Welcome back to week 6. I was very impressed by the texts that I corrected from last week. They had good topic sentences and were very well supported with lots of details. If anyone has a question about their text or about their corrections be sure to ask me.
Now to this week's assignment: After turning "academic" in the last assignment, we will continue along that line this week, before going on to trying out different points of view.
Last week we concentrated on giving enough details to our support to make it clear and understandable. We were also given one example of a thematic major (international relations might encompass language, political science, history, and economics) which helped the reader to understand what was meant by this. Since factual details are not always available and since not all controlling ideas or generalizations can be "proven" using details, examples and illustrations are often needed in expository paragraphs.
What exactly is an example? By definition, an example is an item that represents a group of things, people, or ideas. In other words, an example is a specific representative of a general category. An example of a horror movie is Scream; an example of a tennis player is Venus Williams. In literary interpretations, examples are often quotes from the texts or descriptions of actions. Examples make the controlling idea clearer and more convincing, and are therefore an effective means of support. Illustrations are also excellent means for showing how a statement relates to the controlling idea. Illustrations are are simply extended and developed examples. Below are two texts that will demonstrate the use of examples and an illustration. First one with examples:
| My father's favorite saying was "honesty is the best policy". However, he did not just say it; he also demonstrated it through his actions. For example, once when a cashier gave him change for a twenty rather than the ten he had given her, he handed back the extra ten dollars and told her she had made a mistake. Needless to say, she was astounded by his unexpected honesty. Another time when he accidentally backed into a car in a parking lot and put a small scratch on its fender, he left a note on the windshield with his name and phone number. He always took responsibility for his actions, and if he made a mistake, he was the first to admit it. For example, one time when he broke one of my mother's favorite vases, he went to her and told her immediately, even though he knew she would be angry, which she was. By watching my father, I learned what it means to be honest. |
This is a text from Rachael Carson, a famous biologist and environmentalist. This is an excerpt from her 1962 book, Silent Spring, which rocked the 60s generation into environmental awareness:
| Wherever there are great forests, modern methods of insect control threaten the fishes inhabiting the streams in the shelter of the trees. One of the best-known examples of fish destruction in the United States took place in 1955, as a result of spraying in and near Yellowstone National Park. By the fall of that year, so many dead fish had been found in the Yellowstone River that sportsmen and Montana fish-and-game administrators became alarmed. About 90 miles of the river were affected. In one 300-yard length of shoreline, 600 dead fish were counted, including brown trout, whitefish, and suckers. Stream insects, the natural food of trout, had disappeared. |
Your assignment this week is to use examples or an illustration to support your controlling idea. The following are suggestions for topics:
- We all have a favorite proverb or saying. Describe why yours is important to you. Try to keep it formal though.
- Or describe why a person (private or public) has been a good influence on you or the world.
- Describe a new craze or fad and how it has taken effect.
One last thought before you begin: Paragraphs are a unity and consequently should look like one. So when you have finished writing, make sure all your sentences are neatly tied together and do not look like a list. Often times when this happens, transitions or linking words are missing. If transitions or linking words are used, then the sentences automatically flow from one to the other forming a paragraph. In the paragraph about the father, the linking words were in a slightly different color to make them noticeable. Here are some helpful transitions/linking words you might want to use: for example, firstly, lastly, in addition, moreover, also, however, nevertheless, most important, in addition. I wish you all a nice week and a lot of good writing.
P.S. Would the people with the pass words 21-30 at the beginning send me their texts in addition to a peer editor?
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