Analyze 
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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.

  1. 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?
  2. 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?
  3. 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)?

    Question

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