produces a specified mood in excerpts from The Iliad . Make sure to complete both parts!

Click HERE to view "That's So Epic: How Epic Similes Contribute to Mood (Part Two)."

Identify rhyme, alliteration, and repetition in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" and analyze how he used these sound devices to affect the poem in this interactive tutorial.

Study excerpts from the classic American novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott in this interactive English Language Arts tutorial. Using excerpts from chapter eight of Little Women, you'll identify key characters and their actions. You'll also explain how interactions between characters contributes to the development of the plot.

Examine how allusions contribute to meaning in excerpts from O. Henry's classic American short story “The Gift of the Magi." In this interactive tutorial, you'll determine how allusions in the text better develop the key story elements of setting, characters, and conflict and explain how the allusion to the Magi contributes to the story’s main message about what it means to give a gift.

Learn to identify imagery in William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 18" and explain how that imagery contributes to the poem's meaning with this interactive tutorial.

Study William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 18" to determine and compare two universal themes and how they are developed throughout the sonnet.

Explore the form and meaning of William Shakespeare's “Sonnet 18.” In this interactive tutorial, you’ll examine how specific words and phrases contribute to meaning in the sonnet, select the features of a Shakespearean sonnet in the poem, identify the solution to a problem, and explain how the form of a Shakespearean sonnet contributes to the meaning of "Sonnet 18."

Analyze how O. Henry uses details to address the topics of value, sacrifice, and love in his famous short story, "The Gift of the Magi." In this interactive tutorial, you'll also determine two universal themes of the story.

Explore key story elements in more excerpts from the classic American short story “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry.

In Part Two of this two-part series, you'll analyze how important information about two main characters is revealed through the context of the story’s setting and events in the plot. By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to explain how character development, setting, and plot interact in "The Gift of the Magi."

Make sure to complete Part One before beginning Part Two. Click HERE to launch Part One.

Explore key story elements in the classic American short story “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry. Throughout this two-part tutorial, you'll analyze how important information about two main characters is revealed through the context of the story’s setting and events in the plot. By the end of this tutorial series, you should be able to explain how character development, setting, and plot interact in excerpts from this short story.

Make sure to complete both parts! Click HERE to view "How Story Elements Interact in 'The Gift of the Magi' -- Part Two."

Read more from the fantasy novel The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald in Part Two of this three-part series. By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to compare and contrast the archetypes of two characters in the novel.

Make sure to complete all three parts of this series in order to compare and contrast the use of archetypes in two texts.

Click HERE to view "Archetypes -- Part One: Examining an Archetype in The Princess and the Goblin ."

Click HERE to view "Archetypes -- Part Three: Comparing and Contrasting Archetypes in Two Fantasy Stories."

Learn to determine the important traits of a main character named Princess Irene in excerpts from the fantasy novel The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald. In this interactive tutorial, you’ll also identify her archetype and explain how textual details about her character support her archetype.

Click HERE to view "Archetypes -- Part Two: Examining Archetypes in The Princess and the Goblin. "

Learn to identify aspects of setting and character as you analyze several excerpts from “The Yellow Wallpaper," a chilling short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman that explores the impact on its narrator of being confined to mostly one room. You'll also determine how the narrator’s descriptions of the story’s setting better reveal her emotional and mental state.

This interactive tutorial is Part One in a two-part series. By the end of Part Two, you should be able to explain how the narrator changes through her interaction with the setting. Click below to launch Part Two.

The Power to Cure or Impair: The Importance of Setting in 'The Yellow Wallpaper' -- Part Two

Continue to examine several excerpts from the chilling short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, which explores the impact on its narrator of being confined to mostly one room. In Part Two of this tutorial series, you'll determine how the narrator’s descriptions of the story’s setting reveal its impact on her emotional and mental state. By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to explain how the narrator changes through her interaction with the setting.

Make sure to complete Part One before beginning Part Two. Click HERE to launch "The Power to Cure or Impair: The Importance of Setting in 'The Yellow Wallpaper' -- Part One."

Explore the mysterious poem “The House on the Hill” by Edwin Arlington Robinson in this interactive tutorial. As you explore the poem's message about the past, you’ll identify the features of a villanelle in the poem. By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to explain how the form of a villanelle contributes to the poem's meaning.

Continue to explore the significance of the famous poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, lines from which are engraved on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

In Part Two of this two-part series, you’ll identify the features of a sonnet in the poem "The New Colossus." By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to explain how the form of a sonnet contributes to the poem's meaning.

Make sure to complete Part One before beginning Part Two.

Click HERE to launch "A Giant of Size and Power -- Part One: Exploring the Significance of 'The New Colossus.'"

Continue to examine how setting influences characters in excerpts from The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez with this interactive tutorial.

This is part 2 in a two-part series. Make sure to complete Part One first. Click HERE to launch "Analyzing the Beginning of The Red Umbrella -- Part One: How Setting Influences Events."

