Kate Kiefer, English Department, Composition Director 1992-1995
Students need to know about focus because it's one of the keys to effective reading. As readers, we don't read much of the text on a page. Instead, we form a hypothesis about the text and sample the text to confirm, modify or reject the hypothesis. If the writer states a clear focus early in a piece of writing, readers have a much easier time formulating their working hypothesis for reading. If the writer sticks to the announced focus, then readers will read efficiently. In informative prose, more efficient reading means more effective communication.
