How does the structure of “Stopping Sharks by Blasting their Senses” help the reader determine the author’s purpose?

How does the structure of “Stopping Sharks by Blasting their Senses” help the reader determine the author’s purpose?

In this lesson you will learn how to determine an author’s purpose by

analyzing the function of each section of the text.

Let’s Review

• Article by Joseph Caputo

• Informational Text

• Eric Stroud’s research about repelling sharks

Let’s Review

chronological

comparison cause & effect

problem & solution?

Text structure is how information in text is organized.

Let’s Review

Main Idea – what a text is mostly about

Core Lesson

Jot down the main idea of each paragraph in the text.1

2Ask, “Why did the author present the information in this way?”

3Add the parts together to determine the author’s purpose for writing.

Core Lesson

How does the structure of “Stopping Sharks by Blasting their Senses” help the reader determine the author’s purpose?

Conservationists also want to keep dogfish from being caught. In the Northeast Atlantic, dogfish are critically endangered, meaning that stocks have decreased by at least 95 percent in the past 20 years. The cause of this population decline is unknown, but it’s likely a combination of accidental and intentional overfishing. The repellents Stroud is developing could aid dogfish, as well as the approximately 12 million sharks worldwide that are unintentionally caught as bycatch every year. Shark populations don’t recover quickly; the animals mature slowly and don’t have many offspring.

Core LessonFishermen from Maine to South Carolina don’t intend to catch the spiny dogfish, but the small, bottom-feeding shark frequently gets swept up in trawling nets and caught in fishing lines. “It just wrecks everything,” says Glen Libby, president of the Midcoast Fishermen’s Cooperative in Maine. “Your fish look like they’ve been through a food processor,” especially after rubbing in the nets against the dogfish’s sandpaper-like skin. Dogfish aren't very profitable, either: something about the bladderless shark’s strong taste just doesn’t appeal to the American palate. … “I think some sort of repellent would be helpful,” Libby says.

Many fishermen are accidentally catching sharks, and they’re not happy about it.

What is this paragraph

mostly about?

Core Lesson

Conservationists also want to keep dogfish from being caught. In the Northeast Atlantic, dogfish are critically endangered, meaning that stocks have decreased by at least 95 percent in the past 20 years. The cause of this population decline is unknown, but it’s likely a combination of accidental and intentional overfishing. The repellents Stroud is developing could aid dogfish, as well as the approximately 12 million sharks worldwide that are unintentionally caught as bycatch every year. Shark populations don’t recover quickly; the animals mature slowly and don’t have many offspring.

• Dogfish are endangered

• Lots of sharks caught yearly

• Stroud’s repellents could help prevent sharks from being caught

Core Lesson

Conservationists also want to keep dogfish from being caught. In the Northeast Atlantic, dogfish are critically endangered, meaning that stocks have decreased by at least 95 percent in the past 20 years. The cause of this population decline is unknown, but it’s likely a combination of accidental and intentional overfishing. The repellents Stroud is developing could aid dogfish, as well as the approximately 12 million sharks worldwide that are unintentionally caught as bycatch every year. Shark populations don’t recover quickly; the animals mature slowly and don’t have many offspring.

What is this paragraph

mostly about?

Overfishing is hurting shark populations, and Stroud is working to help solve this problem.

Core Lesson

Many fishermen are accidentally catching sharks, and they’re not happy about it.

Overfishing is hurting shark populations, and Stroud is working to help solve this problem.

Problem Problem & Solution

Core Lesson

Ask yourself, “Why did the author present the information in this way?”

Is he persuading me to do

something?Is he going to tell me a story?

Is he giving me information?

Core Lesson

Add it together.

Many fishermen are accidentally catching sharks, and they’re not happy about it.

Overfishing is hurting shark populations, and Stroud is working to help solve this problem.

+

Core Lesson

Answer the question: “Why did the author present the information in this way?”

Aha! The author’s purpose is to

inform.

Core Lesson

How does the structure of “Stopping Sharks by Blasting their Senses” help the reader determine the author’s purpose?

The structure leads us to determine that the author’s purpose is to inform readers about the problem of shark bycatch and a possible solution that Eric Stroud is developing.

Core Lesson

Jot down the main idea of each paragraph in the text.1

2Ask, “Why did the author present the information in this way?”

3Add the parts together to determine the author’s purpose for writing.

In this lesson you have learned how to determine an author’s

purpose by analyzing the function of each section of the

text.