Exemplification:

➢ to provide instances that clarify your topic statement. In the following paragraph, the topic sentence is
supported in examples that illustrate, support, and clarify the main point.
➢ Exemplification simply means to illustrate an idea by giving examples.

formal structure:

1. Echo and restatement of your narrative's abstract in new wording.

2. Example #1 [one or two sentences max]: New personal experience -- not
the same as the extended narrative.
3. Example #2 [one or two sentences max]: The experience of a friend or
relative which re-illustrates the main idea.
4. Example #3 [one or two sentences max]: Yet a new example, this time
from the world at large [news story, movie plot, famous story from
literature], something most everybody will know about.
5.Short, strong verbed sentence reinforcing the main idea again.

Example:

dragging me from the boulder.

When you leave your familiar surroundings, the paths you follow
blindly day-to-day, the senses can be rejuvenated, awakened from the soft,
cotton life; otherwise, you are at risk.

[example #1/personal]I lived a protected life until I was seventeen, but

when mom kicked me off the couch and said, "Get a job," the factory world I
walked into almost killed me.It took the loss of a finger tip, a nail
through the wrist, and several close calls with a forklift before I finally
opened my eyes and understood that this new world did not care about my
safety and well-being.

[example #2/a friend or family member]One of my high school buddies, the

guy who played the lead in our high school play, took off cross-country as
soon as we graduated, rode his 10-speed all the way to Brownsville, hired
onto a Gulf Coast shrimp boat, and promptly fell off and drowned in a
squall.

[example #3/the world at large, but would be better is it were a real,

specific example of an actual person's experience]All the time, everyday,
thousands of children are candidates for milk carton portraits,
missionaries, doctors, and scientists walk into the jungle never to be seen
again, and young teenage explorers feeling imprisoned by their bland,
comfortable homes take to the underground and the streets or walk into the
desert for meditation and danger or die from some minor infection in the
Alaskan wilderness.Wake up or die, folks.
Following structure of exemplification:
• Make an abstract, general statement which reinforces the main idea of
your first essay in Portfolio #1.
• Offer a personal example which illustrates the idea, but make it a
different example than the narrative example written for portfolio
#1.Keep the example to one or two sentences.
• Offer an example from a friend or relative which reinforces the idea.
Keep the example to one or two sentences.
• Offer a relevant example from the news, history text or other textbook
the example to one or two sentences.
• Reinforce the main idea with a dramatic, short, 3-8 word statement
with a strong verb.

Suggestions for Writing:

1. Start with a general statement

2.Generate examples (apply evidence rules--see writing process outline)
3.Select strongest examples to include and try for a variety personal, typical-case, hypothetical, generalized
4. Develop examples sufficiently through primary and secondary support (see p. 173)
5.Select an organizational plan for primary examples and use appropriate transitions
6.Use 3rd pov to put the focus on the issues, not the author.

Revision Suggestions for Exemplification:

Focus
1.Locate the thesis statement.Is it at the end of the introduction?
2.Locate the topic sentence for each body paragraph.Does each topic sentence create an umbrella for the
supporting details of its paragraph?
3.Are there any examples that are off topic or irrelevant?
Support
1.As there a variety of types of examples (personal, typical-case, hypothetical, generalized)?
2.Are there secondary details to develop primary points?
3.Is the evidence reliable, relevant, and representative?
Organization
1.What overall organizational plan is used?
2.How are the paragraphs connected? Review p. 50.
Conventions
complete sentences, consistent tense, appropriate 3rd pov