Prompt Purpose

Writers frequently have to respond to prompts: instructional texts that tell them what to write about. Typically, writing prompts are not random topics. Instead, they have several purposes, from helping writers improve their writing to assessing their knowledge of a topic. Understanding the purpose of writing prompts helps writers effectively address them.

Purpose of Writing Prompts

A writing prompt tells writers what they should write a text about and informs them about certain requirements such as font size, length, and what evidence to include. It is important that writers always read the writing prompt they are responding to carefully to ensure they do not overlook any details.

A primary purpose of writing prompts is to tell writers what to write about. The prompts allow writers to work on essential aspects of the writing process, such as crafting a strong argument, integrating credible evidence to support a claim, and using transitions in paragraphs.

Fig. 1 - Writing prompts assess a writer's knowledge of a topic and stimulates critical thinking.

Writing prompts also serve several other purposes, such as the following:

• To stimulate critical thinking skills

• To prompt reflection on a new topic

• To understand a side of an argument

• To assess a writer's knowledge of a concept

• To find out about the writer's interests and goals

• To challenge writers

• To evaluate a writer's mastery of a course

Purpose of Essay Prompts

A type of text that writers frequently write is called an essay. In an essay, a writer presents and develops an argument and supports it with evidence. Essays are typically several paragraphs to several pages in length. An essay prompt is thus a type of writing prompt that encourages writers to craft a detailed argument about a topic. Essay prompts also often include information about required elements of the essay, such as the structure and citation style.

The purpose of essay prompts is often to make sure the reader can assess a writer's understanding of how to write a strong essay. For instance, an essay prompt might ask a writer to analyze how a speaker uses rhetorical strategies to advocate for racial equality. The purpose of that essay prompt would be to assess the writer's ability to write an effective rhetorical analysis essay.

Test writers often use writing prompts to assess students' knowledge of writing. For instance, when taking a standardized English exam, test takers might encounter an essay prompt that asks them to write a persuasive essay and another that asks them to write an expository essay. This allows the test graders to understand if test takers know the difference between those types of essays and can effectively write one of each type.

Essay prompts on exams also help readers assess students' analytical skills. For instance, on a standardized English exam, students may encounter a writing prompt that asks them to analyze the rhetorical choices a president makes in an address to his nation. This writing prompt helps assess what students know about rhetorical strategies and their ability to articulate how a speaker uses them.

Fig. 2 - Prompts on exams aim to assess test-takers knowledge and writing abilities.

To identify the purpose of a prompt like this, the writer should break it down into pieces. First, they should note key phrases that relate to the writing task, such as "well-developed essay," "rhetorical choices," and "convey his message." This tells the writer that they need to write an essay in which they analyze rhetorical techniques in relation to the author's main point.

Now that the reader understands the task, they should consider what they know about rhetorical techniques. For instance, they might recall how speakers use classical appeals in rhetoric like pathos and ethos. Reviewing what they know about the topic will help them know what to look out for when reading the given passage.

Finally, the writer should also reflect on the prompt's contextual information. For instance, this prompt notes the year of the speech, the name of the speaker, and the situation he gave the speech in. Understanding this context tells the writer that the speaker's "message" will relate to graduating from medical school, and thus an analysis of rhetorical choices should relate to this situation.

Author's Purpose Writing Prompt

Sometimes writing prompts ask writers to assess an author's purpose in writing a text. Asking writers to analyze purpose can motivate them to think critically about the text. It can also help readers assess the writers' understanding of an author and their text. For example, the following list demonstrates how an author's purpose writing prompt might be phrased:

• What is the writer trying to do in this text?

• Why might the author have written this story?

• What was the author's reason for writing this?

• What might this story be an allegory for?

• Evaluate how the author uses rhetorical techniques to achieve their purpose

• Analyze the choices the author makes to convey their message to the audience

• Analyze the rhetorical strategies the author uses to give advice to the recipient

To identify an author's purpose, writers should consider elements such as the genre of the text, the time period, and the text's themes. When writers realize what an author was saying through a text, they can reflect on why. For instance, perhaps the author wrote the text during a political crisis, and it has political themes and messages. The writer might respond to an author's purpose writing prompt by arguing that the author's purpose was to voice their political point of view.