LearningTreeLogo
Welcome, Student Name
| Student Demo |
Buy Now
 
Contents
Language Arts:
Grammar and Usage
 
0007 Demonstrate Command of Standard Usage
 
0008 Mechanical Conventions
 
Language Arts:
Writing
 
0009 Purpose and Audience
Appropriateness of Written Material
Persuasive Techniques
 
0010 Unity, Focus, Development, and Organization
 
0011 Editing and Revision Strategies
 
0012 Recognizing Effective Communication
 
Practice Writing Tests
 
0013 Prepare an Organized, Developed Composition
 

Main Menu
Exit Student Demo









Buy Now for $39.95 and begin using the entire course in less than two minutes





0009 Understand the Role of Purpose and Audience in Written Communication

Assess the Appropriateness of Written Material 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.


 


Previous