1. The Writing Process Read pp. 11-15 Discuss Purpose Analyze Diagnostic Essays for Purpose using guidelines on p. 18-19 Read pp. 19-22: Determining your Audience Discuss Audience Analyze Diagnostic Essays for Audience using guidelines on p. 22-23

2. The Writing Process: Purpose Read pages 11-15, stop at Determining Your Purpose Get out a sheet of paper to use for your analysis.

3. Determining You Purpose Label the front of your paper “Purpose” 1. What was your purpose when you wrote your diagnostic essay? 1.Was it ‘outside of the essay itself’? Eg: to get a good grade, to complete the assignment 2. How did this effect the way you approached the essay? 3. How could you change your purpose to be “inside” the writing situation?

4. Forming a Hypothesis No, that’s not a typo. Hypothesis: ◦ Helps you determine what you need to prove, and how you need to prove it. ◦ Guides the creation of a thesis statement ◦ Keeps the essay on-topic ◦ Gives you options for exploring the topic ◦ If you have time, you can choose your hypothesis by writing a quick ‘discovery draft’ (a paragraph or two that starts exploring the topic)

5. Purpose and Thesis Once you have established your purpose, you can starts working on the nuts and bolts of a paper. ◦ A thesis statement is a sentence that usually appears in the first paragraph of an essay, and states the main idea you are going to develop. ◦ If you do not have a purpose inside the writing situation, you have no business writing a thesis.

6. Prompt The lines below are from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Write a carefully reasoned essay in which you defend, challenge, or qualify his statement. Support your argument with specific references to your reading, observation, or experience. No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Chapter XX “The Minister in a Maze” Defend = agree Challenge = disagree Qualify = both agree and disagree

7. Guidelines (Riverside p. 18-19) Answer the following on your paper. I. What are the requirements of your writing project? a.Do you understand the assignment? b.Do you have definite expectations of what you want to accomplish? II. What do you need to know? a.Do you understand your subject, or do you need more information? b.Have you considered the possible audiences who might read your writing? III. What hypothesis can you use as a working purpose? a.How many different hypotheses can you formulate about the subject? b.Which seems to direct and control your information most effectively? IV. What purpose have you discovered for this writing project? a.Has your purpose changed as you have learned more about your subject and audience? b.Have you discovered, while working, what you want to do in your writing?

8. Analyzing Your Audience Flip over your Purpose page, label the top Audience 1. Who are you writing for? 2. Which audience is most important? ◦ Teacher ◦ Peer group ◦ You

9. Guidelines for Analyzing your Audience 1. Who are the readers who will be most interested in your writing? 1.What are their age, gender, education, economic status, and social position? 2.What values, assumptions, and prejudices characterize their attitude towards life? 2. What do your readers know or think they know about the subject? 1.What is the probably source of their knowledge? 2.Will they react positively or negatively to your subject? 3. Why will your readers read your writing? 1.What will they expect to learn? 2.What will they expect to be told about it? 3.Will they expect to be entertained, informed, or persuaded? 4. How can your interest your readers in you subject? 1.How can you convince them to give your writing a fair reading? 2.How can you fulfill and eHance their expectations? 3.How can you catch and hold their attention?