Writer’s Prompt:

Write a paragraph persuading the

Troy High School administration to
allow the use of cell phones on
campus.
Exemplification: Writing
Persuasive Essays With Vivid
Examples and Illustrations
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

Personal-case examples
Typical-case examples
Hypothetical examples
Generalized examples
Extended examples
1. Personal-experience
Examples
From your own life
Lend personal authority
Create drama
2. Typical-case Examples

Objective in nature: can be

especially convincing
About an actual event/situation,
but you didn’t directly experience
it.
Source could be newspapers,
magazines, television
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
Using Exemplification in
Your Persuasive Writing

For example…
Uses for Exemplification
Use Examples to Explain and Clarify

Practice Writing Topic:

Are you an optimistic or pessimistic

person?
•Answer this question, and support
your answer with a few sentences that
uses examples to explain or
Practice Writing Topic continued:
Are you an optimistic or pessimistic
person?
Add another example to what you’ve

written to add interest to your

explanation.
Practice Writing Topic
continued:
Are you an optimistic or
pessimistic person?
Add another example to
what you’ve written to
persuade the reader
that he or she should be
optimistic or pessimistic
Planning an Exemplification
Essay

Provide enough examples

Choose representative examples
Use transitions
Good transitions for
exemplification include:
 For example, for instance, in fact,
namely, specifically, that is, thus
Structuring an Exemplification
Essay

Your Introduction includes a thesis statement

Each body paragraph may
 Develop a separate example, OR
 Explore one aspect of a single, extended example.
Arrange your examples chronologically, in order of
increasing complexity, or in order of importance.
Your conclusion reinforces the main idea and may re-
state the thesis.
In Class Writing Exercise
Look at the
Four
Tattoos
(Photos) on
page 205 of
Patterns for
College
Writing.
How would you
describe each of the
four tattoos
pictured?
Brainstorm with the
class on the
prominent features
of each, and then
write a sentence or
two that describes
each of them.
Write a one sentence general statement
that sums up your ideas about tattoos.
Why do you think people get tattoos?
Do you see tattoos as a way for people to
express themselves?
Do people use tattoos to express
individuality?
Are tattoos are a form of rebellion?
Do you have enough
examples to support your
general statement about
tattoos?
Would you ever get a
tattoo?
Now write a paragraph in
your writing journal in
response to this question.
Use your answers to the
questions above to support
your topic sentence (If you
have a tattoo, explain why
you decided to get it.)
Possible Persuasive Topics
The right to smoke in public
Lose the weight
Why school uniforms work
Curfews are not needed
School should be year round