Today, we will spend some time talking about why it is important to understand the purpose of a giving writing assignment. We write for many different reasons: to express ourselves, to tell stories, to persuade, to inform, to analyze, to critique and to compare and contrast (...and this is not an exhaustive list). Just like we must tailor our writing according to the audience that will be reading it, we must also make adjustments to better promote the specific purpose we're using our writing to achieve.
Below you'll find an outline for today's class:
Audience and Purpose
I. Brainstorming Discussion: Once more, define 'audience' and explain it's role in communication. Now, define 'purpose' and explain the role it plays in the communication model. Finally, explain the connection between 'audience' and 'purpose'
II. Comparing Two Writing Samples
Read these two writing samples both produced by the same student. After reading, discuss any differences in tone, vocabulary, examples used, sentence structure, specifics mentioned, organization, etc. with your partner. Also consider the following questions:
Who was the intended audience for paragraph #1? Paragraph #2? How do you know?
What did the writer include in the first example that she left out in the second? Why?
What was the purpose for writing paragraph #1? Paragraph #2? How do you know?
III. Audience, Purpose and Tone
Now, we'll take a look at some of the connections between these three very important topics. Click here for the PowerPoint presentation. While review this material, consider the following questions:
What are the different purposes for writing an academic essay?
What are a few of the different modes of writing?
What was the purpose of the diagnostic essay?
IV. Tone and Writing Objectively
What is tone?
You should use the best language possible to achieve your writing goals. Carefully consider the language you use; it should be tailored as precisely as possible to best reach your intended audience as well as fulfill your intended purpose. For this class, you will be writing for a general academic audience, so you will need to explain your ideas and use terms easily understood by any and all college students.
For every major assignment in this class, we will strive to focus on ideas and data and to avoid personal bias. We want our writing to "show (or explain), not tell". As such we will always use an objective tone when writing our major assignment. An objective tone means there is no personal (subjective) bias. Here is an exercise designed to help you affect a more objective tone.
Also, here is a great website that explains how to write objectively.
V. Connecting it all
With a partner, take some time to fill out this chart. It makes connections between different writing styles, audiences, purposes and tone. Afterwards, we'll have a short discussion.
Housekeeping Details and Homework for Tuesday (9/10/13)
-Check your Dropbox folders tonight for my comments on your Diagnostic Essays.
-Review the assignment description for the "Diagnostic Analysis Portfolio and Revision Assignment". Let me know if you have any questions.
-Do the activity on "Idiomatic Expressions" in "Writer's Help". You must receive 80% to get full credit.
-Diagnostic Analysis Paragraph #2: Write a short paragraph (no more than 300 words) that answers the following question: describe the purpose of the diagnostic essay activity. Did you write your first draft with this purpose in mind? If so, give examples. If not, how could you improve what you wrote to more effectively achieve this purpose. Give specific examples.
When finished, please save your paragraph with the title, "DA_2_YourName" and upload it to the "Diagnostic Analysis Portfolio" folder. It is due before class on Tuesday (9/10/13).
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