CAP LECTURE
Purpose (Context=Why)
The Intention of the Writer? the Reader? the Document?The aims of different elements in a document situation may not always neatly align. Always remember that your reason for attempting a communication may not be considered important by members of the audience. So your first thought when considering asking about purpose may have to do with what you intend the audience to do or to think, but please do not count on that also being your audience's purpose for reading.
A classroom example of cross-purposes involves a student writing a set of instructions for her co-workers on how to use the new office telephone system and how to handle incoming calls. The student's document analysis states that the purpose is to inform, that the audience will be interested in learning how to use the new system, and that her co-workers trust her because she is the one with outside training on the system. From her point-of-view, this is an accurate analysis, but this is not a complete or realistic understanding of the document situation. The co-workers may feel jealous that they did not escape from the office for the outside training. They may hate changing the way they handle calls. They may resent what they consider directives from management. Their reason for reading could be because they have no choice and their attitude resentful (and careless) because of that.
So, once we establish what the writer intends the audience to do or think, the writer needs to evaluate whether the document can actually fulfill those intentions. The situation that illustrated to me that a document (an object without the power to have intentions) may demonstrate intentions other than those of the write occurred in Flagstaff, Arizona. The local newspaper printed a letter-to-the-editor in which the writer demanded that the major and all city officials resign because the police dispersed an illegal gathering of drunken musicians and party-goers at a local park. The police action took place at midnight, two hours after the official and posted park closing time and because nearby residents called to complain about the noise. The document's actual purpose was to be highly entertaining because of the shrill language and unrealistic message. The document's purpose and the writer's purpose (ostensibly to persuade but actually to vent) did not match.
A simple representation of the complex subject of discourse theory is James L. Kinneavy's (1971) discourse triangle and four aims of discourse, summarized online here: http://www.rhettime.net/techwriting/library1320.html . Begin your analysis of purpose by selecting the most applicable of the four aims of discourse: (a) to be, (b) to persuade, (c) to entertain, and (d) to inform. Continue your analysis from that point.
Documents often have more than one purpose, for example to inform and to persuade, but the writer should select a main purpose to help keep the document focuses. An example of a main purpose in a document with multiple purposes is a company's ethical statement. The main purpose is to express the ethical standards of the company. A secondary purpose is to inform the public and the company's stakeholders about the ethical standards. A third purpose is to persuade all readers that the company will abide by these ethical standards and the company employee readers to abide by these ethical standards.
Four Aims Chart
(Including Kinneavy's glass metaphors)
A classroom example of cross-purposes involves a student writing a set of instructions for her co-workers on how to use the new office telephone system and how to handle incoming calls. The student's document analysis states that the purpose is to inform, that the audience will be interested in learning how to use the new system, and that her co-workers trust her because she is the one with outside training on the system. From her point-of-view, this is an accurate analysis, but this is not a complete or realistic understanding of the document situation. The co-workers may feel jealous that they did not escape from the office for the outside training. They may hate changing the way they handle calls. They may resent what they consider directives from management. Their reason for reading could be because they have no choice and their attitude resentful (and careless) because of that.
So, once we establish what the writer intends the audience to do or think, the writer needs to evaluate whether the document can actually fulfill those intentions. The situation that illustrated to me that a document (an object without the power to have intentions) may demonstrate intentions other than those of the write occurred in Flagstaff, Arizona. The local newspaper printed a letter-to-the-editor in which the writer demanded that the major and all city officials resign because the police dispersed an illegal gathering of drunken musicians and party-goers at a local park. The police action took place at midnight, two hours after the official and posted park closing time and because nearby residents called to complain about the noise. The document's actual purpose was to be highly entertaining because of the shrill language and unrealistic message. The document's purpose and the writer's purpose (ostensibly to persuade but actually to vent) did not match.
A simple representation of the complex subject of discourse theory is James L. Kinneavy's (1971) discourse triangle and four aims of discourse, summarized online here: http://www.rhettime.net/techwriting/library1320.html . Begin your analysis of purpose by selecting the most applicable of the four aims of discourse: (a) to be, (b) to persuade, (c) to entertain, and (d) to inform. Continue your analysis from that point.
Documents often have more than one purpose, for example to inform and to persuade, but the writer should select a main purpose to help keep the document focuses. An example of a main purpose in a document with multiple purposes is a company's ethical statement. The main purpose is to express the ethical standards of the company. A secondary purpose is to inform the public and the company's stakeholders about the ethical standards. A third purpose is to persuade all readers that the company will abide by these ethical standards and the company employee readers to abide by these ethical standards.
Four Aims Chart
(Including Kinneavy's glass metaphors)
| Purpose | Document Examples |
|---|---|
| To be | Like a stained glass window: To be beautiful, looked at, appreciated for itself. Poetry, novels, short stories, cartoons, television shows, movies, magazines, games, jokes, songs |
| To express | Like a mirror: To reflect the self.
|
| To inform | Like clear glass, transmitting knowledge without bias to the extent that is possible. Dictionary, encyclopedia, index, instructions, product warranty, technical database |
| To persuade | Like a shard of glass to convince. Proposals, reports, flyers, advertisements, essays, lectures/sermons/political oratory, and (quite frankly) almost every human communication if not its primary purpose then its secondary purpose |
Purpose Analysis Questions
Format Decisions
Answers to purpose questions help writers make decisions about format like these:
Sample format decision choices:
- What is the writer's main purpose?
- What are the writer's other purposes?
- What will be the reader's main purpose?
Format Decisions
Answers to purpose questions help writers make decisions about format like these:
Sample format decision choices:
| Category | Decisions |
|---|---|
| Publication | release to the public, internal release, release to selected groups (i.e. suppliers or customers) |
| Medium | Paper, electronic, word document, Power Point, HTML, Flash |
| Type/Genre | email; memo; letter; flyer; newsletter with columns; report with cover page, table of contents, appendices, and references |
| Layout | length (word count); space (number of pages); solid text or text with graphics; headings & white space; line and paragraph spacing/leading; indentation; font family/size/color/type; margins/gutters/orientation/header & footer; plain or letterhead; vertical or horizontal alignments; top-to-bottom-left-to-right reading or other |
Content Decisions
Answers to purpose questions help writers make decisions about content lie these:
Sample content decisions:
Answers to purpose questions help writers make decisions about content lie these:
Sample content decisions:
| Category | Decisions |
|---|---|
| Style | Formal (professional: academic, business, or technical) or informal (personal) |
| Tone | Reader centered/writer centered, confident, courteous, stern, sincere, respectful, non-discriminatory |
| Language | Use of jargon, technical terms, and "big words" |
| Visuals | Selection of information, order of information, data presentation (text, table, or figure), illustrations |
| Evidence | Testimony from experts, facts from valid research studies (what is accepted as valid and what not?), poll results, opinions of famous people, appeals to emotion |
For Discussion
Be honest! What cross-purposes could exist among the writers, publishers, and various audiences of your document?
Copyright 2012
Ida L. Rodgers, See terms on Course Style Guide Home page.