In Part One, explore the significance of the famous poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, lines from which are engraved on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

This famous poem also happens to be in the form of a sonnet. In Part Two of this two-part series, you’ll identify the features of a sonnet in the poem. By the end of this tutorial series, you should be able to explain how the form of a sonnet contributes to the poem's meaning. Make sure to complete both parts!

Click HERE to launch "A Giant of Size and Power -- Part Two: How the Form of a Sonnet Contributes to Meaning in 'The New Colossus.'"

Explore excerpts from the beginning of the historical fiction novel The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez in this two-part series. In Part One, you'll examine how setting influences events. In Part Two, you'll examine how setting influences characters.

Make sure to complete both parts! Click HERE to launch Part Two.

Explore Robert Frost's poem "Mending Wall" and examine words, phrases, and lines with multiple meanings. In this interactive tutorial, you'll analyze how these multiple meanings can affect a reader’s interpretation of the poem.

Examine the topics of transformation and perfection as you read excerpts from the “Myth of Pygmalion” by Ovid and the short story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. By the end of this two-part interactive tutorial series, you should be able to explain how the short story draws on and transforms source material from the original myth.

This tutorial is the second in a two-part series. Click HERE to launch Part One.

This tutorial is the first in a two-part series. Click HERE to launch Part Two .

Explore excerpts from Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance" in this two-part series. This tutorial is Part Two. In this tutorial, you will continue to examine excerpts from Emerson's essay that focus on the topic of traveling. You'll examine word meanings and determine the connotations of specific words. You will also analyze the impact of specific word choices on the meaning of this portion of the essay.

Make sure to complete Part One first. Click HERE to launch Part One.

Explore excerpts from Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance" in this two-part interactive tutorial series. You will examine word meanings, examine subtle differences between words with similar meanings, and think about the emotions or associations that are connected to specific words. Finally, you will analyze the impact of specific word choices on the meaning of these excerpts.

Make sure to complete both parts! Click HERE to launch Part Two.

Explore excerpts from Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance" in this interactive two-part tutorial. This tutorial is Part Two. In this two-part series, you will learn to enhance your experience of Emerson's essay by analyzing his use of the word "genius." You will analyze Emerson's figurative meaning of "genius" and how he develops and refines the meaning of this word over the course of the essay.

Make sure to complete Part One before beginning Part Two. Click HERE to view Part One.

Explore excerpts from Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance" in this interactive two-part tutorial. In Part One, you’ll learn to enhance your experience of a text by analyzing its use of a word’s figurative meaning. Specifically, you'll examine Emerson's figurative meaning of the key term "genius." In Part Two, you’ll learn how to track the development of a word’s figurative meaning over the course of a text.

Make sure to complete both parts of the tutorial! Click HERE to launch Part Two.

Practice analyzing word choices in "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, including word meanings, subtle differences between words with similar meanings, and emotions connected to specific words. In this interactive tutorial, you will also analyze the impact of specific word choices on the meaning of the poem.

This is Part Two of a two-part series. Part One should be completed before beginning Part Two. Click HERE to open Part One.

Practice analyzing word choices in "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe in this interactive tutorial. In this tutorial, you will examine word meanings, examine subtle differences between words with similar meanings, and think about emotions connected to specific words. You will also analyze the impact of specific word choices on the meaning of the poem.

This tutorial is Part One of a two-part series on Poe's "The Raven." Click HERE to open Part Two.

Get ready to travel back in time to London, England during the Victorian era in this interactive tutorial that uses text excerpts from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde . This tutorial is Part Two of a three-part series. You should complete Part One before beginning this tutorial. In Part Two, you will read excerpts from the last half of the story and practice citing evidence to support analysis of a literary text. In the third tutorial in this series, you’ll learn how to create a Poem in 2 Voices using evidence from this story.

Make sure to complete all three parts! Click to HERE launch Part One. Click HERE to launch Part Three.

Practice citing evidence to support analysis of a literary text as you read excerpts from one of the most famous works of horror fiction of all time, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

This tutorial is Part One of a three-part tutorial. In Part Two, you'll continue your analysis of the text. In Part Three, you'll learn how to create a Poem in 2 Voices using evidence from this story. Make sure to complete all three parts!

Click HERE to launch Part Two. Click HERE to launch Part Three.

Learn how to identify the central idea and important details of a text, as well as how to write an effective summary in this interactive tutorial. This tutorial is the second tutorial in a four-part series that examines how scientists are using drones to explore glaciers in Peru.

This tutorial is part two of a four-part series. Click below to open the other tutorials in this series.

Drones and Glaciers: Eyes in the Sky (Part 1)
Drones and Glaciers: Eyes in the Sky (Part 2)
Expository Writing: Eyes in the Sky (Part 3)
Expository Writing: Eyes in the Sky (Part 4)

Learn about how researchers are using drones, also called unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs, to study glaciers in Peru. In this interactive tutorial, you will practice citing text evidence when answering questions about a text.

This tutorial is part one of a four-part series. Click below to open the other tutorials in this series.

