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Contents
Writing
 
0007 Role of Audience and Purpose
Appropriateness - Specific Purpose or Audience
Recognize Persuasive Techniques
 
0008 Idea Development, Fluency, and Organization
 
0009 Writing that Effectively Communicates Intended Messages
 
0010 Apply Revision Strategies
 
0011 Standard Writing Conventions
 
Practice Writing Tests
 
0012 Prepare an Organized, Developed Composition
 

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0007 Understand the Role of Audience and Purpose in Written Communication

Assess the Appropriateness of a Written Selection For a Specific Purpose or Audience

A well-written paragraph or essay will be unified; that is, every sentence will contribute to the reader's understanding of the main idea. This main idea, usually called a thesis statement, states the subject and gives the writer's opinion about that subject. Focus on that main idea promotes unity in the essay. Just as a photograph that is fuzzy and out of focus is difficult to look at, a paragraph or essay that does not have a clear point to make is difficult to understand. Consider the following section of a paragraph, for example:

Just getting accepted into a college may be difficult. First, the prospective student must face mountains of paperwork for each college under consideration. The applications alone may be pages long. In fact, one college requires its applicants to write an essay of 1,000-1,500 words stating life goals. Life goals are important, of course, but it is often very difficult to write about them without sounding like every other college student. General statements about wanting a family, a good career and a house with four bedrooms do not take very many words. Second, if a student is trying to get financial aid, there is even more paperwork . . . .

Can you see that the writer had as his/her purpose to discuss the difficulties of getting into college, but that after the fourth sentence, the focus began to change to the particular essay that one college required and the difficulties of writing that essay? The writer has lost the unity of the paragraph and/or the entire essay in just these few sentences.


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