Context, audience and purpose
When you're planning your writing, always remember:
- context
- audience
- purpose
Context
Context refers to the circumstances which will determine the kind of text you write. So when you’re thinking about context you need to consider just what it is that you’re going to write. Is it a news article? A short story? An argument for or against something?
Each text type or genre has its own particular features, called 'genre conventions'. You will need to make sure that you include these features.
Audience
The audience is who you are writing for. This may be teenagers, adults or children.
It will help your planning if you can imaginatively 'put yourself in your audience's place' - so for example, if you are writing a letter informing people about a trip, it is likely that they will want to know about cost and key facts such as times and places.
Purpose
This is what you want to achieve by writing the text.
- For example, persuasive texts often encourage readers to accept a point of view, buy something, or give to charity. These need a combination of informative, and persuasive(often emotive) language
- A text meant purely for entertainment will generally be more light-hearted
- All texts have a primary need to engage the reader’s attention