Drones and Glaciers: Eyes in the Sky (Part 1)
Drones and Glaciers: Eyes in the Sky (Part 2)

In Part Two of this two-part series, you'll continue to explore excerpts from the Romantic novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. In this tutorial, you'll examine the author's use of juxtaposition, which is a technique of putting two or more elements side by side to invite comparison or contrast. By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to explain how the author’s use of juxtaposition in excerpts from the first two chapters of Jane Eyre defines Jane’s perspective regarding her treatment in the Reed household.

Make sure to complete Part One before beginning Part Two. Click HERE to view Part One.

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FREE Poetry Worksheet Bundle! Perfect for National Poetry Month.

Going Beyond PIE: 5 Ways to Teach Students How to Find the Author’s Purpose

Plus, 3 ways to teach kids how to identify bias.

If you teach students about author’s purpose, you probably already know about the acronym PIE (persuade, inform, entertain) and the related cutesy anchor charts.

SOURCE: Teacherific Fun

While those are good umbrella categories, the actual reasons that authors write nonfiction are often more nuanced. Textbook authors write to educate. Bloggers write because they’re passionate about a topic. Journalists write to disseminate information.

Today’s students are surrounded by information. The ability to figure out exactly why authors write—and not accept every opinion as fact—is a key skill. In particular, as students read, they’ll need to figure out the author’s purpose, identify bias, and draw their own conclusions.

As students get more advanced in their work with informational text, these five strategies will teach them how to figure out why authors really write.

1. Start with why.

“Why did the author write this piece?” is the core question asked to identify author’s purpose. To help students expand their understanding of “why,” post various types of nonfiction (an advertisement, opinion article, news article, etc.) around your classroom and have students quickly identify a purpose for each. Or keep a running author’s purpose board with a list of the various reasons why authors write.

2. Talk about structure.

Authors use different structures—sequence, problem and solution, compare and contrast—for different purposes. For example, one author may use sequence to explain an event, while another author uses compare and contrast to put that event into perspective.

3. Get to the heart.

Often when authors write, they’re trying to get readers to feel a certain way. Perhaps the author of an article about whale conservation wants readers to feel sad about the plight of whales. Or the author of a letter may want to make the recipient feel better about a situation. After students read a text, stop and ask: How do you feel? And how did the author get you to feel this way?

4. Connect to students’ own writing.

Writing and reading go hand in hand. Expand students’ awareness of why people write by having them write for different purposes. When students are charged to write about a topic that they think everyone should know about, to explain a procedure, or to share a personal memory, they’ll become more aware of how authors approach writing.

5. Observe how purpose changes within a text.

Author’s purpose is often studied through the text as a whole, but authors have different reasons for writing within texts as well. For example, an author may include a funny anecdote to draw in the reader. Then, they may launch into a list of facts that make the reader feel frustrated about the situation. And finally, they may conclude with an appeal. Take a short article and break it apart, identifying the different purposes so that students see how author’s purpose changes as they read.

Bonus: Three ways to teach kids how to identify bias

Right now, your students may take every nonfiction reading at face value, but as they develop as readers (and consumers of information), they need to learn how to evaluate bias.

1. Mind the gap.

When authors are writing to convince their readers of something, they’re choosing evidence that best makes their case. Have students read for an eye toward what information isn’t there. For example, if an author is writing in support of keeping horse-drawn buggies in New York City legal, they may include examples of the benefits (e.g., tourism) and leave out the drawbacks (e.g., horses holding up traffic).

2. Review the experts.

Have students pull out the names and titles of the people cited in an article. What can students learn from whom was included? And how credible is each expert?

3. Seek out stats.

Pull out statistics, images, facts, graphics, and other numbers to paint another picture of how the author is thinking. Based on the information, what does the author want readers to remember? What was included? What wasn’t included?

Every time kids read, they engage in conversation with the author, and knowing the author’s purpose makes that conversation that much richer.

Collage of Author's Purpose Anchor Charts

15 Anchor Charts To Teach Kids About Identifying the Author’s Purpose

Easy as PIE and a whole lot more. Continue Reading

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Life’s Work: An Interview with Hernan Diaz

Alison Beard

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author reflects on how literature shapes us and more.

In his novel Trust, which won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize, Diaz offered four contrasting perspectives on early-20th-century U.S. capitalism—a treatment that modern-day readers found deeply resonant. The author, who was born in Argentina, raised in Sweden, and now lives in the United States, says he likes to experiment with different voices and “mess with” American mythology. A longtime professor and academic editor, he published his first novel, In the Distance , a Pulitzer finalist, at age 44. Trust was his second.

Alison Beard is an executive editor at Harvard Business Review and previously worked as a reporter and editor at the Financial Times. A mom of two, she tries—and sometimes succeeds—to apply management best practices to her household. alisonwbeard

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Anne Lamott reflects on life, death, and 'learning to endure the beams of love'

Manoush Zomorodi

Rachel Faulkner White

Sanaz Meshkinpour

Anne Lamott has always been honest about the messiest parts of her life, from addiction to parenthood. Now, in her 20th book, she reflects on the beautiful—and complicated—realities of love.

