57

TeachWriting a Main IdeaStatementSome students may have difficulty in usingabstract reasoning. Display a familiarobject—an athletic shoe, for example. Sug-gest an audience, such as a shoe-store cus-tomer, an athlete, a parent, or a young child.Lead students in brainstorming purposes forwriting about the object for each audience.Students can then choose an audience andpurpose and write a main idea statementthey could use in writing about the object.L1

56

FocusLesson OverviewObjective• To formulate a main idea statement suit-

able for a particular topic, purpose, andaudience

Skills• clarifying purpose; identifying audience;

using main idea

Critical Thinking• analyzing; evaluating

Listening and Speaking• discussing; evaluating

BellringerDaily Language Activity

When students enter the classroom, havethis assignment on the board: Write a briefcereal commercial aimed at young children.

Grammar Link to theBellringerHave students check whether they used sim-ple sentences and easy-to-understandvocabulary in writing for a young audience.

See also Daily Language Practice

Motivating ActivityAsk students to pretend they are advertisersand tell what they might say in a cerealcommercial aimed at preschool children.Then ask how students would change thecommercial to target teenagers or fitnessbuffs. How would a commercial for a brand-new cereal need to be different from one fora well-known product? Point out that thenature of their commercial would depend onboth their target audience and their pur-pose. Stress that the same is true of anypiece of writing.

2.3 2.3Identify Your ReaderYour audience is anyone who will be reading your writing.

Sometimes you write just for yourself. More often, however, you write toshare information with others. The audience may include a few friendsor family members, your classmates, or the population at large.

The writers of both excerpts below wrote with a similar purpose, toinform. Note that each had a different audience in mind.

2.3 Prewriting: Identifying Purpose and Audience 57

The Writing Process

Literature Model

[The sports hero] exhibits that complete skill to which theamateur vainly aspires. Instead of being looked upon as aservile and ignoble being, because of the very perfection ofhis physical efforts, as the Athenians in Socrates’ time lookedupon the professional athletes and dancers, this new herorepresents the summit of the amateur’s effort.

Lewis Mumford, Technics and Civilization

Literature Model

Pro football players are adults who fly through the air inplastic hats and smash each other for a living. I now know

a bunch of them, and I think they are good folks.

Roy Blount Jr., About Three Bricks Shy of a Load

As you write, consider these questions about your audience:

1. Who will my audience be: What do I want to say to them?2. What do my readers already know about my topic?3. What types of information will interest my audience?

Journal WritingReread one sample of your recent writing and jot down yourthoughts about these questions: How could I use the same ideasto write for a different purpose? How could I make this appeal toa different audience?

What words anddetails doesMumford use toappeal to hisscholarly, academicaudience?

The writer’s informaltone and choice ofdetails appeal to ageneral-interestaudience.

Prewriting: IdentifyingPurpose and AudienceK nowing your purpose and audience will help determine your

main idea, or what you want a piece of writing to say. Mikehad different purposes and audiences in mind as he wrote thepostcards below.

Decide on Your PurposeDeciding on a purpose will help you determine what to include in

your writing. To clarify your purpose, answer these questions:

1. Why do I want to write about this topic?2. Is my purpose to describe? Inform? Narrate? Amuse? Persuade?3. Will I have more than one purpose in this piece of writing?

56 Unit 2 The Writing Process

The

Wri

ting

Pro

cess

LESSONLESSON

2.32.3

Purpose: to persuade What is Mike’s purpose inwriting to his parents? How do his details reflecthis purpose and audience?

Purpose: to describeHow does Mike select details thatrelate to his friend’sexperience as hedescribes the Hall of Fame?

Purpose: to inform

Resource Manager

Planning Resources• Lesson Plans

Transparencies• Bellringer • Daily Language Practice • Fine Art 7–12• Two-Minute Skill Drill • Writing Process 2–8

Other Print Resources• Composition Enrichment, p. 9• Composition Practice, p. 9• Composition Reteaching, p. 9 • Cooperative Learning Activities

• Listening and Speaking Activitiespp. 6–8

• Thinking and Study Skills, pp. 13,17, 23

• Writing Across the Curriculum• Writing Assessment and Evaluation

Rubrics

List these types of writing on theboard and have students suggest anappropriate audience for each.

doctoral thesis

court opinion

eulogy

acceptance speech

See also Two-Minute SkillDrill Transparency 2.3

Two-MinuteSkill Drill

Journal Writing TipRestructuring Suggest studentsdiscuss their writing pieces withpartners to decide what they wantto say, to whom, and why.

59

AssessEvaluation RubricsIdentify Purpose and AudienceUse these criteria when evaluating your stu-dents’ responses. Writing should have• a specific audience—classmates, family,

newspaper—identified• a specific statement of purpose

formulated

See also Writing Assessment & Evaluation Rubrics.

Listening and SpeakingEvaluate the samples on the following:• Are the recommendations reasonable? • Are the main ideas clear?• Are the recommendations clear?• Are the recommendations persuasive? • Is the tone of the recommendations

respectful?

ReteachingComposition Reteaching, p. 9

EnrichmentComposition Enrichment, p. 9

CloseStudents might examine editorials from theschool or local newspaper and identify theeditorials’ messages by writing main ideastatements.

