Purposes in Writing
Writing on Demand
Two
Purposes for writing
–Inform
–Persuade
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
Situation: “Everybody can be great,
because everybody can serve,” said Martin
Luther King, Jr. According to Dr. King,
greatness is not inside a person. Greatness
lies in what a person does for other people.

Writing Task:
Write a letter to a friend telling about a
time you helped someone and explaining
why serving others benefits society. Be
sure to include relevant details about how
you served and remember your purpose is
to help your friend make the decision to
serve too.
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Situation

Situation: “Everybody can be great,
because everybody can serve,” said Martin
Luther King, Jr. According to Dr. King,
greatness is not inside a person. Greatness
lies in what a person does for other people.

Writing Task:
Write a letter to a friend telling about a
time you helped someone and explaining
why serving others benefits society. Be
sure to include relevant details about how
you served.
Inform
 Inform:
supply knowledge
–Details
–Examples
–Reasons
–Explanations
–Statistics
–Facts
–Evidence
Facts, Details, Statistics

Relevant information that supports your
position

“Our animal shelter needs to reduce its
number by 75% to make room for more
animals. If these animals are not
adopted, they will be put to sleep. Can
you help?”
Reasons

A statement of reasons and explanation
of why they should be accepted

Adopting a pet from the animal shelter is
so much better than buying one from a
pet store because adopting means
saving an animal’s life. Also adopting
does not cost as much.
Examples

Important examples that help your
audience “see” your point of view

For example, you can expect to pay
around $400 for a normal cross-breed,
from $550 to $700 for a pure breed and
around $800 for a ‘designer’ breed. In
contrast, it only costs about $50 for an
adoption fee.
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
Situation: State test scores for the 7th grade
dropped significantly from the past year. The
Site Based Decision Making Council (SBDMC)
has made the decision to eliminate P.E. from
the schedule. This policy was implemented so
that students would have more time in the
classroom on academic areas of science,
language arts, social studies, and math.

Writing Task:
Write a letter to inform the SBDMC of the
positive benefits of P.E. explaining why it
should not be removed from the curriculum.
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Situation

Situation: State test scores for the 7th grade
dropped significantly from the past year. The
Site Based Decision Making Council (SBDMC)
has made the decision to eliminate P.E. from
the schedule. This policy was implemented so
that students would have more time in the
classroom on academic areas of science,
language arts, social studies, and math.

Writing Task:
Write a letter to inform the SBDMC of the
positive benefits of P.E. explaining why it
should not be removed from the curriculum.
Persuade
 Persuade:
to convince by
appealing to reason or
understanding
–Logos: Logical Appeal
–Pathos: Emotional Appeal
–Ethos: Reputation/Character
Logos
Facts, numbers, and other factual
evidence can be very convincing.
Example: A
Snickers bar has
280 calories and 30
grams of sugar.
That’s not very
healthy.
Pathos
Getting people to feel happy, sad, or
angry can help your argument.
Example: Your
donation might
just get this
puppy off the
street and into a
good home.
Ethos
If people believe and trust in you,
you’re more likely to persuade
them.
Example: Believe
me! I’ve been
there before. I’m
just like you.
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
Situation: Your grandfather is always saying,

Writing Task:
“You can’t steal second if you have one
foot on first.” By this, he means if you
want to step ahead in life, you have to take
chances. You have classmates with all kinds
of talents and gifts, but some may never take
any risks and therefore limit their
opportunities to grow and experience
success.
Write a speech that you’ll give to your
classmates. Persuade them to set goals, take
risks, and succeed. Use your grandfather’s
quote as the title of your speech.
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Situation

Situation: Your grandfather is always saying,

Writing Task:
“You can’t steal second if you have one
foot on first.” By this, he means if you
want to step ahead in life, you have to take
chances. You have classmates with all kinds
of talents and gifts, but some may never take
any risks and therefore limit their
opportunities to grow and experience
success.
Write a speech that you’ll give to your
classmates. Persuade them to set goals, take
risks, and succeed. Use your grandfather’s
quote as the title of your speech.