About Anne Lamott

Anne Lamott photographed by her son Sam Lamott hide caption

Anne Lamott is the author of twenty books, including the bestsellers Bird by Bird and Operating Instructions . Her most recent book is Somehow: Thoughts on Love . Lamott is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and an inductee to the California Hall of Fame. She lives in Northern California with her family. She is also a Sunday School teacher.

This episode of the TED Radio Hour was produced by Rachel Faulkner White and edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour. You can follow us on Facebook @ TEDRadioHour and email us at [email protected].

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Author Talks: Brand strategist Bonnie Wan on no-regrets living

In this edition of Author Talks , McKinsey head of brand strategy Amanda Lee chats with Bonnie Wan, the head of brand strategy and a partner at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, about her new book, The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living (Simon Element/Simon & Schuster, January 2024). Wan discovered that she could repurpose the creative brief that she had been using with advertising clients for decades—a revelation that has brought clarity and purpose to her own life. She now teaches people how to use a life brief to get to the heart of what they really want. An edited version of the conversation follows.

Why did you write this book?

I wrote this book because it’s a practice that has worked in my life, time and again. I call it not just time tested but life tested. As a 30-plus-year career brand strategist, the craft of strategy has become me . I am a strategist, whether I choose to be or not. I wrote a life brief for the first time during a moment of despair. I got to the essence of the gripping question in front of me, which was “What do I want in this moment?”

That gripping question was about my marriage, which I thought was broken and over. The path I was staring down in that moment was separation. That path wasn’t the one I wanted to take. But I thought it was the only one available.

As a brand strategist in a creative world, my job is to get to the essence of things so that we can then explore a really expanding sense of possibility and alternatives . And that’s what I did. I allowed myself in my own private practice to get really honest about what I wanted, not what other people expected or how other people might critique or judge me. With crystal clarity, I wrote the brief.

As a brand strategist in a creative world, my job is to get to the essence of things so that we can then explore an expanding sense of possibility and alternatives.

When we write creative briefs in my work, the act of writing creates a sharpness and a stickiness. I had a real epiphany: my husband wasn’t the problem. My relationship with time—and how I was spending it—was.

How is a life brief different from a creative brief in the advertising business?

The practice of the life brief is very similar to the practice of getting to a creative brief. As a strategist, my job is to make meaning out of messiness. Companies are working at breakneck speed in categories that are being disrupted all the time with new entrants. There are forces at play that can really sink a leader’s vision of where they go. These forces can disconnect leaders from the legacy, authenticity, and DNA of the company. My job as a brand strategist is to find that alignment: what the company has always been and connect that to where they want to go.

You have all the messiness, and you’re working to distill it down to the sharpest, shortest path from here to there. That practice is very similar in the life brief. I invite people to allow their “messy” to come out onto the page, to be nakedly honest, as I did in my own life. Only when you do that can you see the ingredients, create distance from them, and then meet them with curiosity. And that’s what strategists do.

Now we get curious. We want to dive deeper into this vein or that vein. As we collect the ingredients, they start to shape that single-minded, single-page creative brief. You can’t help but want to start. I work with creative people. The act of wanting to create—that sharp clarity—is similar in the life brief.

The life brief itself is a series of declarative statements. I say five statements because the whole idea is to be brief while summing things up in a memorable way that’s embedded in your mind and heart. You don’t have to carry a slide deck, a page, or a piece of paper. The message stuck with me from that very first life brief I wrote.

Once I realized my husband wasn’t the problem, it was time to write the brief. I wrote all the ways that I wanted to shift how I showed up and spent my time. I named the brief “Take our time.” It meant “ take back ownership and control of our time .” “Our” was really important.

It also meant “slow down.” I was spreading myself so thin and saying “yes” to things that didn’t necessitate a “yes.” In fact, they should have demanded a “no.” That tendency left me very little at the end of each day for what mattered: my family and my marriage. Everything shifted after that clarity and the written declaration. In four months, we were living a completely different life.

Why is a simple question—‘What do you want?’—so hard to answer?

We’re out of practice. We don’t ask ourselves what we want. There are a few reasons for that. One is it’s scary. That’s because the way I ask the question isn’t just, “Eh, what do you want?” It’s not, “What do you feel like? What do you think you want?”

It is, “In your heart of hearts, what do you really, really want that maybe you haven’t allowed yourself to admit yet?” And that question is terrifying to some people. A woman who I met immediately responded to that question by saying, “My parents told me never ask that question. It will only lead to disappointment.”

We’ve had people in our lives who have told us that it’s a dangerous question out of love and good intention. We may have cultural barriers to that type of question. I think we’ve adopted and inherited lots of stories about that question. So we just develop a fear that our answers might be dangerous. They might disrupt the routines or the status quo of our lives.

You offer three distinct stages: Get messy, get clear, and get active. How does getting messy lead to getting clear?

