 Identifying the author’s purpose is an important comprehension strategy for all readers to master. Luckily it’s an easy strategy to teach. That’s because identifying the author’s purpose is pretty intuitive. Show Ask a first grader who loves the pigeon books why Mo Willems is such a good author and they’ll likely tell you he’s a good author because he’s funny. Likewise, a fifth grader who’s into books about the American Revolution will tell you that they read the books to learn facts about the war. Both students know why they enjoy what they’re reading. And if they can tell you why they enjoy a text, they can easily identify the author’s purpose.
Author’s Purpose Anchor Charts
Start by taking with students about the reasons why an author writes. In general, there are 3 basic reasons for an author to write something: to persuade their reader, to inform their reader, or to entertain their reader. Most students learn to use the following acronym when thinking about the author’s purpose:
The PIE acronym is a helpful tool to use when introducing readers to the concept of author’s purpose. You can use it to build an anchor chart or as a springboard for a whole-class activity like the one outlined below: Make a PIE to Track Author’s PurposeDisplay 3 large paper circles (pie pans) on your wall. Label each circle with an author’s purpose “flavor” (persuade, inform, entertain). Then begin to fill your pies:
Moving Beyond PIEOnce readers are familiar with the basic reasons for an author to write a text they can use what they know to deepen comprehension, think critically about text, and just plain enjoy what they read. Connect Author’s Purpose to GenreAn author’s purpose for writing is almost always connected to the genre of the text they write. By teaching students to connect common genres to the author’s purpose, you can help them set a purpose for reading and set expectations for the text. Fiction and Author’s PurposeWhen an author like Doreen Cronin seeks to entertain her reader, she does so with a fictional cast of silly animals who make laugh-out-loud mischief. Duck for President, for example, was clearly written to entertain the reader. The basic premise of the story is that Duck becomes frustrated with Farmer Brown and holds an election to take over the farm. If this book featured a cast of human characters, it would not be nearly as funny. But through personifying farm animals, Cronin is able to write a truly funny and engaging book thereby achieving her purpose of entertaining readers. But what happens when a fiction writer has more than one purpose? What happens when an author seeks to both entertain their reader and share a message or a lesson with readers? With fictional storytelling, expert authors like Kevin Henkes can craft stories that work to share life lessons with readers. Take Chrysanthemum, for example; a highly relatable story about teasing, self-esteem, and acceptance. Through relying on basic story elements and a cast of appealing characters, Henkes is able to both entertain his reader and persuade them to treat people with kindness. And so, as a result of sharing fiction books like Chrysanthemum with readers, you can teach your students that an author’s purpose can be two-fold. Not only can fiction be entertaining, but authors can also use fiction for the purpose of persuading readers to consider important life lessons. Nonfiction and Author’s PurposeNonfiction by definition is all about the facts. Strict nonfiction, like National Geographic Kid’s Planets, uses features of nonfiction text and a matter-of-fact language to present facts – and just the facts. But nonfiction is not always simple. Some authors use it to persuade and entertain readers as well. Here are some examples of authors who blend their purpose of sharing information with another author’s purpose. Doreen Rappaport is the author of dozens of books that seek to tell the stories of influential and inspiring people in history. Through her writing, Rappaport shares information. She also seeks to persuade her readers to consider the lessons we can learn from the people she writes about. In Martin’s Big Words, for example, Rappaport shares many facts about Martin Luther King Jr.’s life. She also tells his story in such a way that readers can’t help but acknowledge that King was a strong leader who worked hard to change the world. As a result, students should be able to identify Doreen Rappaport’s two-fold author’s purpose for writing. Similarly, authors like Judith St. George seek to share information by way of comedy. In her book, So You Want to Be President?, St. George tells fun and interesting facts about each of America’s presidents. She pairs those facts with illustrations done in the style of political caricature. By blending these two elements together, Judith St. Geroge is able to inform and entertain her reader.
