RHEMA: THE LIVING WORD
The Writing Center of Vanguard University
Second Floor of Scott Academic Center inside English & Spanish Departments
Writing a Purpose Statement
by Dr. David G. Clark,
Professor of New Testament and Greek
Volume 8, Issue 2
Spring 2008
In the Red Binder:
Appointments
at the Writing Center
Drop by the Writing Center
to reserve a half-hour appointment with a writing
consultant who will guide
you towards revising your
paper. We are processoriented, so feel free to ask
questions; our goal is to
help you develop and improve your writing and analytical skills, not only to
“check” your paper for
grammar errors.
At the end of the appointment, the tutor will stamp
your paper with the Writing
Center Stamp. Appointments should be made at
least a week in advance, so
plan ahead! You must be
present during your appointment; we do not accept “dropped off” papers;
consultants also don’t write
papers for you. Appointments are not guaranteed by
voicemail messages; you
must drop by to reserve an
appointment in our red
binder. Walk-ins are taken
depending upon schedule
availability. See you soon!
Many years of experience
have taught me that students
are not always aware of the
differences between an introduction and a purpose statement. But they are different,
they serve different purposes,
and in my opinion, the purpose statement is even more
important than an introduction. Don’t get me wrong; I
enjoy reading a good introduction, since it stirs up my interest in the subject and provides
a wider context and background (“Long, long ago, in a
galaxy far, far away . . .”) for
the discussion to come. But
that’s not the same as a purpose statement.
More specifically:
A good purpose statement
tells your reader(s) what you
will do. This seems so obvious that I’m embarrassed to
even write it! And yet each
year, I have to figure out the
focus of the paper from the
title, or perhaps a single sentence buried somewhere in
the introduction. Even many
graduate students seem to
think that an introduction is
enough or that it somehow
also functions as a purpose
statement.
Depending on your subject
and the expectations of your
professor, you may also need
to state briefly how you will
proceed. Learning different
methodologies is a key part of
virtually every major offered at
VU, and your professor may
be very interested in the way
you are handling your subject
material. So demonstrate that
you have your act together
and make a good impression!
What you will not do.
This part of a purpose statement is quite important and
yet easily overlooked, since it’s
only natural to be thinking
about all the aspects of your
topic and the sequence in
which you’ll be discussing
them. But virtually every
topic overlaps or borders on
or connects with other, related topics. For example
(thinking of my field), if you
want to focus on the Second
Coming of Christ, will you
also discuss the Great Tribulation, or the Anti-Christ, (over)
Grammar Bugaboos and PowerPoint Presentations
In addition to offering individual writing
consultations (whether for outlines, thesis
statements, atomistic and holistic revision),
the Writing Center also offers a series of writing enrichment resources called “Grammar
Bugaboos.” One such resource is the Bugaboo Bee Points, a writing assessment rubric
for professors. The “Grammar Bugaboo”
handouts, including the Bugaboo Bee
Points and Bugaboo Bee Key, are available
on our Writing Center website at
www.vanguard.edu/writingcenter.
A set of seven PowerPoint (PPT) Slideshows
featuring writing topics ranging from Sentence Clarity & Variety to Writing a Research
Paper are also available as .PDF documents.
Professors and students are encouraged to use
these PPT Slideshows for classroom presentations. Each one features small-group discussion and interactive activities in addition to
clear and colorful presentations on various
aspects of college-level writing, including Introductions & Conclusions, Thesis Statements, and Writing a Smooth Paper.
Page 2
Rhema: The Living Word
Writing a Purpose Statement
by Dr. David G. Clark
(cont. from p.1)
“For the word of God
is living and active.
Sharper than any
double-edged sword,
it penetrates even
to dividing soul and
spirit, joints and
marrow; it judges the
thoughts and attitudes
of the heart.”
(NIV, Hebrews 4.12 )
or the resurrection? So then, deciding
where to draw the line; that is, which
related topics to include and which to
omit, will be one of the key ways for
you to keep your research down to a
manageable size.
Put yourself in your professors’
place. When they read your purpose
statements, will they expect you to discuss or at least address one or more
related topics? Protect yourself! Specify
those other topics you won’t be discussing and explain why (“Due to limitations of space . . .”). You’ll be doubly
protected; your professors will know
that you are aware of those related subjects, and they will not hold you accountable for omitting them. But if
they get the impression that you don’t
even know what the issues are in your
chosen area of research, the red ink will
flow! And you don’t want to be graded
down for omitting things you never
intended to discuss in the first place.
One final word of advice. I can’t
speak for all of my colleagues, but I
encourage those in my classes to send
me their purpose statements in advance, and I believe most other professors feel the same way. When a student
takes a few minutes to tool out a couple
of paragraphs, even in rough form, in
nearly every case I can point out missing things that need to be discussed as
part of the topic, warn against other
related topics that will take the discussion too far afield, help keep the subject
down to manageable size, suggest bibliography, and help with organization.
So keep those wonderful, flowing,
literary introductions coming, but don’t
forget the purpose statement! And
when you’ve finished the research paper or thesis, circle back around to the
beginning. Is your title still appropriate? Does your purpose statement need
tweaking to fit what you actually wrote?
And why not drop by the writing center for
another set of eyes; you’ll be glad you did!
— Dr. David G. Clark
Professor of New Testament and Greek
On-Line Sources on Purpose Statements
University of Wisconsin’s Writing Center:
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/
Thesis_or_Purpose.html
San Jose State University’s Department of
Psychology, Professor Glenn Callaghan:
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/gcallaghan/
graduate/winningstatement.htm
Central European University:
http://www.ceu.hu/writing/s_of_p.htm