Which best describes the intended purpose of the text

Factual texts inform, instruct or persuade by giving facts and information.

Literary texts entertain or elicit an emotional response by using language to create mental images.

Students are often asked to present an assignment or project which may be one of these text types.

Below are lists of different text types, purposes and features that are included in the English K-6 syllabus. This list may provide hints to help with your child’s written task.

Always refer to the actual task requirements sent home with your child and remember the type of text used by a writer should suit the purpose and the audience.

Factual texts

Factual description

Describes a place or thing using facts.

Features:

• begins with an introductory statement
• systematically describes different aspects of the subject
• may end with a concluding statement.

Examples:

Factual recount

Gives instructions on how to make or do something.

Features:

• begins with a statement of goal (could be the title)
• lists materials needed in order of use
• gives a series of steps (instructions) in order
• each instruction begins with a verb in the present tense.

Examples:

• recipes
• instructions
• manual.

Information report

Classifies, describes and gives factual information about people, animals, things or phenomena.

Features:

• begins with a general classification or definition
• lists a sequence of related information about the topic
• ends with a concluding comment.

Examples:

Procedure

Gives instructions on how to make or do something.

Features:

• begins with a statement of goal (could be the title)
• lists materials needed in order of use
• gives a series of steps (instructions) in order
• each instruction begins with a verb in the present tense.

Examples:

• recipes
• instruction
• manual.

Procedural recount

Tells how something was made or done in time order and with accuracy.

Features:

• begins with a statement of what was made or done
• tells what was made in order
• written in the past tense.

Examples:

• documentaries
• retelling
• a science experiment and its results.

Explanation

Explains how or why something happens.

Features:

• starts by naming the topic
• describes items related to the topic in their right order
• explains how the items relate to each other and to the topic
• may end with a concluding statement
• may include visual images, e.g. flowcharts and diagrams, which support what is written in words
• written in the present tense.

Examples:

• the life cycle of a butterfly
• how gears work
• labelled diagrams
• flowcharts.

Persuasive texts

Persuasive texts are factual text types that give a point of view. They are used to influence or persuade others.

Exposition

Gives reasons for a point of view to try and convince others of it.

Features:

• begins with a sentence that gives a point of view on a topic
• lists the arguments giving reasons and evidence for them
• uses convincing language e.g. ‘will damage’ instead of ‘may damage’.

Example:

• A team’s argument for a debate.

Discussion

Gives different points of view in order to make an informed decision.

Features:

• begins with some background information leading to the issue
• lists arguments for and against, giving evidence for different points of view
• conclusion might sum up both sides or recommend one point of view.

Example:

• Should cars be banned from the inner city?

Literary texts

Literary description

Describes people, characters, places, events and things in an imaginative way.

Features:

• describes characteristic features of the subject, e.g. physical appearance, behaviour
• often forms part of other pieces of writing.

Examples:

• description of a character
• setting within a story.

Literary recount

Retells events from novels, plays, films and personal experiences to entertain others.

Features:

• begins with background information, e.g. character, time, place
• describes the events in time order
• may end with a personal comment about the characters or events.

Examples:

• A recount of a traditional story, e.g. The Gingerbread Man.
• A humorous and creatively interpreted recount of an ordinary incident that actually took place.

Personal response

Gives a personal opinion on a novel, play or film, referring to parts within the passage.

Features:

• describes how you feel about a novel, film, book or play
• lists what did and did not appeal to you
• may comment on some of the features of the writing.

Examples:

• What did you like about that artwork and why?
• Describe why you do or do not like this story/poem.

Review

Summarises, analyses and assesses the appeal of a novel, play or film, to a broader audience.

Features:

• describes how features (e.g. characters, plot, language features, humour etc) may or may not appeal

Examples:

• commentary on a film, play, book etc.

Narrative

Tells a story using a series of events.

Features:

• the scene is set in a time and place and characters are introduced
• usually has a problem that is addressed
• may contain a message for the reader.

Examples:

• picture books
• cartoons
• mystery
• fantasy
• adventure
• science fiction
• historical fiction
• fairy tales
• myths
• legends
• fables
• plays.

