our study tribeby sobena
Why Was This Source Made?Bonus Section · Video 2 of 6

Why Was This Source Made?

Why Was This Source Made?

Purpose is why a source was made: what it wants its audience to think, feel or do. In Sec 1 it was an optional challenge; in Sec 2 it is a core skill, because one of the source questions is often about purpose. These notes set out three steps (message, audience, outcome), a model purpose answer, how to read cartoons and posters in three layers, and quick checklists for paintings and speeches.

Message vs Purpose

A colourful bubble-tea flyer lying on a doormat inside a flat's front door
A flyer through the door. Illustration drawn for Our Study Tribe.
  • A bubble-tea flyer: you do not just ask what it says, you ask what it wants you to do. That is purpose.
  • Message: what a source says.
  • Purpose: one step further, to what it wants the audience to think, feel or do.
  • Typical questions: "Why was this poster published?" "Why was this cartoon drawn?"

The Three Steps

  1. Message: what is the source saying?
  2. Audience: who was it made for? Be specific, not just "people".
  3. Outcome: what did the maker want the audience to do?

Worked Example: An HDB Flyer, 1964

A poster-style drawing of a smiling family, the father holding up a key, in front of a new block of flats
"Own your own home!" A practice source drawn for Our Study Tribe.
  • The source: a smiling family in front of a new block of flats. "Own your own home! … Pay a little each month. Your home, your future."
  • Context: the HDB was set up in 1960. Until 1964, families could only rent its flats; then it started selling them.
  • Message: owning a flat gives your family a safe, settled future, and it is easy to afford.
  • Audience: families who did not own a home yet, such as those renting or living in crowded kampongs.
  • Outcome: buy a flat and become home owners.

Why Was This Source Made?

Writing the Purpose Answer
  1. PointThis flyer was made by the HDB in 1964 to persuade families who did not own a home to buy their own flat.
  2. EvidenceThe flyer shows a smiling family in front of a new block of flats and says "Own your own home!", "Pay a little each month" and "Your home, your future". The HDB had started selling its flats in 1964.
  3. ElaborationThe happy family and the promise of a secure future make owning a flat look desirable, while "pay a little each month" makes it seem affordable, so the flyer removes the main worry that would stop a renting family from buying. Because the HDB had only just started selling flats, it needed families to sign up.
  4. LinkHence, the flyer's purpose was to get families to buy HDB flats and become home owners.

What Makes a Top Purpose Answer

  • Purpose verb: start strong with persuade, convince, encourage, urge, warn or criticise.
  • The full answer: purpose, audience and outcome, backed up with evidence from the source and context; that is the top of the usual ladder.
  • Common gap: "This flyer was made to show people HDB flats" gives no purpose verb, no specific audience and no outcome.

Cartoons and Posters: Three Layers

A pen drawing of a small lorry loaded with crates stopped at a giant gate on the Causeway, beside a sign covered in cobwebs
A cartoon about the common market, 1964. A practice source drawn for Our Study Tribe.
  • The layers: what do I see? What is it saying? What does it want me to do?
  • Example: a small lorry of Singapore goods waits at a giant "Tariffs" gate on the Causeway, next to a cobwebbed "Common market: coming soon" sign.
  • The tricks: symbols (cobwebs mean a long wait), size (the giant gate exaggerates the problem) and labels (they show what each thing stands for).
  • Purpose: to criticise the federal government for delaying the common market.

Paintings and Speeches

  • Painting: see, think, wonder. What do I see? What do I think it means? What do I still wonder about? Then ask about purpose.
  • Speech: who is the speaker, who is the audience, and what is the occasion?
  • Then: what are the key points, and what did the speaker want to happen?

In One Sentence

  • To find a source's purpose, work out its message, its specific audience and the outcome its maker wanted, then start with a purpose verb and back the answer up with evidence from the source and its context.

Think About It

  1. "This flyer was made to show people HDB flats." What three things are missing from this answer? Rewrite it.
  2. Why do cartoonists exaggerate the size of things? Find one exaggeration in the Causeway cartoon and say what it suggests.
  3. Look at any advertisement near you. Who is its audience, and what outcome does it want?