smg10e

Determine the writer’s purpose and audience.

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Although writing a review usually helps writers better understand the criteria they use when making evaluations, most writers also hope to influence others. When reading the evaluations that follow, ask yourself questions like these about the writer’s purpose and audience:

What seems to be the writer’s main purpose—for example, to influence readers’ judgments and possibly their actions; to inspire readers to think critically about which criteria are appropriate for judging subjects of this kind; or to get readers to look at the subject in a new way?
What does the writer assume about the audience—for example, that readers will accept the writer’s judgment; use the review to make their own independent, informed judgments; already have an independent judgment; or have serious objections to the writer’s argument?