The three stages are all so important. Yet we live in a culture, especially a business culture , with a bias for action. So we often skip over getting messy. That’s why the creative brief is such an important tool in the process of my agency work with clients. It’s not just single minded. It’s a point of alignment where everyone comes to agreement on the direction we’re headed.

In a life brief, the alignment is with yourself. But without that clarity, we sleepwalk through our lives, do things out of habit. Clarity settles us into a direction and gives us focus. It collects our mess in small bites over time. This doesn’t have to be over a long weekend or on a dedicated, monthlong retreat. In short spurts of time, you can practice allowing yourself to be honest and just let it out. Let it out without judgment, withholding, or editing.

When you look at those strands in your collection, you will likely have a similar experience to what I had after my very first life brief. I started to see a different story than the story I’d been telling myself in my mind. “Oh, wait, there’s a pattern here about time. What’s happening here? Now let me get curious about what’s underneath it. Why is it there? And why is that happening? And why again?”

There are so many strategic tools beyond the whys and the reframing. Everyone with a business perspective will recognize these tools. The tools aren’t new. But there’s something illuminating about applying them to the context of your life. The resulting mess brings up the ingredients—the clay that you can then shape as you’re getting clear.

Everyone with a business perspective will recognize these tools. The tools aren’t new. But there’s something illuminating about applying them to the context of your life.

What do you say to someone who might be tempted to skip the writing part of the life brief?

Don’t skip the writing. I’m calling myself out because I’m lazy when it comes to writing. I like to pontificate. But writing is essential to this process. Writing is exploratory. I call it “letting the pen lead.” The first part of the practice is that act of permission. It’s allowing yourself to have a question, a penetrating question.

The second part, getting clear, is a different form of writing. Now you’re writing to commit, to zero in on the stuff that matters—the stuff that’s sacred, nonnegotiable. You’re ignoring drama, distractions, and everything else you’re going to leave behind. Now you have the clay of the most meaningful stuff.

Now you will write as an act of commitment and expression. The best creative briefs aren’t only clear and sharp, but they’re also inspirational and motivating. You read the statements back to yourself, and you say, “Oh.” You have goosebumps or a fire in your belly.

It’s an emotional, intuitive process. So if we’re focused on the brain, this practice forces us to engage different parts of us: our souls, our guts, our intuition. The catalyst for action lives in those places. So we write to commit, to express. Once people have that clay on the paper, I invite them to push it three times.

If you have five declarative statements, your first time is just getting in the zone. It’s really loose and permissive. But once you get into the zone, you have the clay and can make the statement more honest. When you reread the draft, you immediately know, “I’m holding back. There are some cards not on the table.” The first push is to get more honest.

The second push is to get bolder. Take your statements to a place of discomfort. That nervousness and discomfort stem from not being sure how to make your declaration a reality. You’re not even sure if it’s possible. But the boldness and the courage lie in just allowing yourself to declare it without any guarantees that you will get it.

The third push is to make it visceral, expressive. When it comes to creative briefs, the difference between a meh brief and an ideal one could be just the difference of a word or of the word order.

How does someone choose what area to focus on for their life brief?

What grips you is zeroing in on the topic of your life brief. I’ve written life briefs for every part of my life: marriage, parenting, leadership, wealth. So I have a self-brief. That’s probably the most important brief.

So write a brief about whatever’s gripping you, whatever has a strong foothold. It’s the thing that pops up when you are driving and your focus meanders. It’s the thing that haunts you a little bit when you’re in bed at night or you wake up at 2:00 a.m. It’s your own voice beckoning you to a place of need.

I meet so many people who want to suppress that voice, that calling, that uncomfortable grip. They want to bury it in distraction by adding more to-dos—the busy trap. But we can begin addressing that discomfort in really small ways, in short spurts of time. We don’t have to go all the way. When you hear that beckoning, that’s the part of your life that’s asking for a life brief.

You say that, in advertising, if creative work doesn’t make the client nervous, it probably won’t work. Is the same true for a life brief?

Yes. Discomfort is your clue. It’s your signal that you’re getting somewhere significant. That growth is the feeling you want.

I cringe whenever there’s another article about happiness. “Happiness” to me is the outcome of doing deep work—of sitting in your mess, of engaging with it. It might be futile, but you’re doing it anyway. We talk about swagger, but we don’t always have confidence. Courage, though, is the practice of living courageously. Courage means that you’re going to do it anyway, even when you don’t feel the confidence .

Lean into the tension, the agitation. When you engage, you can find hope, aliveness, creativity—a creative solution—on the other side. I don’t mean art. I mean a creative solution that you hadn’t thought about, that you couldn’t have planned for , that you hadn’t imagined. A life brief is a way of engaging with all of the relationships in your life that have aliveness. Once you do that, it’s really hard to choose to go back to sleep.

A life brief is a way of engaging with all of the relationships in your life that have aliveness. Once you do that, it’s really hard to choose to go back to sleep.

What was the biggest surprise in writing this book?

