English 103
Due: 9/11 – Submitted on Canvas by the end of the day.
Critical Short 1: Analyzing Author’s Purpose and Argument
Format: 2-3 Pages, typed, double-spaced, 12-point font, 1-inch margins (MLA)
Introduction:
Why do you think the author wrote this piece? To persuade? To entertain? To inform? To explain? To Express? Author’s purpose is the reason or reasons an author has for writing a specific text. Authors may have more than one purpose for writing. Purpose can be stated explicitly, or readers may have to infer the intent.
Identifying purpose may give readers clues about how to approach a text and what strategies to use before, during, and after reading to build an understanding of the author’s central argument.
Assignment: Utilize the reading you selected in week 2 as the basis for your own writing. Based on your reading, analysis, and response to last week’s discussion board, develop an argument that identifies the author’s purpose. For example, “The author’s purpose is to persuade the reader … through the stated argument”. This claim should be the basis of your thesis statement.
Then, utilize aspects of the essay to support your thesis statement with solid textual evidence. This will require you to quote and/or paraphrase the reading and providing citations when necessary.
Guiding Questions:
· Which words do you think best describe the main reason the author wrote this selection: to provide readers with information? To describe a person, event, or issue? To express their own thoughts and feelings? To persuade readers to think about an issue in a certain way and to act?
· Why did the author write from a particular point of view?
· How did the author influence your response to the selection?
· Was the author’s purpose specifically stated?
· Do you think that the author achieved his/her intended purposes? Did the article effectively give information? Express the author’s thoughts and feelings? Persuade readers to think about an issue and/or take action?
· What examples from the text support your conclusions about author’s purpose?
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