Text evaluation and analysis usually start with the core elements of that text: main idea, purpose, and audience.  An author needs to consider all three of these elements before writing, as they help determine the author’s content and language.  As a reader, it’s important to ascertain these aspects of a text which exist as a foundation for the author’s content and language.

Main Idea

Always start with the main idea.  Main ideas may be stated directly in the text or implied; you need to read a text carefully in order to determine the main idea. Put the main idea into your own words, so that it’s expressed in a way that makes sense to you.  Then ask and answer the following basic questions about that main idea:

• Is the main idea reasonable/believable to most readers?
• Is the main idea clear and if not, why do you think the author embedded it?
• Is the main idea the author’s opinion, or is it something that the author asserts about an issue?

Asking and answering these questions should help you get a sense of the author’s intention in the text, and lead into considering the author’s purpose.

Purpose

Main idea and purpose are intricately linked. There are a few basic purposes for texts; figuring out the basic purpose leads to more nuanced text analysis based on its purpose. Basic purposes of a text include:

• to inform – to describe, explain, or teach something to your audience
• to persuade/argue – to get your audience to do something, to take a particular action, or to think in a certain way
• to entertain – to provide your audience with insight into a different reality, distraction, and/or enjoyment

The following video more fully explains these different purposes of a text, and adds a fourth, to share insights or feelings.

Main Idea & Purpose Determine Analysis

The author’s main idea and purpose in writing a text determine whether you need to analyze and evaluate the text.  They also determine the pieces of the text you should analyze—content or language or both.

If the purpose is to persuade or argue

You always need to analyze the text to see if the main idea is justified.  Do the supporting ideas relate to and develop the main idea? Is the supporting evidence taken from recognized, valid sources?  Is the author arguing via language instead of evidence or facts?  Persuasion and argument need to present logically valid information to make the reader agree intellectually (not emotionally) with the main idea.

If the purpose is to inform

You usually need to analyze the text, since the text needs to present valid information in as objective a way as possible, in order to meet its purpose of explaining concepts so a reader understands.

If the purpose is to entertain

You may or may not need to analyze the text. Writing that entertains does not necessarily have to be either logical or complete in order to accomplish its purpose. You may want to analyze the text for language, though, to see how the author manipulates language to accomplish their purpose.

Audience

Who are the author’s intended readers?  Figuring out this will help you understand an author’s approach to providing the main idea with a particular purpose. Does the audience know little or nothing about the topic, or are they already knowledgeable?  Is the audience’s knowledge at beginner or expert level, somewhere in between, or mixed? Does the audience include people who may be skeptical of the author’s ideas?  Does the audience include people who outright oppose the author’s ideas? As you can see, asking and answering questions about audience can help an author determine the type and amount of content to include in a text. As a reader, it’s important to figure out the author’s intended audience, to help you analyze the type, amount, and appropriateness of the text’s information.

The following video presents the concept of audience from a writer’s perspective, but the concepts are applicable to you as a reader who needs to consider audience as a foundation for evaluating a text.

You may also want to link to one of Purdue’s Online Writing Lab’s page on Author and Audience to get a sense of the wide array of variables that can influence an author’s purpose, and that an author may consider about an audience.

Read the article “Forget Shorter Showers” by Derrick Jensen.

Note that most of the Try It exercises in this section of the text will be based on this article, so you should read carefully, annotate, take notes, and apply appropriate strategies for reading to understand a text.

Then answer the following questions about the article’s main idea, purpose, and audience.

Which selection best represents the author’s main idea?

1. We have it in our power and right to take action to stop the industrial economy over-using and wasting our natural resources.
2. We are victims of a campaign of misdirection, being told and accepting that our personal use of natural resources is both the cause of scarcity and the solution to preservation.
3. Because we have accepted our identities as consumers, we reduce our forms of political existence to consuming and not consuming.
4. Simple living is better for the planet than over-consumption.

Which selection best represents the author’s purpose?

1. to inform readers about the actual use of resources by individuals vs. the industrial economy
2. to persuade readers to consider taking action against an unjust situation that assigns blame to individuals instead of big business in regard to the depletion of natural resources
3. to persuade readers to re-think their personal attempts to live more simply and more “green”
4. to entertain readers interested in nature with accusations against the industrial economy

Who comprises the author’s audience and what cues can you use to determine that audience?