Writing the TAP
In COR classes you will be required to write a TAP (Thesis, Audience, Purpose) preceding every paper you submit. The TAP should include a clear statement of the Thesis, Audience and Purpose of your paper. In short, the ‘thesis’ is the argument or stand that you will take in your paper, the ‘audience’ are the people at which your writing is directed and ‘purpose’ refers to the main objective that you wish your paper to achieve once read.
For the purpose of illustration consider the following case:
You are writing a persuasive essay for your COR class. You wish to write about the Internet arguing that it has improved people’s lives in numerous ways and that it should be used extensively. You might proceed to write your TAP in the following manner:
Thesis: The Internet has improved people’s lives by granting them access to more varied and unambiguous data, by allowing them to communicate quickly and efficiently and by letting them explore and develop their interests with comparative ease.
Audience: Dr. Adamson and the Vesalius student body
Purpose: To convince the readers that the Internet has improved people’s lives in various ways and that they should try using it more often.