The attitude, or tone, of an author is simply his or her feelings regarding the subject about which he or she is writing. Writers convey their feelings via word choice, sentence construction, and metaphorical language. For example, someone who is angry about plagiarism might use harsh words to describe its effects in his or her essay, while someone who does not feel strongly one way or another about plagiarism could use more neutral terms. The attitude of a writer can also be inferred from what isn't said. If nothing is stated against certain subjects, like racism or sexism, then it can be assumed that the writer doesn't have any problems with such issues. But if a writer takes a stand on important social issues such as discrimination, then this should be made clear in his or her work. Finally, the attitude of an author can be guessed at from specific details in his or her text. For example, if a writer spends a lot of time discussing different types of plagiarism in detail but never actually admits to committing any himself/herself, then you can assume that the author feels that they are all serious offenses that need to be stopped. This would be a judgmental attitude toward other people's efforts to profit from others' work.