Focus on the Facts and OpinionsMoving students to think about the author’s purpose beyond PIE can make it easier for readers to comprehend what they read. That’s because you’re helping them to think critically about the texts they read and set a purpose for reading based on the author’s goals as a writer. However, for many students, the task of distinguishing between facts and opinions can be a stumbling block that interferes with the comprehension of nonfiction. Why? Because opinions can easily be disguised as facts. Here is an example: Flamingos are interesting birds. Their bright pink color makes them more beautiful than other birds. Because the sentence is about Flamingos, many students will identify it as nonfiction. This quick categorization might also lead students to believe it is a fact that Flamingos are interesting and more beautiful than other birds. But they would be wrong. These two statements can not be researched and proven. Therefore they are not facts. Instead, these statements are two examples of opinions, because other people might disagree with them. So, how can you help your students become better at separating fact from fiction? Give them plenty of practice separating fact from opinions. You can invite students to write fact and opinion statements they find while reading on a class anchor chart or you can play a quick game of I Have… Who Has…? Click here to download your printable. Both options will help readers identify the author’s purpose when reading nonfiction. Collect Examples from the Real WorldChances are students don’t think of authors as real people. We rarely see pictures of the authors we read or know what they have to say beyond the pages of their books, so it’s easy to think of an author’s purpose as isolated to the books they write. Help your students draw connections between the text they read and the authors who write them by following the author’s social media profiles. You can collect tweets, interviews, and other short pieces of content that will deepen your student’s perspective on the authors they read. Try using these short pieces of content to identify whether or not an author’s purpose is visible across all the content they write. And, as an added bonus, you’ll begin to teach them to think critically about all of the media that surrounds us. Want More Ideas Like These?This post is part of a 10-part series. In each post, we share ideas for making comprehension strategy practice more engaging. Click here to see tips and activity ideas for the other reading comprehension strategies.
The concept of author’s purpose is a notion that is often discussed in classrooms, and identifying the author’s purpose is a skill that is frequently evaluated on state reading tests. Fortunately, this topic is as easy to teach as it is to learn. Watch this video or continue reading and you’ll understand author’s purpose just about as well as anyone. There are three main reasons or purposes for writing. Any text that you encounter (whether the menu for your favorite restaurant or Shakespeare’s Hamlet) will serve one of the three following purposes: The primary purpose of texts that are written to entertain is to amuse readers. This does not mean that the text must be happy; the text could be a tragedy, but the main reason for writing the text is to amuse readers.
Of course, this is not to say that stories, poems, or plays cannot be informative. These texts may even express values and ideas that will persuade readers to view the world differently. Nonetheless, if the text is not entertaining, readers are unlikely to find enlightenment or be moved by such a text. Therefore, the primary purpose of any text, poem, play is to entertain readers. The primary purpose of texts that are written to inform is to enlighten the reader or provide the reader with information about a topic.
Again, the lines separating these distinction may blur. A text that is written to inform may entertain readers. For example, many readers find reading the newspaper to be very entertaining, but the primary purpose of the majority of the text is to provide information. From other reference texts, some readers may learn about ninjas, dinosaurs, or robots solely for enjoyment, but the author’s main purpose in writing such texts is to inform the reader. In a text that is written to persuade, the author’s primary purpose is to compel readers to take action, convince them of an idea through argument, or to reaffirm their existing beliefs.
As with the others purposes for writing, there may be crossover with writing to persuade. For example, readers or viewers may find a television commercial to be extremely entertaining. Such a video may even go viral because so many people find it enjoyable. Nonetheless, the primary purpose of such a text is to persuade people to purchase a product or service. Identifying the author’s purpose may be challenging to students who have not had much exposure to this skill, but after a little bit of practice, most students whom I have had the pleasure of teaching correctly identify the author’s purpose with consistency. Here are three questions that you can ask yourself to help you identify the author’s purpose: If the text is a poem, play, or story, then it’s safe to say that the author’s main purpose is to entertain readers. If the text is not a poem, play, or story, ask yourself the next question. If the text is primarily providing readers with facts and information, then we can conclude that the author’s main purpose in writing the text is to inform readers. If the text does not contain an abundance of what appears to be factual information, then go to the next question. If the text contains many arguments and claims, or a call where the reader is urged to take action, then the author’s main purpose is to persuade. If the text does not appear to be persuasive, reanalyze the text and repeat the process.
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