Writing with illustration and examples

Required Links for study: 1. http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/examples.htm 2. http://www.ehow.com/how_5789252_write-illustration-essay.html Required online articles to show illustration and example: 3. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cnn.heroes/index.html (OK to watch videos, but be sure to link to the stories for 3 of these. Note how example and illustration are used to prove why these people are worthy of this recognition.) 4. Follow these steps: Link to SCCs LRC page: http://www.stanly.edu/current-students/library Then link to the National Geographic Database

Looks like this:

Then enter the password. You will find the password for all databases on the left side of the Moodle HOME page here:

Once you enter the password, search for Bionics. Read the article by this title and pay particular attention to illustrations and examples used here.

Lecture
Consider the show dont tell concept. Lets say you and I sit down for a cup of coffee and a chat, and you tell me youve had a weird afternoon. Well. OK. So? I cant picture it or relate to it yet. SHOW me (with words) how you just got home and were trying to round up your kid to get his homework done. Go to the scene with your details. Put me there with you: Describe just how desperately you need to go to the bathroom because you had three cups of coffee just to stay awake through hours of boring, pointless meetings. Just as you are about to run to the bathroom and deal with that issue and then change clothes for your second job, you hear a knock on the door. Just three loud, fast raps. So, you zip up your pants and run for the front door. Turns out, your craziest neighbor, one with whom you are not close, bursts into your house past you, sobbing, with smeared mascara and hair that hasnt seen a hair brush in days and a dye job in about three months. She demands a phone and then doesnt seem to know how to dial. So you help her out and do it for her. Once connected, she begins wailing, moaning, keening at some hapless soul whom you presume to be her husband. Then she screams at him for stealing her keys and phone and hangs up. There is an awkward pause. She grabs you by the wrist and tells you with crazy eyes that she is married to the devil and no one can save her. You know the poor, long-suffering man and are not quite sure this is a reliable version of the truth. In mid-rant about how cruel her whole family is to her, she stops, and asks, Am I scaring you? As a matter of fact, she is, a little, but she really freaked out your kid who is hiding under your bed and making scared noises. Because of this, you are really more annoyed that scared and are forming the words to say, Let me walk you back to your house. Suddenly, she asks for the recipe for the pumpkin bread you took over there last Christmas and says you should get together for coffee sometimes. And then she turns to go and leaves the front doorand your mouth--open.

See what I mean? The power, drama, entertainment, humor, or whatever you would convey with your spoken words and gestures comes out in the detail of your writing. You use the behavioral examples and illustrations (works in perfectly with description) to convey exactly how weird that afternoon turned out to be. In addition to giving description, provide examples to help the reader understand what youre trying to communicate. Anytime you generalize about something, you need to provide examples to make your point. For example, you could generalize and say, Teenage years are

the hardest. If that statement were your primary argument (thesis), you would need to support it with an example: I made my teenage years even harder because I couldnt stop myself from making sarcastic, obnoxious comments about everything I encountered. I couldnt even understand why I was still in school since I was so incredibly smart. I distinctly remember looking down my nose at my mother and saying, "For your information, Im just as smart, responsible and mature as I ever could be." When my mother finally stopped laughing, she assigned new and more difficult choresincluding toilet cleaningto accommodate my new found maturity. (The example part is in red.)

Lack of supporting examples is a common complaint about novice writers. Work hard to avoid being vague. Use a concrete example for every general statement you make. Usually only one example will do for each point, but you must be clear about what your example is explaining. The writers in this section use illustration and example (which, by the way, goes hand in hand with good description) to make their points.

Pattern of Writing: Definition

Required Links for Study: 1. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/622/01/ 2. http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/definition.html Required materials to show definition: 3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp4znWHvsjU (Thomas Friedman is one of the most vocal and famous authorities on globalization. Watch these videos for some basic language and background.) 4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzxGyKyzfP8&feature=related (note the back and forth, opposing opinions on the topic.) 5. http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/faithpillars.html (note how the five pillars are used to define Islam is it what you thought?) 6. What is Intelligence? (Isaac Asimov) http://talentdevelop.com/articles/WIIA.html

Lecture

According to Webster Oh, I have gagged over many a paper that featured that phrase! It was cool in 4th grade; however, its lost some of its appeal by now. Does that mean definition doesnt have its place in an essay? No. It means definition should be presented in a way that isnt a hackneyed, overused clich. You have to be able to answer the What is it? question before you can understand something. There are many ways to define something. You can define with a formal definition, description, example or even comparison and contrast. There are two ways we understand words when we see or hear them. We understand the denotation (dictionary meaning) of the word; we also understand something less obvious the connotation (emotional and mental images that are associated with the word). Heres how that works: The denotation of love would be something like: A strong feeling of affection. The connotation of love (if youd just recently been dumped by that wretched, worthless girlfriend [or boyfriend] of yours) might be, A really miserable, delusional and stupid state of mind between one decent person and the human equivalent of hog waste.

If you were mooshy-gooshy in love at the moment, Id expect youd have a very different connotation of the word.

Many words are colored in our culture. For example, consider the term mother -in-law. I will have the most wonderful mother-in-law in the world, but because of the way the word is used in our society, I still shiver at the word itself. Same goes for the term step-mother. The term boy might have a different historical connotation for Caucasians than it would for AfricanAmerican males. Definition might be known through personal experience as well as vivid description. You will likely find a place for definition in your essays. You may need to define a complex concept or term in a formal way, or you may need to redefine an idea uniquely so your reader will see it with your connotation. You can define by example (see above), or you can define by history, comparison/contrast or negation. Definition by History Consider the following link that defines concepts of equality (Note two of these: Self-Evident Truths and Constitution and Slavery): http://www.library.pitt.edu/freeatlast/freedom_papers.html Then consider this image that defines one of the most basic of horrors from the selling of human beings:

So, how does history define freedom or equality or a human being? Sometimes, you need to put a concept, issue or term in its proper historical context in order to fully understand it. Definition by history requires you to understand different contexts (socially, politically, etc.) in order to fully explain what a concept or word meant then vs now. Definition by Comparison/Contrast It is often helpful to compare something familiar to something unfamiliar. A comparison of this nature needs to be between two similar items or it wont work; in fact, it will be just weird. See comparison/contrast discussion in the next module. Definition by Negation Sometimes you can define something by saying what it is not. Think about the last relationship you were in. Did you define that person by saying what he/she didnt do or say? What if you were to say what a good parent is? Could you make that definition by saying what a good parent isnt? It is important to place difficult concepts in context by using definition, not just by denotation, but by history, comparison or negation. Go back and read the required links to give you background information on these two modes of writing. You will need to be comfortable with how to use them both here shortly!