If you’re searching for the right author’s purpose worksheet for your students, you’re likely working hard to help your students delve into the minds of their favorite authors, trying to figure out the meaning behind their short story or novel. Here, we’ve collected some of the best author’s purpose worksheets available online today, allowing you to give your students the support they need in mastering a new skill. 

Table of Contents

What To Look For In an Author’s Purpose Worksheet

When searching for the perfect author’s purpose worksheet for your students, you’ll want to keep an eye out for:

  1. Text that’s appropriate to your students’ reading level
  2. Room for interpretation, as long as students are able to provide the rationale behind their thinking
  3. Multiple choice questions that offer good, better, and best options, forcing students to think critically about their responses

Author’s Purpose Worksheets

  1. Giraffe Reading-Author’s Purpose By Have Fun Teaching

This author’s purpose worksheet allows students to get a great start to figuring out the meaning behind an author’s writing. The open-ended questions allow you to to get a grasp of your students’ thought processes as they work through the text and develop their thoughts.

  1. Author’s Purpose Template By Have Fun Teaching

In this author’s purpose worksheet, students have the option of choosing their own stories. This can be a perfect option for silent reading time, and will keep students focused on identifying the author’s purpose no matter what reading material they choose. This type of template can also be a good fit for offering students extra credit, as they’ll be able to complete their work without teacher guidance after they’ve been taught how to identify an author’s purpose.

  1. Answer, Explain, Describe By Rebecca Hurd

This author’s purpose worksheet allows students to decide whether the author was working to answer, explain, or describe a topic. These worksheets can be used across a variety of texts, and provide a simple template to help your students get used to the process of thinking about an author’s purpose whenever they’re reading a novel or short story.

  1. Why Was It Written? Activity By Have Fun Teaching

In this author’s purpose worksheet, students can go through the process of deciding whether an author was working to answer, explain, or describe in their text. Students can use this activity to get familiar with different terms that they’ll encounter as they learn more about determining an author’s purpose. This activity is the good fit for the start of a unit on author’s purpose, as it allows students to get to know the vocabulary they’ll be using in upcoming lessons.

  1. Author’s Purpose Short Passages Activities By Literacy Life

This author’s purpose worksheet allows your students to go through short passages of text that will help them get used to figuring out an author’s purpose. Since the passages are simple for students to read, they’ll be able to fully focus on the task at hand, rather than getting caught up in small details. 

  1. Multidisciplinary Activity From EReading Worksheets

This author’s purpose worksheet allows students to take their minds out of the world of books and short stories, and helps them figure out an author’s purpose for writing in other disciplines. This can be especially helpful for students who are not standouts in reading, as it allows them to use their strengths and build their confidence, which can translate to a boost in literary skills.

  1. Multiple Choice Author’s Purpose Worksheet From K5 Learning

This author’s purpose worksheet provides students with a few sentences of text followed by multiple choice questions that allow them to determine the author’s purpose. This type of worksheet is a great fit for students who are preparing for standardized testing season.

  1. ADE Worksheet From Art Of It

This simple worksheet is perfect for students who are just beginning to dig into determining whether an author is working to answer, describe, or explain to their audience. This can be a good worksheet for the guided practice portion of your lesson, and students can compare answers with others.

Perfect for Beginning Readers From Kids Academy

This author’s purpose worksheet is the perfect way for young readers to start out understanding an author’s goal. The questions on this worksheet force readers to imagine the passage and determine the author’s likely purpose behind their writing.

Free vs. Paid Worksheets

Not sure whether paid worksheets or free worksheets are a better fit for your classroom? Many teachers prefer to work with worksheets they pay for online, as these often are available in formats that are easy to edit, allowing you to customize each worksheet to the specific needs of your students. If you’re looking for a more budget-friendly option, free worksheets can also be a great fit for helping your students get the practice they need to master a new skill. 

At Teach Simple, we appreciate how hard you work for your students, and we’re here to do all we can to make life easier in your classroom. Sign up for an account today and take your time browsing our lesson plans, classroom strategies, and worksheets. We hope you find the perfect author’s purpose worksheet for your classroom.