Author's Purpose

Select TWO ways to determine the author's purpose.

• Ask yourself: What is the author’s point of view? How do they FEEL about what they wrote?

• Ask yourself: What is the genre; what kind of text is this?

• Write Mrs. Patterson a poem about her great beauty.

• Who is the intended audience? Who is the author writing for?

How can readers determine the author's perspective?

• Look at the LANGUAGE the author uses. Is there any extreme language or are there extreme thoughts?

• Look for bias: Does the author take a side?

• Use process of elimination

• Look at the author’s purpose. WHY did the author write the text?

Which of the following can help you identify an author's point of view? Select all that apply.

• recognizing the tone the author used

• forming a perspective

• understanding the author's purpose

• context clues

_________________ can help determine the author's perspective.

• Tone

• Text features

• Word choice

• All of the above

The reason an author writes a text is the _______.

• dialogue

• plot

• author's purpose

• dialogue

Writers ​ (a)   have more than one purpose for writing.

• might

• can never

What is the author's purpose?

• To persuade the reader to make their home more energy-efficient.

• To entertain readers by telling stories about energy.

• To inform readers about energy efficient appliances.

• To inform readers about the costs of energy-efficiency.

A boy asks his father, "Dad, are bugs good to eat?"

"That's disgusting - don't talk about things like that over dinner, " the dad replies.

After dinner the father asks, "Now, son, what did you want to ask me?"

"Oh, nothing," the boy says. "There was a bug in your soup, now it's gone."

What is the author's purpose of this writing?

• Persuade

• Inform

• Entertain

• Describe

• Explain

The Underground Railroad was a secret organization which helped slaves escape to freedom. Many slaves were able to escape because of the conductors and station masters. The northern states were free states and slaves were free once they arrived in the north. Secret codes and signals were used to identify the conductors and station masters. 

What is the author's purpose of this writing?

• Persuade

• Inform

• Entertain

• Describe

• Explain

"Fascinating information has come out due to genetic studies of dogs. We have learned that for the longest time, humans used and bred dogs for practical reasons. Experts believe Neanderthals in Europe used dogs for hunting. However, the genes of North American dogs are linked to dogs that came from Asia with the ancestors of the Native Americans."

WHAT IS THE AUTHOR'S PURPOSE?

• to inform

• to entertain

• to persuade

• to describe

• to explain