Here’s a writing assignment idea that may appeal to your summer instincts: Write about an interesting summer vacation experience. You can write about an actual experience you had this summer or in a previous year. Or, if you don’t have very exciting vacations, you can just use your imagination and come up with a fictional summer adventure.

But wait! There’s more! We want you to do two different versions of this personal narrative, each with a distinctly different audience and purpose.

Audience is the term we use in writing to refer to the particular reader or readers of your work. Purpose is, well, the reason you are writing. It’s super-important to keep your audience and purpose in mind as you write, and this little exercise will give you some practice.

Write two different accounts of an exciting summer vacation:

1Your first account should be written as though you were in the midst of the trip and writing to your best friend back home about your adventures.

2The second is in response to the following question on a college application: Relate a meaningful travel experience you have had and how that experience affected your life.

See how these two accounts of the same events should be different? Think about the things you would emphasize and the vocabulary and writing styles you would use for each.