Understand What Illustration Is

Illustration

Writing That Gives Examples

Understand What Illustration Is

Illustration is writing that uses examples to support a point.

Four Basics of Good Illustration

  1. It has a point.
  2. It gives specific examples that show, explain, or prove the point.
  3. It gives details to support the examples.
  4. It uses enough examples to get the point across to the reader.

In the following paragraph, the numbers and colors correspond to the Four Basics of Good Illustration.

4 Enough examples to get the point across to the reader

1 Many people would like to serve their communities or help with causes that they believe in, but they do not have much time and do not know what to do. Now, the Internet provides people with ways to help that do not take much time or money. 2 Web sites now make it convenient to donate online. With a few clicks, an organization of your choice can receive your donation or money from a sponsoring advertiser. For example, if you are interested in helping rescue unwanted and abandoned animals, you can go to www.theanimalrescuesite.com. 3 When you click as instructed, a sponsoring advertiser will make a donation to help provide food and care for the 27 million animals in shelters. Also, a portion of any money you spend in the site’s online store will go to providing animal care. 2 If you want to help fight world hunger, go to www.thehungersite.com 3 and click daily to have sponsor fees directed to hungry people in more than seventy countries via the Mercy Corps, Feeding America, and Millennium Promise. Each year, hundreds of millions of cups of food are distributed to one billion hungry people around the world. 2 Other examples of click-to-give sites are www.thechildhealthsite.com, www.theliteracysite.com, and www.breastcancersite.com. 3 Like the animal-rescue and hunger sites, these other sites have click-to-give links, online stores that direct a percentage of sales income to charity, and links to help you learn about causes you are interested in. One hundred percent of the sponsors’ donations go to the charities, and you can give with a click every single day. Since I have found out about these sites, I go to at least one of them every day. 1 I have learned a lot about various problems, and every day, I feel as if I have helped a little.

It is hard to explain anything without using examples, so you use illustration in almost every communication situation.

COLLEGE An exam question asks you to explain and give examples of a concept.
WORK Your boss asks you to tell her what office equipment needs to be replaced and why.
EVERYDAY LIFE You complain to your landlord that the building superintendent is not doing his job. The landlord asks for examples.

In college, the words illustration and illustrate may not appear in writing assignments. Instead, you might be asked to give examples of _____ or to be specific about _____. Regardless of an assignment’s wording, to be clear and effective, most types of writing require specific examples. Include them whenever they help you make your point.