TOW #1

The essay was to help students write better and more interesting essays, primarily 500 word compositions. The author was Paul Roberts, who was an English teacher and also wrote multiple books on linguistics and writing. The audience would be primarily college students who may not be very adept at writing, explaining the hypothetical "D" essay that was presented very early on in the essay. It is clearly presented for a college audience, with the mentions of professors and roommates. However, much of what was said throughout the essay is relevant to many more audiences. The context is a writing guide for college students who are interested in improving their writing skills and getting better grades on their school writing assignments. Throughout the essay, Roberts establishes ethos by presenting himself not only as someone who is knowledgable about the topic but also understands what it's like to struggle with writing essays. The entire introduction of the essay was a scenario that almost any student understands, and the way the essay was shown as being written is much like the writing process for many other people. The author uses humor throughout the essay, which further establishes trust, rather than if the essay was written as just a professor who is presenting writing advice. The student would have no connection, no interest, would not find the author relatable.

The purpose would be to provide advice for writing better essays for college. I think the author achieved their purpose very well, as he provided interesting and useful advice for writing essays not just for college but also for high school or in general. Much of the advice is also useful not just for writing essays but for any kind of writing, including fiction. For example, his descriptions of the "coloful" and "colored" words, and removing unnecessary padding. The content of the essay was all useful and relevant, and it was presented in a way that keeps the reader's attention, from writing an essay about beetles to professors "brought to the brink of lunacy". He also provided concrete examples of what he was saying, the different literary terms and all the topics that were addressed.