Writing with Purpose

Writing with purpose means that you start your message with a statement of purpose. You explain, right at the outset, why you are writing. You don’t do this at the end just before signing off. You do this if you can in the very first sentence or at the beginning of the introduction. This provides the reader with an immediate understanding of what will be covered in the rest of the document…

The statement of purpose should conform to the following:

• Brief – one sentence usually.
• Specific – not general
• Outcome-oriented – the expected or desired outcome is indicated.

Whether you are writing an email, a memo, a letter or perhaps an introductory paragraph in a proposal, typical introductory phrases for purpose statements include:

“I am writing this email because…”
“The purpose of this memo is to elaborate…”
•”In this paper, I will describe the key parts of…”
“This report has been prepared to provide..”•”This proposal seeks to recommend a new ERP system that…”

The following example will help to provide better insight on how to write purpose statements:

“The purpose of this report is to describe the climate changes that are occurring in the world”

This is not specific enough and the outcome (what the reader will learn) is not stated. A better purpose statement would have been:

“This report describes the four categories of climate changes that are occurring in the world and explains the two strategies recommended by the UN to combat these changes”.