Every piece of writing starts with two questions from the writing process: Why am I writing? (the purpose) and Who will read it? (the audience). The answers decide what you include and how you say it.
- To inform or explain: a report on how bees make honey, directions to a party.
- To persuade: a letter asking the principal for a longer lunch period.
- To tell a story or entertain: a story about the day the power went out.
- To express feelings or connect: a thank-you note, a journal entry.
Key idea
Purpose is why you write; audience is who reads. Choose your details, your words and your tone to fit both: give the reader what they need to know, in a voice that suits them.
Why it works
A reader can’t stop you to ask a question. A good writer imagines the reader and answers their questions on the page. Your best friend already knows your dog’s name; the town council doesn’t. A tone that is friendly in a text to a cousin can sound careless in a letter to a business.
Worked example: Same news, two audiences
Jada’s soccer team won the city final. How should her message change for her grandmother and for the school newsletter?
- Purpose for both: to share the news (inform), and for Grandma also to connect.
- Grandma knows Jada but not the team. Jada can be warm and personal: “We won! I blocked a shot in the last minute.”
- Newsletter readers don’t know the players. They need the facts: who, what, when, the score.
- Newsletter tone: clear and even: “The seventh-grade team beat Riverside 2–1 in Saturday’s city final.”
Answer: Personal and warm for Grandma; factual and complete for the newsletter.
Common mistake
Writing only for the teacher, who already knows the subject, so you skip facts a real reader would need. Check: hand your draft to someone who knows nothing about the topic. Every question they ask marks a spot where the writing assumed too much.
Many pieces have more than one purpose. A review informs (what the movie is about) and persuades (see it, or skip it). Name the main purpose, and let it lead.