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Specific purposes can be put into three main categories of action.
1) Describe: Author’s main purpose is to convey information,
to present a situation or idea as objectively as possible. The author will make
some opinions or judgments, but there is a pretense of objectivity. Example
Author: Reporter
2) Evaluate: Author describes a phenomenon, situation, viewpoint,
or theory and analyzes it. Example Author: Researcher / Academic
3) Persuade: The author is advocating a particular position
and often against another point of view. Example Author: Debater, Politician
Note: If your personal understanding or view of the issue happens to contradict
that of the author in a Persuade essay, this could inhibit your ability to comprehend
the author’s point of view. Leave your opinions out.
Evaluate vs. Persuade
Evaluate and Persuade are sometimes difficult to distinguish. Some
passages are a little of both. In Evaluate, the author ultimately
arrives at a conclusion through analysis; for Persuade, the author
seems to start out with an argument and then backs it up with evidence.
800score Tip: Stay PC.
While you must rely on the passage information,
you can use your knowledge of political correctness. The GMAT doesn’t
want to start a big controversy. Read the essays knowing that the GMAT will
never offend anyone. You can rule out anything too controversial and you know
from the start that your author’s view will never be anything too out
of the mainstream in academia. |
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Just knowing whether a passage describes, evaluates, or persuades will help
you in several ways.
1. It tests your knowledge of the passage. If you don’t know if it was
meant to be descriptive or persuasive, then you obviously did not read it critically.
2. You will have a head start on understanding the author’s purpose.
Describe—The author wants to communicate.
If you understand the passage, you’ve met the author’s objective.
Evaluate—The author is giving you the good
and bad, pluses and minuses in an objective and somewhat detached manner. The
goal is to assess, evaluate, analyze the topic of the passage and to arrive
at the truth.
Persuade—The author is an idea salesman who
wants you to be a True Believer and reject the infidels who disagree. When you
finish, the author wants you to be a follower of his or her opinion.
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