Selecting source material means choosing which facts and ideas from a text belong in your writing, based on who will read it and what you want that reader to do or understand. It appears in directed writing and any task where a source is given and you must write something new for a named audience.
This is the first skill in directed writing and source use. Later lessons build on it by changing how you express the material and what stance you take.
Why does the audience decide the choice?
The same source can support very different pieces of writing. A detail that persuades a council may mean nothing to a Year 9 student, and a detail that worries a parent may bore a headteacher.
Before you choose anything, find three things in the task: the audience (who reads), the purpose (what you want from them) and the form (speech, letter, article). Your selection should serve all three together.
How to select, step by step
- Underline the task words. Write the audience, purpose and form in one line at the start of your plan.
- Read the source once for meaning. Do not choose yet.
- Sort each detail into three groups: useful for this reader, possible but weak, or irrelevant.
- Pick the strongest details from the first group. Aim for a small set you can explain well.
- Check the set. Ask, “If this reader only remembered these points, would they do what I want?”
Worked example
Here is an original source extract.
Harbour Road Library will close on Sundays and Mondays from January, the town council announced on Tuesday. The change is expected to save RM90,000 a year. Councillor Tan Mei Ling called the decision “reluctant but necessary”. Library visits have fallen by 18% over three years, although Saturday is still the busiest day. The Harbour Youth Forum says the library is the only quiet place in the district where students can study and use free internet. The council says the reading rooms will stay open from Tuesday to Friday and a mobile library will visit two schools each week.
Task: You are a student. Write a speech for your school assembly asking classmates to sign a petition against the closures.
Step 1, task words. Audience: classmates. Purpose: persuade them to sign. Form: a speech.
Step 2 and 3, sort the details.
| Detail | Useful for classmates? |
|---|---|
| Closes Sundays and Mondays | Yes, it affects when they can study |
| Saves RM90,000 a year | Weak, but needed if you answer the council later |
| “Reluctant but necessary” | Weak, it is opinion about the decision |
| Visits down 18% | Weak, it helps the council’s side |
| Saturday still busiest | Yes, it shows students and families use it |
| Only quiet place with free internet | Yes, it speaks directly to students |
| Mobile library visits two schools a week | Possible, but it gives the other side something |
Step 4, pick. Closure days, Saturday being busiest and the quiet study space with free internet. These three match the audience and the aim.
Step 5, check. A classmate who remembered only these points would know the library is about to shut on two days and that it matters to students. That is enough to make signing the petition feel reasonable.
The mistake to watch for
A common slip is choosing details the source puts first or makes loud, not details the reader cares about.
Mistaken plan: Start with the RM90,000 saving, quote Councillor Tan, then give the 18% fall, then the mobile library.
This is an accurate summary of the article, but it speaks for the council. Classmates hear the cost argument and have no reason to sign.
The correction is to sort by reader, not by the order on the page. The council’s figures can return later if you choose to answer them, and Address an opposing point accurately shows how to do that without weakening your case.
Check yourself
Use the library extract above.
1. Task: write a letter to the town councillor, asking her to keep Sunday opening. Name two details that suit this audience and one that does not.
Show answer
Suitable: the closure of Sundays and Mondays, and the Youth Forum’s point about the quiet study place. They show the councillor the real effect on local young people. Less suitable: a long account of your own exam worries, because a councillor acts on public need, not private anxiety. Other answers are acceptable if you explain the fit.
2. Task: write a short article for younger students explaining what is changing at the library. Which detail is essential and why?
Show answer
The closure days: Sundays and Mondays from January. Younger readers need the practical change first. The savings and councillor’s quote add little to their understanding.
3. A classmate selects every sentence in the extract for a speech to fellow students. What is the problem?
Show answer
There is no selection at all, so the speech has no clear aim. It would repeat the article, not persuade or inform this audience. The fix is to sort by audience and keep only details that serve the purpose.
Where this leads next
Once your selection is sharp, the next step is to express it in your own voice: see Transform information rather than retell it. Use the writing revision compare view to compare a draft that retells the source with one that selects and reshapes it.
Some students choose details well in class but lose focus when a new audience arrives. Our teachers can look at that pattern in online one-to-one English First Language tuition.