Introduction to the Exemplification Essay - an Outline

Exemplification – page 211+

Use specific examples

• ·       “The mayor is corrupt and should not be reelected.”
• ·       “The mayor should not be reelected because he has put his family and friends on the city payroll, and has used public employees to make improvements to his home.”

Use examples to explain/clarify; note how much better the second sentence below is:

• ·       “Even though horror movies seem modern, they really aren’t.”
• ·       “Despite the fact that horror movies seem modern, two of the most memorable ones are adaptation of nineteenth-century Gothic novels.”

o   Frankenstein

o   Dracula

Use examples to add interest or to persuade--explain WHY by using examples – see p. 213

Provide enough examples

Choose a fair range of examples

Use transitions to move from one example to the next

Structuring an exemplification essay – introduction, with thesis statement, which is supported by examples in the body of the essay;

“Exemplification presents one special organizational problem. If  youdo not select  your examples carefully and arrange them effectively, your paper  can become a thesis statement followed by a list or by ten or fifteen brief, choppy paragraphs. . . . develop your best examples fully in separate paragraphs and discard the others.” 

Various ways to organize examples:

• ·       Chronologically
• ·       In order of increasing complexity
• ·       In order of importance