In many constructive articles of practical guidance, the writer's
purpose is so successfully concealed that it may at first escape the
notice of the average reader. By relating in detail, for example, how an
actual enterprise was carried out, a writer may be able to give his
readers, without their realizing it, all the information they need to
accomplish a similar undertaking. When he analyzes such articles, the
student should not be misled into thinking that the writer did not have
the definite purpose of imparting practical information. If the same
material can be developed into an article of interesting information or
into one of practical guidance, it is desirable to do the latter and, if
necessary, to disguise the purpose.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE. In order to define his purpose clearly and to keep
it constantly before him, a writer will do well to put down on paper his
exact aim in a single sentence. If, for example, he desired to write a
constructive article about an Americanization pageant held in his home
city on the Fourth of July, he might write out the statement of his aim
thus: "I desire to show how the Americanization of aliens may be
encouraged in small industrial centers of from 3000 to 20,000
inhabitants, by describing how the last Fourth of July Americanization
pageant was organized and carried out in a typical Pennsylvania
industrial town of 5000."

Such a statement will assist a writer in selecting his material, in
sticking to his subject, and in keeping to one point of view. Without
this clearly formulated aim before him, it is easy for him to dwell too
long on some phase of the subject in which he is particularly interested
or on which he has the most material, to the neglect of other phases
that are essential to the accomplishment of his purpose. Or, failing to
get his aim clearly in mind, he may jump from one aspect of the subject