How-to-Find the Purpose!


pur·pose
  [pur-puhs]  noun, verb, -posed,-pos·ing. 
                 noun
The reason for which something exists or is done.
                                                                                                     (www.dictionary.reference.com)

       Just as the definition says above, the purpose of a text explains why a piece of text was written and why it was written a specific way. A large portion of AP Lang is spent on the composition, or structure, of writing; therfore being capable of finding the purpose of any document is extremely important. 

When it comes time for you to try and find the purpose of a document you should ask yourself two questions:
      1.   WHAT is the reason for the author writing this?
      2.   WHY did the author use certain language devices?

        Your answer to the two questions above is the purpose. It's as simple as that! 


Being able to correctly identify the purpose will benefit you in many areas in AP Lang, such as working on SOAPstone handouts, Quadruple Entry Journals (QEJs), and especially on rhetorical analysis essays. In rhetorical analysis essays (which is an essay where use must analyze the usage of rhetorical devices), the explanation of the purpose of the device is almost one-third of your supporting paragraphs (the other two-thirds of the essay being the identification of that device and the explanation of how the device was used).

Here is my example of how you can find the purpose of a text based on the context of how the device is used:




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