How to Make Sure Your Writing Has a Purpose

Summary

The article outlines the importance of writing with a clear purpose to ensure reader comprehension and engagement.

Abstract

The article emphasizes that effective writing must have a defined purpose to guide readers from start to finish without confusion. It highlights the need for clarity and logic in writing, suggesting that authors should aim for a reading level that matches their audience, using the Harry Potter series as an example. The piece also provides strategies for leading readers to a specific understanding or action, such as explaining changes to daily routines affecting sleep cycles or teaching emotional control techniques. By focusing on the desired outcome for the reader, writers can streamline their content, making it more impactful and easier to follow.

Opinions

Writing should be accessible to its intended audience, with a recommended reading level of 6th to 9th grade for general topics.
Readers lose interest if they cannot follow the writer's logic or understand the message, regardless of the subject's intrigue.
The writer's purpose in a piece may include informing the reader, prompting a new action, suggesting a change in behavior, or advising against a particular action.
Combining multiple goals within an article can enhance its effectiveness by addressing both the reasons for change and the practical steps to achieve it.
Research and content organization become more efficient when the writer has a clear outcome in mind for the reader.

Where do you want the reader to land?

Has often has happened to you? You’re reading something, and you’re partway through it when you find yourself saying, “What?” You think it’s you — may be your mind wandered and you missed something important. So, you start over. Then you get to the same spot as before, and you still don’t get it. You give up and read something else that makes more sense and is easier to understand.

When a piece of writing is illogical and unclear, readers are unable to follow it from beginning to end. They become lost and lose interest even if the subject matter is intriguing. Writing is clear when readers can both understand the writing word and comprehend the writer’s meaning. This requires an understanding of reading levels. For example, if I’m writing about a complex subject for a general audience, I want to write at about a 6th- to 9th-grade reading level. The first three Harry Potter books were written at this grade level. If I write at a higher grade level, a good percentage of readers will be unable to understand the meaning.

How to help your reader land in the right place

You want your writing to lead your reader to the other side of your message just like a pilot ensures that the plane arrives at the right airport. This is easier when you start with the end in mind and plan a course that takes your reader where they need to go. Generally, want your reader to know something new, to do something new, to do something differently, or to stop doing something. Examples:

Know something: Changes to Your Daily Routine Can Affect Your Sleep Cycle

Do something new: Start Stress-Proofing Your Day before Getting Out of Bed in the Morning

Do something differently: Instead of Blowing Up When Your Buttons Are Pushed, Take One Step Back and Just Breathe

Stop doing something: Stop Doing This Before Breakfast if You Want to Lose Weight

Often, several of the goals are combined in a single article. Examples, readers need:

An explanation about why and how changes to their daily routine affect sleep cycles and want a section about how they can mitigate negative consequences.

Reasons for making changes, and those reasons are two-fold — they gain something they want or avoid something they don’t want. So you need to describe how blowing up when their buttons are pushed has negative consequences, include information on how to use the step-back-and-breathe technique works, and explain the benefits of using their bodies and breathing to control emotions.

When you decide the outcome you want your reader to realize after reading, researching becomes faster, it’s easier to organize the information you want to include, and eliminating extraneous material is simpler. The result is a tightly focused piece that moves the reader from beginning to end smoothly and effectively.