Author’s Purpose: Persuade, Inform or Entertain? (Also known as PIE)
Point-of-View: It’s all about perspective!
What is an author’s purpose?
The author’s purpose is the main reason why the story or article was written. Is the purpose to persuade, inform,
or entertain?
•If readers changed the way they thought about a topic or issue, one of the author’s purposes may have been to
persuade.
•If students learn while they are reading, one of the author’s purposes may have been to inform.
•If readers enjoyed what they read, one of the author’s purposes may have been to entertain.
Author’s Purpose: To Persuade
It’s the author’s goal to persuade the reader to agree with the author’s opinion. Even though the author shares his
opinion, he may provide facts or examples to support the opinion.
Examples: advertisements, commercials, newspaper editorials, etc.
Clues: Specific audience, opinion, supporting reasons
Author's Purpose: To Inform
It’s the author’s goal to enlighten the reader with topics that are usually real or contain facts. Facts are used to
teach, not to persuade.
Examples: textbooks, cookbooks, newspapers, encyclopedias, etc.
Clues: Who, Where, When, What, Why, How?
Author’s Purpose: To Entertain
It is the author’s goal to tell a story or describe real or imaginary characters, places, and events.
Examples: poems, stories, plays, comic strips, entertainment articles, etc.
Clues: Characters, setting, problem, events, solution
What is Point-of-View?
The perspective from which a speaker or writer recounts a narrative or presents information.
•Depending on the topic, purpose, and audience, writers of nonfiction may rely on the first-person point of view (I,
we), the second-person (you, your), or the third-person (he, she, it, they).
•In the newspaper, you will find an author’s point-of-view in entertainment articles and editorial/opinion articles.
•The point-of-view presented in these types of news articles is often termed as bias, which in this case is the
informed opinion of the author based on the information they have gathered on the topic.
Created By The Knight Times Newspaper 2013-2014