Purposes in Writing

Persuade, Inform, and

Narrate for a Purpose

Writing on Demand

Three Purposes for writing–Narrate for a purpose

–Inform

–Persuade

Narrate for a purpose

Narrate: to tell a storyKey Words

–Tell about a time

–Recall, Think, Tell

Personal Experience An explanation of a relevant personal

experience that helps support your opinion

When I visited the animal shelter, looking into the eyes of those poor dogs made me feel very sad, but I was excited to think that I could make the difference in the life of one of them. I hope you can make a difference too.

Spam this prompt Situation: “Everybody can be great,

because everybody can serve,” said Martin Luther King, Jr. According to Dr. King, greatness is not inside a person. Greatness lies in what a person does for other people.

Writing Task:Write a letter to a friend telling about a time you helped someone and explaining why serving others benefits society. Be sure to include relevant details about how you served and remember your purpose is to help your friend make the decision to serve too.

Situation: “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve,” said Martin Luther King, Jr. According to Dr. King, greatness is not inside a person. Greatness lies in what a person does for other people.

Writing Task:Write a letter to a friend telling about a time you helped someone and explaining why serving others benefits society. Be sure to include relevant details about how you served.

Spam this prompt Situation

ModeAudience

Purpose

InformInform: supply knowledge

–Details–Examples–Reasons–Explanations–Statistics–Facts–Evidence

Facts, Details, Statistics Relevant information that supports your

position

“Our animal shelter needs to reduce its number by 75% to make room for more animals. If these animals are not adopted, they will be put to sleep. Can you help?”

Reasons A statement of reasons and explanation

of why they should be accepted

Adopting a pet from the animal shelter is so much better than buying one from a pet store because adopting means saving an animal’s life. Also adopting does not cost as much.

Examples Important examples that help your

audience “see” your point of view

For example, you can expect to pay around $400 for a normal cross-breed, from $550 to $700 for a pure breed and around $800 for a ‘designer’ breed. In contrast, it only costs about $50 for an adoption fee.

Spam this prompt Situation: State test scores for the 7th grade

dropped significantly from the past year. The Site Based Decision Making Council (SBDMC) has made the decision to eliminate P.E. from the schedule. This policy was implemented so that students would have more time in the classroom on academic areas of science, language arts, social studies, and math.

Writing Task:Write a letter to inform the SBDMC of the positive benefits of P.E. explaining why it should not be removed from the curriculum.

Spam this prompt Situation: State test scores for the 7th grade

dropped significantly from the past year. The Site Based Decision Making Council (SBDMC) has made the decision to eliminate P.E. from the schedule. This policy was implemented so that students would have more time in the classroom on academic areas of science, language arts, social studies, and math.

Writing Task:Write a letter to inform the SBDMC of the positive benefits of P.E. explaining why it should not be removed from the curriculum.

Situation

PurposeMode

Audience

PersuadePersuade: to convince by

appealing to reason or understanding–Logos: Logical Appeal–Pathos: Emotional Appeal–Ethos: Reputation/Character

LogosFacts, numbers, and other factual evidence can be very convincing.

Example: A Snickers bar has 280 calories and 30 grams of sugar. That’s not very healthy.

Pathos

Example: Your donation might just get this puppy off the street and into a good home.

Getting people to feel happy, sad, or angry can help your argument.

Ethos

Example: Believe me! I’ve been there before. I’m just like you.

If people believe and trust in you, you’re more likely to persuade them.

Spam this prompt Situation: Your grandfather is always saying,

“You can’t steal second if you have one foot on first.” By this, he means if you want to step ahead in life, you have to take chances. You have classmates with all kinds of talents and gifts, but some may never take any risks and therefore limit their opportunities to grow and experience success.

Writing Task:Write a speech that you’ll give to your classmates. Persuade them to set goals, take risks, and succeed. Use your grandfather’s quote as the title of your speech.

Spam this prompt Situation: Your grandfather is always saying,

“You can’t steal second if you have one foot on first.” By this, he means if you want to step ahead in life, you have to take chances. You have classmates with all kinds of talents and gifts, but some may never take any risks and therefore limit their opportunities to grow and experience success.

Writing Task:Write a speech that you’ll give to your classmates. Persuade them to set goals, take risks, and succeed. Use your grandfather’s quote as the title of your speech.

Situation

ModeAudience

Purpose