Example Essay Chapter 10 Examples in an essay

Example Essay Chapter 10

• Examples in an essay support, clarify, interest, and persuade. • Without some carefully chosen examples to show the truth of your statements, they remain unsupported generalities or mere opinions. What Is Example?

• Our locally supported PBS channel presents a variety of excellent educational shows. The shows are informative on lots of different subjects for both children and adults. The information they offer makes PBS well worth the public funds that support it. Hazy Generalities

• Our locally supported PBS channel presents a variety of excellent educational shows. For example, young children can learn their alphabet and numbers from Sesame Street; imaginative older children can be encouraged to create by watching Kids’ Writes, a show on which four hosts read and act out stories written and sent in by youngsters from eight to fourteen. Adults may enjoy learning about antiques and collectibles from a program called The Collector, each week the show features an in-depth look at buying, selling, trading, and displaying collectible items, From Depression glass to teddy bears to Shaker furniture. Those folks wishing to become handy around the home can use information on repairs from plumbing to wiring on This Old House, while the nonmusical can learn the difference between scat singing and arias on such programs as Jazzi and Opera Today. Money-minded viewers may profit from the tips dropped by stockbrokers who appear on Wall Street Week. The information offered makes these and other educational shows on PBS well worth the public funds that support the station. Specific examples

• Although the preceding example is based on real shows, to explain, illustrate, or support the points in your essays, you may also use: • • • personal experiences hypothetical situations anecdotes research material facts testimony or any combination thereof Specific Examples

• Explain and clarify unfamiliar, abstract, or difficult concepts for the reader. • Newton’s law of gravity might be more easily understood once it is explained through the simple, familiar example of an apple falling from a tree. • Add to your prose vivid details that hold the reader’s attention while you explain your points. • A general statement decrying animal abuse, may be more effective accompanied by several examples detailing the brutal treatment of one particular laboratory’s research animals. Good examples can…

• Support, explain, or clarify your assertions by clear, thoughtful examples will help you develop virtually every piece of writing you are assigned, both in school and on the job. • Development by example is the most widely used of all the expository strategies and by far the most important. Learning to…

• In most cases, your first paragraph will present your thesis. • Each body paragraph will contain a topic sentence and as many effectively arranged examples as necessary to explain or support each major point. • Your last paragraph will conclude your essay in some appropriate way. Developing your essay

• Keep the purpose of your paragraphs in mind: don’t wander off into an analysis of the causes of theft on your campus if you are only supposed to show various examples of it. • Keep your audience in mind: which examples will provide the kinds of information that your particular readers need to understand your point. Are all my examples relevant?

• Select those examples that are the strongest and most convincing. • If you are writing a research paper exposing a government agency’s wastefulness, select cases that obviously show gross or ridiculous expenditures rather than asking your readers to consider some unnecessary but minor expenses. Are my examples well chosen?

• Put yourself in your reader’s place: would you be convinced with three brief examples? Five? One extended example? Two? • Use your own judgment, but be careful to support or explain your major points adequately. Are there enough examples to make each point clear and persuasive?

• By far, the most common weakness in essays developed by example is a lack of specific detail. • For instance, in an essay claiming that junior high football has become too violent, don’t merely say, “Too many players were hurt last year. ” • Go into more detail by giving actual examples of jammed fingers, wrenched backs, fractured legs, crushed kneecaps, and broken dreams. Problems to avoid

• The second biggest problem in example essays is the lack of coherence. • Arrange the examples in an order that best explains the major point presented by your topic sentence; then carefully check to make sure each example is smoothly connected in thought to the statements preceding and following it. • Use transitional devices where necessary to ensure easy movement from example to example and from point to point. Problems to avoid