The biggest surprise in writing the book was how much of a parallel our strategy tools were for getting us to new places in life and uncovering that aliveness. I had a hunch this could really work in other ways and on companies, on brands, on people, on organizations. But I didn’t understand that until I started doing it, practicing on my own life, and then teaching others in their lives.

Writing the book brought it sharply into focus. My editor’s direction was, “Your job here, Bonnie, is to walk the blind horse down the mountain and get to water with only your words. That’s all you have. And you are going to explain to them how to harness these tools and practice in their relationships with other people, with their work and their vocations, with themselves, with their communities and the causes they care about. That is your job.”

Every time I unpacked it a little bit more and worked through it, I was shocked. Now I meet therapists and coaches who say, “I never knew advertising had so much in common with therapy.” Then I think, “That was big. That’s validating.”

Watch the full interview

Visit Author Talks to see the full series.

Bonnie Wan is the head of brand strategy and a partner at Goodby Silverstein & Partners. Amanda Lee is a senior manager in McKinsey’s Bay Area office.

Comments and opinions expressed by interviewees are their own and do not represent or reflect the opinions, policies, or positions of McKinsey & Company or have its endorsement.

Explore a career with us

Author Talks: Lisa Sun explains why confidence is your superpower

Author Talks: The world’s longest study of adult development finds the key to happy living

Author Talks: Embracing power and possibility in the aftermath of loss

Are you languishing in life? Here’s how to find your purpose again

If your life feels aimless and joyless, you may be languishing, says psychologist Corey Keyes — who reveals how it differs from depression and what you can do to flourish instead

By Grace Wade

9 April 2024

Ula Šveikauskaitė

Like many people, my mental health took an enormous hit during the covid-19 pandemic. I felt lonely and lost, unsure of the direction of my life. Mundane tasks like making my bed became overwhelming, and I was uninterested in activities that once brought me joy. I wasn’t sad, but I wasn’t happy either. I was just… existing.

Actually, I may have been languishing, says Corey Keyes , a psychologist at Emory University in Georgia and advisor to the World Happiness Report . Keyes has dedicated his career to understanding this particular state of mind and, crucially, how to avoid it.

The mindfulness revolution: A clear-headed look at the evidence

In his new book, Languishing: How to feel alive again in a world that wears us down , Keyes argues that while mental illness is a problem, so is the absence of mental well-being. He spoke with New Scientist about what languishing is, why it is a concern and how we can all work towards flourishing instead.

Grace Wade: What is languishing?

Corey Keyes: Languishing is the absence of well-being. It is when people feel they have nothing positive going on in their lives. No meaning. No mattering. No warm, trusting relationships. No happiness or joy. Yet it doesn’t necessarily mean negative emotions like sadness or fear. People who are languishing almost feel nothing. They describe it as being numb or dead inside. I call languishing the neglected middle child of mental health, since it falls between mental illness and mental well-being.

How is languishing different to depression ?

Only one symptom overlaps between depression and languishing , and that…

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There’s some real beef between the cows and humans of France.

Amid noise complaints from residents in the countryside, the French parliament has upheld a law that grants cows the right to moo.

Police receive hundreds of noise complaints about mooing cows every year from grumpy neighbors, mostly urbanites who moved to the rural countryside for peace and quiet, The Guardian reported .

French Justice Minister, Eric Dupond-Moretti (C) and French La Republique en Marche MP, Nicole Le Peih (L) visit a farm following a meeting with farmers focused on draft legislation on unusal neighborhood disturbances, at a farm in Pleucadeuc, western France on December 1, 2023.

But new legislation will no longer allow people to bull -y their farmer neighbors over crowing roosters, mooing cows, stinking pigs, the sound of tractors or the smell of manure.

“Those who move to the countryside cannot demand that country people who feed them change their way of life,” French Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti said last year when the law was introduced to parliament.

Those disappointed with the sounds and smells of rural life can no longer take their neighbors to court over noises during the night if the work is legitimate.

At the annual Paris agricultural show in March, Dupond-Moretti noted that courts were being “clogged up” with disputes about cows mooing in the dead of night.

“What should be done? Sedate them? If you don’t like the countryside, you stay in the city, and if you go to the countryside you adapt to the countryside as it is already,” he said at the time.

French Justice Minister, Eric Dupond-Moretti

From here on out, those who choose to live near, next to or above an existing farm, shop, bar or restaurant cannot complain about noises or other inconveniences.

“I’m thinking, for example, of the pizzeria on the corner of the street that, certainly, produces smells and noise but was there before you moved in on the first floor,” Dupond-Moretti explained.

