Identifying Authors Purpose and Perspective LI 03 02

Identifying Author’s Purpose and Perspective LI. 03. 02. 06 and LI. 04. 02. 06 Sarah Metzler Shaw Heights Middle School 2010

Authors write for many different reasons: �To inform �To Explain �To Persuade �To Entertain S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010

Author’s Purpose: To Inform �A piece that INFORMS might: • Teach about history, science or other subjects • Report an event • Describe facts S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010

Author’s Purpose: To Explain �A piece that EXPLAINS might: • Explain a process • Describe how something works or happens • Give a step-by-step lesson on the way something functions S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010

Author’s Purpose: To Persuade Remember that to persuade means to convince. Commercials on TV try to persuade or convince you to DO or BUY something A piece that PERSUADES might: • Argue for or against an idea • Convince people to do or buy something • Tell people how to act • Offer the best solution to a problem S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010

Author’s Purpose: To Entertain Remember that entertain means to make people enjoy something. �A piece that ENTERTAINS might: • Tell you about things you are already interested in • Make people laugh • Tell a personal story • Put words together into a poem S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010

You will be using this form to help you identify Author’s Purpose and Perspective There are 4 main parts to this activity. These will be explained on the next 4 slides S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010

Identify the GENRE Genre is a fancy way of describing what kind of text something is. For example: • Novel • Short Story • Mystery • Article • Biography • Science Fiction • Poetry • Fiction • Non-Fiction • Diary • Letter Novel Letter Science Fiction Biography Articles Mystery Poetry S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010

Identify the GENRE Let’s say you read one of the texts below: • What kind of GENRE is it? Article S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010

Identify the Author’s PURPOSE Once you have read the text you must decide why you think the AUTHOR wrote the piece. Ask yourself if he or she was trying to: A) Inform you about something B) Persuade you or someone else to do something C) Entertain you or help you appreciate or enjoy something D) Explain how something works or happens For LEVEL 4 you need to look for evidence in the text to support the answer you gave. Copy a passage that really shows the Author’s Purpose S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010

Identify the MAIN IDEA Ask yourself: � “What is the most important idea in this text? ” � What is the ONE thing the author really wants me to know? THAT is the MAIN IDEA! The MAIN IDEA is NOT a summary of the whole text that you read. Try to keep your main idea to 1 or 2 short sentences. S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010

Identify the Author’s PERSPECTIVE The Author’s Perspective is: • What the Author thinks about the MAIN IDEA Once you have the MAIN IDEA you can figure out the Author’s Perspective! For Example, if the MAIN IDEA is about Putting animals in zoos, Does the author think it is a GOOD thing or BAD thing? What is his or her opinion? For LEVEL 4 you need to look for evidence in the text to support the answer you gave. Copy a passage that really shows what the Author thinks! S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010

Example Let’s abandon Zoos Article To Persuade “Instead of supporting zoos we should support groups that work to preserve animal’s natural habitats. ” Zoos might seem like a good thing, but really they are not. Use “quotes” from the text to provide evidence! S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010 He thinks that it isn’t fair or right to keep animals in zoos He says “How could we think that keeping animals in cages for entertainment is a good and decent thing? ”

Now you are READY to Identify Author’s Purpose and Perspective! �For your first assignment pick a text that is NON-FICTION (this means that it is TRUE) �Read a text and then fill in all the boxes on your paper �You can always come back and watch the Power Point again if you need help! S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010