Author's Purpose Worksheets

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Exploring the Use of Author’s Purpose Worksheets in the Classroom

Teaching author's purpose with worksheets provides educational tools that help students understand and identify why an author writes a piece of writing. The author's purpose is the reason why an author decides to write about a specific topic. This purpose can generally be categorized into one or more of the following three main reasons:

• Persuade: The author attempts to convince the reader to adopt a particular viewpoint or to take a specific action through persuasive language.


• Inform: The author presents facts or information to educate the reader about a particular topic.


• Entertain: The author aims to provide enjoyment through storytelling, humor, or other engaging writing techniques.

An author's purpose template provides a structured format to determine an author's intention for writing a text. For instance, a worksheet typically includes a variety of texts such as articles, stories, advertisements, or excerpts. Readers are tasked with examining these texts and then determining the author's primary purpose. These worksheets often contain questions or prompts to guide learners in their analysis, and may include multiple-choice questions, short answer sections, or spaces to provide textual evidence supporting their conclusions.

An activity must be designed to sharpen students' analytical abilities, guiding them to discern the writers intent in various texts. These worksheets are particularly useful in language arts and reading comprehension classes, as they help readers develop critical thinking and analytical skills, enhance their understanding of different writing styles, and improve their ability to discern an author's intentions and messages in a text.

Activity Ideas

• Author's Purpose for Kids PIE Sorting Game: Create a worksheet where kids sort various text excerpts into one of the three main purposes, “persuade,” “inform,” and “entertain” (PIE). This helps learners visually organize and determine the different purposes of texts.


• Point of View and Purpose Analysis: When designing a worksheet middle schoolers can use, create a worksheet that includes texts with distinct points of view. Ask your class to determine both the focus and the narrator's POV, exploring how these elements interact.


• Multiple Choice Quiz: Develop a multiple-choice worksheet where kids read short texts and determine the purpose from provided options. This activity is especially effective for quick assessments.


• Interactive Story Creation: Encourage students to use an online purpose generator to create fiction story prompts. Allow kids to write their own short narratives with the pie approach in mind (persuade, inform, or entertain), fostering creativity and learning.


• Author's Purpose Organizer Activity: Provide kids with a template that includes various texts. They must use the organizer to note down clues from the text that helped them determine the main purposes, aiding in critical thinking and analysis skills.


• Identifying Purpose Worksheet for Advertisements: Tailor a worksheet for younger students where they look at different advertisements and identify the main purposes, audience, and point of view.

Worksheet activities like this are engaging and relate to everyday experiences, making it easier for kids to grasp the material.

Tips for Making an Author's Purpose Worksheet

1. Choose Age-Appropriate Content: Start by selecting texts that are appropriate for the age group you are targeting. For instance, when creating a worksheet 2nd grade students can use, choose simpler texts with clear purposes.


2. Incorporate a Variety of Texts: Include different types of texts such as narratives, informational articles, and advertisements, or books of different genres such as fiction written to entertain the reader, or nonfiction written to discuss or explain important topics.


3. Use an Organizer or Template: Design the worksheet with sections for each text. Include space for your class to write down the focus and provide supporting details from the text.


4. Include Multiple Choice and Open-Ended Questions: Although not the most preferred format for in-depth analysis, you can design an author's purpose multiple choice worksheet that is effective for quickly assessing young readers comprehension and reinforcing the basic concepts of identifying an author's intent in various texts. Mix multiple-choice questions for quick assessment with open-ended questions for deeper analysis.


5. Introduce the Concept of P.I.E.: An author's purpose PIE worksheet effectively introduces the three primary reasons for writing—persuade, inform, and entertain—through engaging activities. Explain the PIE concept as a simple way to remember different purposes.
6. Tailor for Different Educational Levels: For older students, include more complex texts and integrate additional concepts like point of view. Ensure that the worksheet challenges their analysis, which is a valuable skill.


7. Incorporate Technology (optional): Use online author's purpose generators to find or create varied and dynamic fiction or nonfiction prompts, keeping the worksheet fresh and up-to-date.

More Storyboard That Resources and Free Printables

• Active Reading
• Before and After
• Bibliography
• Book Covers
• Book Recommendations
• Book Report Planning
• Character Analysis
• Character Comparison
• Character Map

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Happy Creating!

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