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IMAGES

Author's Purpose Anchor Chart by Teach Simple
Author's Purpose Worksheet by Teach Simple
Author's Purpose Posters
These four FREE Author's Purpose will help your students understand the
Author's Purpose Anchor Chart
Author's Purpose Poster

VIDEO

Potluck "What's Your Purpose" Biography
Author's Purpose
Author's Purpose
Author's Purpose
What is the author's purpose in this story?
What is the Author's Purpose? Understanding Texts for Kids

COMMENTS

Understanding Author's Purpose: Why It Matters in Writing
The author aims to facilitate understanding and skill acquisition in the audience. To Describe: Authors may write to describe a person, place, object, or event in vivid detail, appealing to the reader's senses and imagination. Descriptive writing is often found in travelogues, nature writing, and creative non-fiction.
Analyzing Author's Purpose and Point of View
Conclusion. Analyzing an author's purpose and point of view is a skill that empowers you to unlock the hidden meanings within texts. By understanding why authors write the way they do and recognizing their unique perspectives, you can gain valuable insights into the world of written communication.
Author's Purpose
The author's biography can contain hints to the author's purpose. Author information may be available in the book, on the author's website, in a biography, or in an encyclopedia . Relevant points ...
21 Author's Purpose Examples (2024)
Author's Purpose Examples 1. To Inform. Common Text Genres: News articles, Research papers, Textbooks, Biographies, Manuals. Texts designed to inform tend to seek an objective stance, where the author presents facts, data, or truths to the reader with the sole intention of educating or delivering important information to the reader.
The Author's Purpose for students and teachers
The Author's Purpose Task 2. Gather Real-Life Examples. Challenging students to identify and collect real-life examples of the various types of writing as homework can be a great way to get some hands-on practice. Encourage your students to gather various forms of text together indiscriminately. They then sift through them to categorize them ...
What is the Author's Purpose & Why Does it Matter?
1. to Persuade. Using this form of author's purpose, the author tries to sway the reader and make them agree with their opinion, declaration, or stance. The goal is to convince the reader and make them act in a specific way. To convince a reader to believe a concept or to take a specific course of action, the author backs the idea with facts ...
How do authors reveal purpose in their work?
Authors often use the connotation of words to reveal their purpose in texts. The connotation of a word is how it makes us feel. A rainstorm described as "dreary" has a negative connotation, while a rainstorm described as "refreshing" has a positive connotation. Tone: The tone of a text reflects the author's attitude towards the subject ...
What is The Author's Purpose?
Author's Purpose Basics. The author's purpose is basically the reason he or she chose to act in a particular way, whether that's writing the passage, selecting a phrase, using a word, etc. It differs from the main idea in that author's purpose not the point you're supposed to get or understand; rather, it's the why behind why the author picked ...
Analyzing an author's purpose
Today we are going on a dangerous journey inside the mind of the author. (ominous music) Every piece of text is written for a purpose, and especially in informational text, every author structures their texts, words, and their ideas with that purpose in mind. And sometimes that purpose will be harder to see. As readers, our job is to consider ...
Biography
biography, form of literature, commonly considered nonfictional, the subject of which is the life of an individual.One of the oldest forms of literary expression, it seeks to re-create in words the life of a human being—as understood from the historical or personal perspective of the author—by drawing upon all available evidence, including that retained in memory as well as written, oral ...
Your Reading Comprehension Toolkit: Identifying the Author's Purpose
Display 3 large paper circles (pie pans) on your wall. Label each circle with an author's purpose "flavor" (persuade, inform, entertain). Then begin to fill your pies: Read a variety of texts with your students. Work with students to identify the author's purpose for writing the text. Make a slice of pie for each text.
A Guide To The Author's Purpose
When the author's purpose is to inform, they write objectively and use facts. Although both informative writing and persuasive writing use facts, the goals are different. Persuasive writing uses facts to support an opinion; it's part of the process to convince the reader and present itself as "informative.". Informative writing, however ...
Analyzing an author's purpose
Keep going! Check out the next lesson and practice what you're learning:https://www.khanacademy.org/ela/cc-5th-reading-vocab/x798e47233e450b09:cc-5th-inventi...
What is the purpose of biography and autobiography?
The purpose of writing a biography is to introduce and inform the readers about the person and his life whereas an autobiography is written in order to express, the life experiences and achievements of the narrator. ... Author's Purpose: The author's intent to inform or teach someone about something, to entertain people, or to persuade or ...
PDF Active Reader Chart: Determining the Author's Purpose for Writing
the Author's Purpose for Writing An author's purpose can be to entertain, to inform, or to persuade. Sometimes an author can have more than one purpose. Entertain An author can entertain by: • Making something funny • Using words that paint a picture in our mind • Adding suspense to the writing • Including lots of feelings ...
How to Write a Biography
A biography is an account of someone's life written by someone else.While there is a genre known as a fictional biography, for the most part, biographies are, by definition, nonfiction. Generally speaking, biographies provide an account of the subject's life from the earliest days of their childhood to the present day or their death if the subject is deceased.
Identifying the Author's Purpose on a Standardized Test
Underline the Clue Words. It helps to use that pencil in your hand when you're reading if you're unsure what the author's purpose is. As you read, underline the clue words in the text to help you get a better idea. Then, either compose a sentence using the key words (compare, explain, illustrate) to show why the author wrote the piece or select ...
The Author'S Purpose: a Complete Guide for Students and Teachers
This video gives students and teachers a deep understanding of the three Author's Purposes. To Persuade, To Inform and To Entertain. These apply to all tex...
Author's Purpose
13 Author's Purpose Purposes. Authors and audiences both have a wide range of purposes for communicating. The importance of purpose in rhetorical situations cannot be overstated. It is the varied purposes of a rhetorical situation that determine how an author communicates a text and how audiences receive a text. Rhetorical situations rarely ...
How To Write An Author's Biography—7 Best Facets To Share With Readers
Help readers feel confident by establishing your authority in your particular field or niche through your author bio. 6. Themes, style, genre. You've shown the reader why you can write about the niche. Now it's time to offer them even more information about what to expect for your work.
Identifying the Author's Purpose
Reading in English. Low Int - Int. Grades 9-12. In this lesson, students learn how to identify the author's purpose in a short text. They learn clues, tips, and a helpful acronym to find the author's primary purpose. This lesson includes vocabulary review practice, comprehension, and assessment. Launch Tasks.
How Text Sections Convey an Author's Purpose
Explore excerpts from the extraordinary autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, as you examine the author's purpose for writing and his use of the problem and solution text structure.By the end of this interactive tutorial, you should be able to explain how Douglass uses the problem and solution text structure in these excerpts to convey his purpose for writing.
Teaching Author's Purpose
2. Talk about structure. Authors use different structures—sequence, problem and solution, compare and contrast—for different purposes. For example, one author may use sequence to explain an event, while another author uses compare and contrast to put that event into perspective. 3.
Life's Work: An Interview with Hernan Diaz
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author reflects on how literature shapes us and more. In his novel Trust, which won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize, Diaz offered four contrasting perspectives on early-20th ...
Anne Lamott reflects on life, death, and 'learning to endure the ...
Anne Lamott is the author of twenty books, including the bestsellers Bird by Bird and Operating Instructions.Her most recent book is Somehow: Thoughts on Love.Lamott is a recipient of the ...
Bonnie Wan on her new book "The Life Brief"
In this edition of Author Talks, McKinsey head of brand strategy Amanda Lee chats with Bonnie Wan, the head of brand strategy and a partner at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, about her new book, The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living (Simon Element/Simon & Schuster, January 2024). Wan discovered that she could repurpose the creative brief that she had been using with advertising ...
Are you languishing in life? Here's how to find your purpose again
Corey Keyes: Languishing is the absence of well-being. It is when people feel they have nothing positive going on in their lives. No meaning. No mattering. No warm, trusting relationships. No ...
Mooing cows prompt hundreds of noise complaints
Amid noise complaints from residents in the countryside, the French parliament has upheld a law that grants cows the right to moo. Police receive hundreds of noise complaints about mooing cows ...
MassMutual is introducing free genetic testing for members
MassMutual announced Tuesday that it's offering many of its 4.2 million policyholders free genetic risk assessments for eight common diseases, like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and breast ...
Philips ordered to overhaul sleep apnea machine manufacturing
Philips will be required to overhaul its manufacturing and quality control systems and hire independent experts to vet the changes, according to a court order announced by the U.S. Department of ...

