[Analyze] Use the basic features.
A Focused Explanation: Using an Example
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Examples often play a central role in writing about concepts because concepts are general and abstract, and examples help to make them specific and concrete. Examples can also be very useful tools for focusing an explanation. Patricia Lyu, for instance, uses the examples of three researchers—John Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth, and Harry Harlow—in addition to the example of Henry Dobbins from The Things They Carried to explain the concept of attachment.
ANALYZE & WRITE
Write a paragraph or two analyzing Hurley’s use of the example introduced in the opening paragraphs describing Susanne Jaeggi and Martin Buschkuehl’s N-back game research to focus his explanation and illustrate the concept of fluid intelligence.
- Skim paragraphs 2, 12, and 13, look at Figure 1, and read the caption accompanying the figure. How does this text and the figure, which was a sidebar included in the original New York Times article, help readers understand the N-back game and its significance?
- Consider how N-back game research answers the “So what?” question readers of concept explanations inevitably ask. In other words, how does it provide a focus for Hurley’s explanation of the concept and help readers grasp why the concept is important?
- Reread paragraphs 15–20, where Hurley acknowledges the controversy surrounding research of this kind. Why do you imagine Hurley includes information about the “debate” in his explanation (par. 15)?
A Clear, Logical Organization: Using Repetition to Create Cohesion
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Cohesive devices help readers move from paragraph to paragraph and section to section without losing the thread. The most familiar cohesive device is probably the transitional word or phrase (however, next), which alerts readers to the logical relationship among ideas. A less familiar, but equally effective strategy, is to repeat key terms and their synonyms or to use pronouns (it, they) to refer to the key term. A third strategy is to provide cohesion through referring back to earlier examples, often bringing a selection full circle by referring to an opening example at the end of the essay. Lyu, for example, introduces Tim O’Brien’s character Henry Dobbins in her introduction and comes back to him in her conclusion.
ANALYZE & WRITE
Write a paragraph or two analyzing how Hurley creates cohesion in “Can You Make Yourself Smarter?”
- Reread paragraphs 1–4, 9, and 19–22. How does Hurley use the example of Chicago Heights to lend cohesion to his essay? How effectively does this strategy help readers navigate this essay and understand its main point?.
- Select a series of 3–4 paragraphs and analyze how Hurley knits the paragraphs together. Can you identify any repeated words or concepts or any pronouns that refer back to terms in the preceding paragraph? Did he use transitional words or phrases to link one paragraph to the next?
Appropriate Explanatory Strategies: Using a Variety of Strategies
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Writers typically use several different kinds of strategies to explain a concept. Patricia Lyu, for example, defines the concept of attachment, classifies children’s behavior into groups to delineate the types of attachment shown in the “strange situation,” narrates the process of the experiments Ainsworth and Harlow conducted, and shows the cause-effect relationship between fear and the need for attachment. Here are examples of sentence patterns Lyu uses to present these types of explanatory strategies:
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| DEFINITION |
He saw that “separation anxiety”—being physically apart from the caregiver or perceiving the “threat” of separation...(Kobak and Madsen 30). (par. 3) |
| CLASSIFICATION |
Ainsworth identified three basic types (“attachment styles”)...secure, anxious (or anxious/ambivalent), and avoidant (Fraley 4). (par. 4) |
| PROCESS NARRATION |
Harlow conducted a series of famous and rather disturbing experiments with infant monkeys. The infant monkeys were separated from their biological mothers and raised by a surrogate mother...made from uncovered heavy wire. (par. 8) |
| CAUSE-EFFECT REASONING |
In other experiments, he also showed that fear is a strong motivator of attachment, leading the infant monkeys to seek consolation from the surrogate. (par. 10) |
ANALYZE & WRITE
Write a paragraph or two analyzing how Hurley uses definition, classification, process narration, and cause-effect reasoning to explain fluid intelligence:
- Skim Hurley’s essay looking for and highlighting an example of each of these explanatory strategies.
- Select one strategy that you think is particularly effective and explain why you think it works so well. What does the strategy contribute to the explanation of fluid intelligence?
Smooth Integration of Sources: Citing Sources for Academic Contexts
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Writers of concept explanation nearly always conduct research, incorporate information from sources (summaries, paraphrases, and quotations) into their writing, and identify their sources so that readers can identify them as experts. Toufexis, for example, identifies Michael Mills as “a psychology professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles” and quotes him as saying “Love is our ancestors whispering in our ears” (par. 2).
ANALYZE & WRITE
Write a paragraph or two analyzing the kinds of material Dan Hurley incorporates from sources, and how he identifies his sources so that his readers know that they can be trusted.
- Skim the essay, highlighting places where Hurley quotes, paraphrases, or summarizes information from sources, and consider the information Hurley provides to identify those sources. What information does he provide, and how does this information help readers know the source is trustworthy?
- Now skim the essay looking for places where Hurley quotes the researchers. Pay particular attention to the quotations in paragraphs 2, 7, 9, 11, 13–16, and 19–20. Why do you think Hurley decided to use their exact words in these places, rather than merely summarizing their ideas? Can you determine which of the quotations come from published sources and which come from interviews? Can you tell from the text itself or from the citations we added? Consider whether it is important to know if the quotations come from published sources or from the interviews the writer conducted himself.
- What do you think is the purpose of citing sources—including interviews—particularly for academic audiences? Why is simply identifying sources with a word or two in the text generally sufficient for nonacademic situations? Given your experience reading online, do you think hyperlinks serve a similar purpose to formal citations? Why or why not?