How can you identify when a question is asking for an author's purpose vs. a secondary intent?

Prepare for the Praxis Core Skills for Educators: Reading (5713) exam. Engage with flashcards and multiple-choice questions, each accompanied by hints and explanations. Boost your readiness for exam day!

Multiple Choice

How can you identify when a question is asking for an author's purpose vs. a secondary intent?

Distinguishing what the author intends to achieve in writing from the effects those writings have on readers or on policy is the key idea. To identify the author’s purpose, look for evidence in the text that reveals the writer’s goals—what they want readers to think, believe, or do as a result of reading. This can show up in the thesis or main claims, the reasoning used, the kinds of evidence selected, and the overall argument or message the author is building. Different from that, secondary intent concerns the potential outcomes or consequences of reading the text—how it might influence readers’ views, attitudes, or actions, or even lead to policy changes. When you notice statements about such effects or calls to action that describe what might happen after readers engage with the piece, you’re seeing secondary intent, not the writer’s primary aim. So, the best approach is to compare the evidence that reveals the author’s goals with any broader effects on readers or policy. For example, if a passage lays out a persuasive argument with data and conclusions aimed at changing opinions, that points to the author’s purpose. If the passage shifts to discussing how readers might be persuaded or what policy changes could result, that signals secondary intent. Other strategies that don’t directly distinguish purpose from effects—like only analyzing the concluding paragraph or relying on genre to decide the aim—don’t reliably separate the writer’s primary goal from the potential outcomes.

Distinguishing what the author intends to achieve in writing from the effects those writings have on readers or on policy is the key idea. To identify the author’s purpose, look for evidence in the text that reveals the writer’s goals—what they want readers to think, believe, or do as a result of reading. This can show up in the thesis or main claims, the reasoning used, the kinds of evidence selected, and the overall argument or message the author is building.

Different from that, secondary intent concerns the potential outcomes or consequences of reading the text—how it might influence readers’ views, attitudes, or actions, or even lead to policy changes. When you notice statements about such effects or calls to action that describe what might happen after readers engage with the piece, you’re seeing secondary intent, not the writer’s primary aim.

So, the best approach is to compare the evidence that reveals the author’s goals with any broader effects on readers or policy. For example, if a passage lays out a persuasive argument with data and conclusions aimed at changing opinions, that points to the author’s purpose. If the passage shifts to discussing how readers might be persuaded or what policy changes could result, that signals secondary intent.

Other strategies that don’t directly distinguish purpose from effects—like only analyzing the concluding paragraph or relying on genre to decide the aim—don’t reliably separate the writer’s primary goal from the potential outcomes.

More practice questions