Authors Purpose

Reliability

The quality of being reliable, dependable, or trustworthy.

Validity

Validity is the extent to which a concept, conclusion or measurement is well-founded and corresponds accurately to the real world. The word "valid" is derived from the Latin validus, meaning strong.

Recount

tell someone about something; give an account of an event or experience.

Depict

A depiction is a true representation of something, like the depiction of life as a Jewish teenager in hiding during World War II in Anne Frank's "The Diary of a Young Girl." The word depiction comes from the Latin word for "painting or description," depictionem.

Authors Purpose

An author's purpose is the reason an author decides to write about a specific topic. Then, once a topic is selected, the author must decide whether his purpose for writing is to inform, persuade, entertain, or explain his ideas to the reader.

Analyze

Analysis is the practice of looking closely at small parts to see how they affect the whole. Literary analysis focuses on how plot/structure, character, setting, and many other techniques are used by the author to create meaning.

Prompt

(of an event or fact) cause or bring about (an action or feeling).

Compare

Comparison is a rhetorical or literary device in which a writer compares or contrasts two people, places, things, or ideas. In our everyday life, we compare people and things to express ourselves vividly.

Explain

Explain, elucidate, expound, interpret imply making the meaning of something clear or understandable.

Contrast

In literature, an author uses contrast when he or she describes the difference(s) between two or more entities. For example, in the first four lines of William Shakespeare's Sonnet 130, Shakespeare contrasts a mistress to the sun, coral, snow, and wire. Contrast is the antonym of simile.

Narrate

Narrative is a report of related events presented to the listeners or readers in words arranged in a logical sequence. A story is taken as a synonym of narrative. A narrative or story is told by a narrator who may be a direct part of that experience and he or she often shares the experience as a first-person narrator.

Introduce

The act or process of introducing or the state of being introduced.

Tone

Tone, in written composition, is an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience. Tone is generally conveyed through the choice of words or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject.

Condemn

express complete disapproval of, typically in public; censure.

Criticize

indicate the faults of (someone or something) in a disapproving way.

Authors Perspective

Author's point of view is the perspective (opinions and beliefs) that an author shares with the reader through the text. Have students copy this definition into their accompanying student handouts.

Characterize

Characterization is a literary device that is used step by step in literature to highlight and explain the details about a character in a story.

Critique

Critique is a literary technique that means to critically evaluate a piece of literary work, a political or philosophical theory in detail. A critique could be a critical essay, an article evaluating a literary piece, or a review.

Identify

Identification is a term used in literary and film studies to describe a psychological relationship between the reader of a novel and a character in the book, or between a spectator in the audience and a character on screen. In both cases, readers and spectators see themselves in the fictional character.

Describe

The Latin word scribere, meaning "to write," and its form scriptus give us the roots scrib and script. Words from the Latin scribere have something to do with writing. To scribble is to write quickly or carelessly. To describe is to write or tell about something or someone. A manuscript is a document written by hand.

Investigate

To observe or inquire into in detail

Advocate

a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy.

Acknowledge

accept or admit the existence or truth of.

Support

bear all or part of the weight of; hold up.

Oppose

disapprove of and attempt to prevent, especially by argument.

Summarize

give a brief statement of the main points of (something).

Bias

predisposition, preconception, predilection, partiality, proclivity; bent, leaning. Bias, prejudice mean a strong inclination of the mind or a preconceived opinion about something or someone. A bias may be favorable or unfavorable: bias in favor of or against an idea.

Propose

put forward (an idea or plan) for consideration or discussion by others.

Assert

state a fact or belief confidently and forcefully.

Evaluate

to judge or determine the significance, worth, or quality of; assess: to evaluate the results of an experiment. 3. Mathematics. to determine or calculate the numerical value of (a formula, function, relation, etc.).