LESSON 23

INTRO TO EXEMPLIFICATION
 Writing Prompt
Who is your
favorite music
group? Provide at
least two
examples of why
they hold that title
in your mind.
 Assignment
• The Exemplification Essay
• In GW , Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest
Proposal”, page 534
– Answer #2 – Meaning
– Answer #1 - Language
 Assignment Review
• Exemplification in GW starting on page
145.
• Using your own words, write a definition
of exemplification.
 Exemplification:
Writing Essays With
Vivid Examples and
Illustrations
 What is an
Exemplification Essay?
Exemplification means
providing examples to
illustrate an idea.
 It is not an isolated form…
• As with all the essay models explored this semester,
exemplification is not an isolated form. You see it
working hard with the description, narration, and
personal essays.
• If you were writing an essay about why you loved
your old car, you might write a story with lots of
descriptive language about the car
• For exemplification, you’d provide the reader with
several specific, convincing, and concrete reasons
(examples) of why you love your old car.
Why N.Y. Yankee Alex Rodriguez

Struggles in the Clutch

Superstar Alex Rodriguez
 What examples did Frank
Deford use to support his essay?
• Many athletes may have been happier in
one-on-one sports
– Wilt Chamberlin
• Some athletes have “team” personalities
and some don’t
• A-Rod’s slump during clutch games was
not a pitching problem, it was the
pressure of supporting his team
 Some Exemplification
Topics…
• 1. A person is not always what he/she seems to be
at first (could be someone famous or could come
from personal experiences)
• 2. ____________ (television, football, music, etc.)
has changed and just isn't the same anymore (or
maybe not as good anymore)
• 3. Some people are just born lucky/unlucky
• 4. Clothes can reveal a lot about someone's
personality
• 5. TV sitcoms often portray men as bungling idiots
 Some
Exemplification Topics…
• 7. Some gifts are inappropriate or strange
• 8. A really good church does some things
really well
• 9. I have learned a great deal about life
from certain books that I have read
• 10. Bumper stickers often reveal a person's
values
• 11. Many people treat pets like children
 Some Exemplification
Topics…
• 11. Life in the fast lane often leads to
head-on collisions
• 12. Children have a lot of unfounded
and strange fears
• 13. Some kids have a difficult time in
school.
• 14. What three things we use everyday
will not be around in 100 years.
 Why We Use Examples
• To persuade skeptical readers who are
reluctant to accept your viewpoint
• To show a causal relationship
• To be more interesting and take the reader
beyond a telling statement
• Help to explain or clarify an abstraction
• To avoid unintended ambiguity
 Forms of Examples
• Specific names (people, places, products)
• Anecdotes
• Personal observations
• Expert opinions (from outside sources,
interviews)
• Facts
• Statistics
• Case studies via research
 Example Types
1. Personal-experience examples
2. Typical-case examples
3. Hypothetical examples
4. Generalized examples
5. Extended examples
 1. Personal-experience
Examples
• From your own life
• Lend personal authority
• Create drama
 2. Typical-case Examples
• They are objective in nature and can be
especially convincing
• About an actual event/situation, but you
didn’t directly experience it.
• Source could be newspapers, magazines,
television, or the internet…
 3. Hypothetical Examples
• Speculative, but be sure it’s conceivable
• Might ask the reader to imagine a
scenario
• Be sure to acknowledge that your
example is invented
– Ex: “suppose that…” or “let’s for a
moment assume that…”
 4. Generalized Examples
• Composite of the typical and usual:
– Ex: “all of us, at one time or another, have
been driven to distraction by a trivial
annoyance like the buzzing of a fly or the
sting of a paper cut.”
– Ex: “when most people get a compliment,
they perk up, preen, and think the praise-
giver is blessed with astute power of
observation.”
 5. Extended Examples
• Employ many details and specifics
• Last an entire paragraph
• Sometimes can encompass the entire
essay, but must be significant to stand
alone as the only example
 Effective Examples Should:
• Be relevant; Have direct bearing on the
subject
• Be dramatic
• Be accurate (esp. When using facts,
figures, statistics)
• Be non-contradictory
• Avoid sweeping generalizations at all
costs, for they do not convince readers
 Effective Examples Should:
• Be representative: avoid oddball or one-
in-a-million types of examples; They
distort and are not honest
– Ex: if writing a paper on the difficulties of
getting through college and you use the
example of a student who works 35 hours a
week and still gets straight A’s, that’s not
typical or representative. It does not
exemplify what MOST students experience.
 Effective Examples Should:
• Use an organizational approach:
– Chronological
– Spatial
– Simple to complex
– Emphatic sequence
 Recognize & Use Key Words
• For example,
• For instance,
• First, second, third
• Next, in addition
 Exemplification Exercise
•Are you an optimistic or
pessimistic person?
•Answer this question,
and support your
answer with a few
sentences that use
examples to explain or
clarify your answer.
 Exemplification
Exercise
:
Add another example to what
you’ve written to add interest to
your explanation.
 Exemplification
Exercise
Add another example to
what you’ve written to
persuade the reader that
he or she should be
optimistic or pessimistic
too.
 Remember :
examples enhance your
writing!
Exemplify!