3+Purpose+&+Voice

Purpose & Voice

__ Some Purposes for Writing __

A writer's **purpose** is key to the choices he or she makes when crafting a piece of writing. Here are just a few examples (source: Purdue Online Writing Lab):
 * Narrating – Examples: fairy tale, newspaper article
 * Telling a story or giving an account of events
 * Observing/Describing – Examples: character sketch, lyric poem
 * Helping the reader see and understand a person, place, object, image or event that you have directly watched or experienced through detailed sensory descriptions.
 * Responding – Examples: journal entry, interview transcript
 * Writing that is in a direct dialogue with another text or a specific question posed by the writer's audience
 * Analyzing – Examples: essay that traces a motif in a novel or examines the cause and effect of a historical event
 * Breaking a topic down into its component parts in order to examine the relationships between the parts.
 * Examining/Investigating – Example: research paper
 * Systematically questioning a topic to discover or uncover facts that are not widely known or accepted, in a way that strives to be as neutral and objective as possible.
 * Arguing/Persuading – Example: newspaper editorial
 * Expressing a viewpoint on an issue or topic and then presenting evidence that supports it, in an effort to convince others that your viewpoint is correct

__ Elements of Voice __

A writer's voice is his or her unique manner of expression on the page. It is similar to style. Just as the voices we use when we speak are unique, our writing voices are unique too. Voice is the combination of all of the following: Note that the same __topic__ can yield very different pieces of writing depending on its __purpose__ and its __voice.__
 * Choice of words, also called **diction** – Is it formal or informal? Fancy or plain? Impersonal or personal? Etc.
 * ** Point of view ** ("I", "we", "you", "he/she") – Is it subjective or objective?
 * Proportion of **detail** and **generalization**
 * Arrangement of words within a sentence, also called **syntax**
 * ** Sounds and rhythms ** - alliteration, rhyme, onomatopoeia, etc.
 * Use of **repetition**
 * Use of **figurative language** - imagery, metaphor, allegory, rhetoric, etc.
 * ** Punctuation, capitalization, spelling ** - Does it follow convention or not?
 * Length and complexity of **sentences**
 * Length of **paragraphs**