Author's Purpose and Technique

What Is an Author’s Purpose?

An author’s

purpose explains
why the author
wrote the text.

It is what the
author was

hoping the reader

would get from

reading their

writing.

What Is an Author’s Purpose?

To persuade

To inform

To entertain

To describe

To explain

To inquire

To instruct

To recount

To socialize

Persuade

Sometimes, authors write to try to persuade the reader to
do something or believe what they are writing about.

Examples include:

• advertisements

• posters

• speeches

Inform

Other times, an author may write to share information
about a topic with the reader.

Examples include:

• a thesaurus

• nonfiction books

• newspaper articles

Entertain

Some authors write to entertain the reader. This may be to
tell an interesting story or to make the reader laugh.

Examples include:

• fiction texts

• mysteries

• joke books

Describe

Sometimes, an author will write a text that describes a
topic to their reader.

Examples include:

• menus

• travel brochures

• reports

Explain

Other times, an author might write a text explaining how
something works to the reader.

Examples include:

• classroom rules

• expository text

• procedural text

Inquire

Sometimes, an author might write a text to find out
information from their reader.

Examples include:

• interviews

• questionnaires

• invitations

Instruct

Sometimes, an author might write to tell a reader how to
do something.

Examples include:

• recipes

• directions

• procedural text

Recount

Sometimes, authors will write a text to retell an event or
experience to their readers.

Examples include:

• diary

• autobiography

• biography

Socialize

An author might compose something as a method to start
or build a relationship.

Examples include:

• emails

• notes

• invitations

Open Ended

The text below is an extract from an advert for a hotel.

Alleviate the stress of your daily life by visiting Brighton's most luxurious seaside hotel! Our award-winning facilities are guaranteed to thoroughly revitalise your mind and body through a regime of total rest and relaxation or your money back! With a chance like this at your fingertips, how can you resist? Contact our remarkable resort now for affordable prices that will leave both you and your bank account pleasantly surprised.

Write down an example of each of the following persuasive technique from the extract.

Rhetorical question

Open Ended

The text below is an extract from an advert for a hotel.

Alleviate the stress of your daily life by visiting Brighton's most luxurious seaside hotel! Our award-winning facilities are guaranteed to thoroughly revitalise your mind and body through a regime of total rest and relaxation or your money back! With a chance like this at your fingertips, how can you resist? Contact our remarkable resort now for affordable prices that will leave both you and your bank account pleasantly surprised.

Write down an example of each of the following persuasive technique from the extract.

Direct address

'your daily life'
'revilatise your mind and body'
'or your money back'
'at your fingertips'
'how can you resist'
'both you and your bank account'

Direct address

'how can you resist?'

Rhetorical question

Alleviate the stress of your daily life by visiting Brighton's most luxurious seaside hotel! Our award-winning facilities are guaranteed to thoroughly revitalise your mind and body through a regime of total rest and relaxation or your money back! With a chance like this at your fingertips, how can you resist? Contact our remarkable resort now for affordable prices that will leave both you and your bank account pleasantly surprised.

Open Ended

The text below is an extract from an advert for a hotel.

Alleviate the stress of your daily life by visiting Brighton's most luxurious seaside hotel! Our award-winning facilities are guaranteed to thoroughly revitalise your mind and body through a regime of total rest and relaxation or your money back! With a chance like this at your fingertips, how can you resist? Contact our remarkable resort now for affordable prices that will leave both you and your bank account pleasantly surprised.

Choose one of the techniques and explain why it is effective.

Rhetorical Question

Direct Address

The rhetorical question 'how can you resist?' is effective because it encourages the reader to answer the question in their own mind, persuading them that they should visit the hotel.

Explanation

'how can you resist?'

Rhetorical question

Alleviate the stress of your daily life by visiting Brighton's most luxurious seaside hotel! Our award-winning facilities are guaranteed to thoroughly revitalise your mind and body through a regime of total rest and relaxation or your money back! With a chance like this at your fingertips, how can you resist? Contact our remarkable resort now for affordable prices that will leave both you and your bank account pleasantly surprised.

Open Ended

The extract below is from a speech.

Extensive use of social media is having more detrimental effect on our wellbeing than we think. Reports claim that over 3 billion of us are social scrollers, many of us hooked on the high of likes, shares and stories. ultimately, social media is far too new for us to truly fathom its consequences for future life, so we must act now to limit the grasp it has on us. Without imposing daily limits now, we will become prisoners to our phones.

Write down two techniques the writer has used to achieve these purposes.

To inform the audience on facts about social media usage.
To persuade people to limit the use of social media because of the harmful effects.

Explanation is advised

To inform and to persuade.

Purpose

Extensive use of social media is having more detrimental effect on our wellbeing than we think. Reports claim that over 3 billion of us are social scrollers, many of us hooked on the high of likes, shares and stories. ultimately, social media is far too new for us to truly fathom its consequences for future life, so we must act now to limit the grasp it has on us. Without imposing daily limits now, we will become prisoners to our phones.

Open Ended

The extract below is from a speech.

Extensive use of social media is having more detrimental effect on our wellbeing than we think. Reports claim that over 3 billion of us are social scrollers, many of us hooked on the high of likes, shares and stories. ultimately, social media is far too new for us to truly fathom its consequences for future life, so we must act now to limit the grasp it has on us. Without imposing daily limits now, we will become prisoners to our phones.

Why are each of these techniques effective?

Statistics
'over 3 billion of us are social scrollers'

Emotive language
'prisoners to our phones'

Quotes

Statistics
Emotive language

Techniques

Extensive use of social media is having more detrimental effect on our wellbeing than we think. Reports claim that over 3 billion of us are social scrollers, many of us hooked on the high of likes, shares and stories. ultimately, social media is far too new for us to truly fathom its consequences for future life, so we must act now to limit the grasp it has on us. Without imposing daily limits now, we will become prisoners to our phones.

Open Ended

The extract below is from a speech.

Extensive use of social media is having more detrimental effect on our wellbeing than we think. Reports claim that over 3 billion of us are social scrollers, many of us hooked on the high of likes, shares and stories. ultimately, social media is far too new for us to truly fathom its consequences for future life, so we must act now to limit the grasp it has on us. Without imposing daily limits now, we will become prisoners to our phones.

A text can have more than one purpose. What are the two main purposes of this text?

Using statistics makes the text seem reliable and well-informed, while emotive language makes the reader feel more strongly about the issue, persuading them to limit their social media use.

Explanation

'over 3 billion of us are social scrollers'

Statistics

Extensive use of social media is having more detrimental effect on our wellbeing than we think. Reports claim that over 3 billion of us are social scrollers, many of us hooked on the high of likes, shares and stories. ultimately, social media is far too new for us to truly fathom its consequences for future life, so we must act now to limit the grasp it has on us. Without imposing daily limits now, we will become prisoners to our phones.