58

TeachWriting Main IdeaStatementsDiscuss with students the elements thatmake up a strong main idea statement asdescribed on student page 58. Students whostruggle with the main-idea concept mightbenefit from taking a look at magazine ads,which typically focus on one big idea that isrecognizable because of large, bold type. Thepurpose and audience for such ads are easyto identify. Afterward, ask volunteers tochoose an item and develop a main ideastatement for an ad. Their purpose would beto sell the product, and they can specify anaudience. L2

Additional Resources

For further stimuli for writing, see FineArt Transparencies, 7–12.Writing Across the CurriculumCooperative Learning Activities

Writing Process Transparencies, 2–8Thinking and Study Skills, pp. 13, 17,23Listening and Speaking Activities, pp. 6–8Composition Practice, p. 9

2.3 2.3

Identify Purpose andAudience

Before you make the final choice of topicfor your investigative report, decide on youraudience and your purpose.

PURPOSE To identify audience and purpose; to select atopic

AUDIENCE YourselfLENGTH 1-2 pages

WRITING RUBRICS To focus your topic ideas,you should

• identify your purpose. Is it to point out aproblem? encourage people to take someaction? provide background information?

• identify your audience. Is it your class-mates? your family? a club? readers of theschool newspaper?

Listening and SpeakingCOOPERATIVE LEARNING In a small group,brainstorm ideas for changes or improvementsin your community. Then choose one ideaabout which you could write. Discuss howyour writing might vary for different audi-ences. For example, how would you approacha good friend versus the CEO of a major cor-poration? Possible audiences to consider inyour discussion include the following: theprincipal, your parents, the mayor, a restau-rant owner, a friend, or the president of theUnited States. As a group, prepare a few sam-ples that show how your writing would varydepending on the audience. Present the sam-ples to the class.

Writing ActivitiesWriting Activities2.32.3The W

riting Process

Tailor your writing style to your audience.

When you write for a young audience,try using simple sentences and easy-to-understand vocabulary.

Rewrite the following sentences intosimple sentences. Change wording asnecessary.

1. Despite the fact that writing can becomplex and time-consuming, it is fre-quently quite enjoyable.

2. Acquaintances who no longer live inthe area savor receiving letters fromme.

3. Now and again I take advantage of e-mail, which is extraordinarily fast, to communicate with my friends.

4. My older sibling has created a screen-play that is being filmed in SanAntonio, Texas.

See Lesson 13.3, pages 545–546.

Using ComputersOn the Internet locate speeches bypast leaders, such as Franklin D.Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr.Determine the intended audience andthe purpose of the speech. With apartner, discuss how the speakerused language to reach theintended audience.

2.3 Prewriting: Identifying Purpose and Audience 59

Write Your Main Idea StatementWith a topic, a purpose, and an audience in mind, you’re almost

ready to write. In the next step ask yourself, What’s the most importantidea? Answer the question in one sentence. That sentence will be yourmain idea statement.

No matter how big or small your writing project is—a single para-graph or a twenty-page research paper—you should write a main ideastatement. It will tell what you want your entire piece to say and willhelp you choose appropriate details for your topic. Later, as you draftyour piece, it will keep your writing on track. As the chart below indi-cates, the main idea statement is central to any writing; all other ideasdepend on it.

58 Unit 2 The Writing Process

The

Wri

ting

Pro

cess

Now consider a different main idea statement about football: Footballis a game built on teamwork, discipline, and strategy. To what audiencemight this topic appeal? What kinds of details could you use to developthe main idea?

Ask yourself the following questions as you develop your main ideastatement for any piece of writing:

1. What point do I want to make?2. Will my audience be interested in the idea?3. Do I need to narrow my topic further?

tolerate

violen

ce.

DetailDetail

An international game th

atdo

esno

t

Football has always been violent.

Man

y inj

uries

compa

redwith other sports.

Soccer as a possible

alter

nativ

e.

Theodore Roosevelt tried in1905

Inju

ries o

ccur

inpro

fessional, college,

to make it less violent.

onSunday lead to violence on Monday?

sports andsociety? Does violence

Relationbetween violence in

high

scho

ol,“p

eewee” leagues.

Detail Detail

MAIN IDEA STATEMENT

Football is a brutal sport that

should be banned.

Answers(Answers will vary; suggestions follow.)1. Writing is difficult and takes a lot of time. Writing is

also fun.2. Sometimes friends move away. I write letters to

them. My friends like letters.3. Sometimes I use e-mail to communicate with my

friends. It speeds up communication a lot.

4. My older brother has written a screenplay. It is beingfilmed in San Antonio, Texas.

MEETING

MEETING

NEEDSNEEDS

MEETING

NEEDS

INDIVIDUALINDIVIDUALINDIVIDUAL English Language Learners

Developing a Main IdeaEncourage students who have trouble writing in English to continue towork on their writing. However, to have a free flow of ideas when theyuse prewriting techniques such as listing, questioning, or writing a mainidea-statement, students may occasionally want to use words and phrasesfrom their first language. You or a peer editor can help students translatethese ideas into English.