Loren Silva Merritt- ENC 1101 Paper 2- Purpose

Tap. Tap. Tap. As the conductor bangs his baton on his music stand all attention is on him. From the crescendo to the peak, the conductor has the power to illicit emotion and convey any purpose he desires. Writers have the same power when constructing their purpose for writing. Purpose can vary and be expressed in multiple forms. Whether it is to inform, explain, entertain or critique, the writings purpose orchestrates the overall construction of the work. Depending on the goal, word choice, medium and creativity limits are all set within a guideline. By looking at examples of works with different purposes, for example, critiques, advertisements, and entertainment pieces, their differing characteristics can be shown. Criticism seems to have a negative connotation. Critiques are the elaborative judgments on any creative work such as, articles, movies, and books. Authors of critiques must be knowledgeable and well versed in the subject mater to be taken seriously. They usually use lagos, logic or information, to support their opinion. For example, if a critic went to go see the movie Her and didnt understand anything about how a movie was constructed or how the characters loneliness is what drove him to believe in love with a computer then the critic would not have the information needed to provide and accurate representation of the film. Depending on the subject matter, vocabulary and word choice will change. For instance, in a college Biology 1 textbook the writing would most likely be formal and use a higher level of vocabulary. While critiques are informative and persuasive in some cases, persuasion dictates a lot of writing such as advertisements as well.

Advertisements persuade the listener to buy a product, listen to an argument or do a certain task. Advertisements use pathos. Generating an emotional reaction toward something increases the chance of doing what they ask or buying what they are selling. For example, one of the most emotionally engaging commercials is by the Tobacco Free Florida advocates. These commercials show the terrible results smoking has on your body, while using actual accounts of people who have developed diseases because of smoking. The commercials inform the public of how damaging and bad smoking really is for you. The emotional appeal allows for a line to be drawn. The question is stated: Are you for smoking or against it? When asked this question ethical standpoints are also being engaged triggering ethos. Allowing people to generate bias and opinions the argument for Tobacco Free Florida is strengthened exponentially. Advertisements are also everywhere. The technology savvy, consumer oriented society of today allows for advertisements pervasive quality. A greater audience in this case makes for a widely known purpose. By far the most common purpose is to entertain. The world in which we live is entertainment oriented. Society glorifies actors and famous writers. Entertainment can be spread through numerous mediums. Movies, comic books, books, television shows, the possibilities of entertainment are endless. When trying to entertain an audience pathos is definitely utilized the most. Movies can bring viewers to tears, bring them joy or cause and influx of anger. Writing meant to entertain can be very informal in nature and not necessarily have to use a complex set of vocabulary. Simplicity seems to be the most effective way to stimulate and emotional response from readers.

In the world of writing everything seems to be connected. Critiques can be done on entertainment pieces or advertisements. Advertisements have the power to entertain. Purpose controls and dictates so many concepts within writing such as, word choice, vocabulary and how the work is overall presented. The writers purpose, like a conductor, allows for a melodious masterpiece to be created.

Reflection Letter/ Workshop Evaluation

This paper was so much easier than the first one. I believe this is because of the larger knowledge base I have. We learned about de-cluttering and nonessential phrases. These skills were essential to making my paper improve. I spent time re-reading my paper more thoroughly and trying harder while writing to make nonessential phrases disappear. Another thing I tried to work on was definitely my transitions. My transitions are definitely my biggest struggle. I wrote the introduction paragraph while re-reading my music textbook hence the idea for my hook. When writing the body paragraphs I thought in the mindset of lagos, pathos, and ethos. During the conclusion I tried to make my point get across as best as possible. All together I believe this paper further enriched my understanding of purpose.

Today in workshop evaluation Jackie was my reviewer. She gave me advice to work on my transitions and tighten up the screws at bit more but overall she said I did a decent job at editing. On her end she had a great paper but still needed a little bit more elaboration. Im confident her outcome will be a great piece.