Understanding Author’s Purpose: Why It Matters in Writing

What Is Authors Purpose?

What are the different types of authors’ purpose?

What are the key words for author’s purpose?

What are the characteristics of the author’s purpose?

Why does purpose matter in writing?

What is a top priority for all proposal writers?

About Sara Cook

Reading Skills

Introduction

What is the Author’s Point of View?

How to Determine the Author’s Point of View

Why is the Author’s Point of View Important?

How to Determine the Author’s Purpose

How Text Structure Contributes to the Author’s Purpose

Classroom Application: What is the Author’s Purpose in this Passage?

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21 Author’s Purpose Examples

Author’s Purpose Examples

2. To Entertain

3. To Persuade

4. To Describe

5. To Explain

6. To Analyze

7. To Teach

8. To Argue

9. To Inspire

10. To Reflect

11. To Share

12. To Record

13. To Provoke Thought

14. To Criticize

15. To Predict

16. To Express Emotion

17. To Explore

18. To Satirize

19. To Commemorate

20. To Plead

21. To Celebrate

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What is the Author’s Purpose & Why Does it Matter?

What is Author’s Purpose?

How useful is the Author’s Purpose?

Why does the Author’s Purpose Matter for the Writer?

Types of Author’s Purpose

1. to Persuade

2. to Inform

3. to Entertain

4. to Explain

5. to Describe

Main elements and examples of Author’s Purpose

Persuasive Purpose

How to Identify Persuasive Purpose

Informative Purpose

How to identify Informative Purpose

Entertaining Purpose

How to identify Entertaining Purpose

Explaining Purpose

How to identify Explaining Purpose

Recommended Reading...

5th grade reading & vocabulary

Analyzing an author's purpose | Reading

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Video transcript

Your Reading Comprehension Toolkit: Identifying the Author's Purpose

Identifying the Author’s Purpose Is Easy as Pie

Make a PIE to Track Author’s Purpose

Moving Beyond PIE

Connect Author’s Purpose to Genre

Fiction and Author’s Purpose

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