Author’s Purpose: Why did they write that? Can you find out?

1. Author’s Purpose: Why did they write that? Can you find out?

2. Author’s Purpose: What is it? • When you’re trying to find an author’s purpose, you’re looking for why the author decided to write what they did. Can you think of any reasons why an author would write something? • Today, we’re going to look at why an author would write a paragraph.

3. Author’s Purpose- Paragraph within a text There are 5 reasons why an author writes a particular paragraph. To give: • A conversation • An opinion • A description • An explanation • A comparison It’s like a CODE…C?

4. Conversation paragraphs within a text show two or more characters speaking with one another. However, sometimes characters are in conversation with themselves as well. Usually, conversation paragraphs can show feeling as well. Let’s look at this sample: “ Hey mom?” asked “Joe. “Yeeeeesss!” she replied. “I was wondering if….uhhh…you…might let me go to Jerry’s party.” “Are his parents going to be home?” “Well, um, you see …um…mom, that’s the thing. This party is ..well….it’s kids only- no parents.”

5. How did we know this was a conversation piece? • Were there people talking to one another? If so, who were they? • Yes, Joe and his mom were in a conversation. • What kind of feeling was Joe experiencing in this conversation? How could you tell? • Joe was nervous when he was talking to his mom. He used words like “Uhhh…” and “Um” between his phrases.

6. Sometimes, authors include opinion paragraphs to state what either they, or the character in the story believes in. Let’s look at this example. • I thought Greg was the meanest boy in school. After all, he always teased the dorks, pushed the nerds around the lunch room, and stole money from all of the dweebs. He is the worst person to walk the face of the earth.

7. How did we know that was an opinion paragraph? • What was the character trying to convince us? • That Greg was the meanest boy in school. • How was she trying to convince us to agree with her? • By saying Greg was the meanest boy ever. He stole money from kids, pushed kids, and teased kids as well. This is one character’s opinion of Greg.

8. Descriptive paragraphs paint a picture with their words. This is exactly what we have been working on in narrative writing. Can you tell what this author is describing? On one corner of my dresser sits a smiling toy on a tiny unicycle--a gift I received last Christmas from a close friend. It’s short yellow hair, made of yarn, covers its ears but is parted above the eyes. The blue eyes are outlined in black with thin, dark lashes flowing from the brows. It has cherry-red cheeks, nose, and lips, and its broad grin disappears into the wide, white ruffle around its neck. He wears a fluffy, two-tone nylon costume.

9. How do we know this is a descriptive piece? • What was the author describing? • A toy clown! • What are some descriptive phrases that helped us know the author was describing a clown? • They mentioned the clown’s short yellow hair, rosy red cheeks, black lined eyes, and white ruffle around his neck. • Do you see how this paints a picture with words?

10. Let’s look now at an explanation paragraph. They are written to further explain what they’re talking about. Let’s take a look at this example. We were living during the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a terrible time period in history where Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Germany, was having Nazis kill all of the Jewish people. He was blaming them for all of the problems in Germany.

11. How did we know that was an explanation paragraph? • What was the writer trying to explain a little further? • The author was explaining about the time period of the holocaust so the reader would understand better. • What did we learn from the explanation? • We learned that the Holocaust was a time period where Jewish people were killed for no good reason. Adolf Hitler lead the Nazis to do all of this.

12. Finally, let’s look at our last author’s purpose for writing a paragraph- comparison. A comparison paragraph is written to show the similarities/differences between two characters, settings, or objects. Let’s look at this example. … It was different than where I came from, I thought to myself. Home was such a warm, comfortable, and safe place. This basement was cold and dreary. I couldn’t tell what was lurking around the corner. Was I safe? Why did he take me here? There were so many questions in my mind.

13. How do we know this was a comparison paragraph? • What was the author comparing? • The author was comparing their home to this basement someone had taken them to. • How are the two places alike/different? • Home was safe, warm, and comfortable. The basement was dreary, cold, and sounded unsafe.

14. Let’s review…. The purpose for including certain paragraphs are to show: • A Conversation • An Opinion • A Description • An Explanation • A Comparison It’s as easy as a CODE….C?

15. Now it’s your turn! Take a look at the independent work that is being passed out. Can you tell if the paragraph is showing a conversation, opinion, description, explanation, or a comparison ?