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Select a topic from the list above, or create one of your own. Ask yourself these questions when choosing a topic.
- What do I already know about the topic? How much research will I have time to do?
- How much do my readers (other students at my college or university) already know about the topic?
- Will my readers be interested in the topic already, or will I need to create interest?
Collaborate: In small groups, take turns having other students tell you what they think your term means. |
Narrow your topic to a more specific term to explore in your essay. Use the following guidelines to narrow your general topic.
- Start general. Use branching or clustering to come up with specific types of your general topic.
Example: Celebrity is probably too broad a topic for a brief essay, but the topic could be narrowed to a particular type of celebrity, such as a sports celebrity, a Hollywood celebrity, a local celebrity, or a political celebrity.
- Start specific. Think of a specific example of your topic and use that example as the focus of your definition essay.
Example: You might choose Tom Brady or Kobe Bryant and use him to identify the characteristics that define “sports celebrity.”
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Consider your purpose, audience, and point of view.
- If you were writing an essay that defines “search engines,” your purpose might be to express your frustration or success with using them to locate information, inform readers about the alternatives to Google, or persuade readers that Bing or Dogpile is superior to all others.
- What does my audience already know? What does the audience need to know to understand/accept my definition?
- What point of view best suits my purpose and audience? Most definition essays are written in the third person (he, she, it, they). First person (I, we) or second person (you) may be appropriate in informal contexts if you or your readers have personal knowledge of or experience with the topic.
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Identify distinguishing characteristics and supporting details. Try one or more of the following.
- Discuss the term with a classmate, making notes as you talk. (All learners, but especially social learners, will benefit from discussing the term.)
- Brainstorm a list of (a) words that describe your term, (b) people and things that might serve as examples of the term, and (c) everything a person would need to know to understand the term. (Verbal, pragmatic, and rational learners may prefer brainstorming.)
- Observe a person who is associated with the term or who performs some aspect of it. Take notes on your observations. (Emotional and spatial learners may prefer observing.)
- Look up the term’s etymology, or origin, in the Oxford English Dictionary, A Dictionary of American English, or A Dictionary of Americanisms, all of which are available in the reference section of your library. Take notes; the word’s etymology will give you some of its characteristics and details, and it might give you ideas on how to organize your essay. (Abstract and independent learners may prefer looking up the etymology.)
- Think of incidents or situations that reveal the meaning of the term. (Concrete learners may prefer thinking of incidents or situations.)
- Think of similar and different terms with which your reader is likely to be more familiar. (Abstract learners may prefer thinking of synonyms or antonyms.)
- Do a Google search on your term. Visit three or four Web sites and take notes on what you discover. Keep track of your sources, so you can cite them later. (All learners, but especially creative learners, may benefit from performing a Google search.)
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Generate supporting details. Use the other patterns of development — for example
- Narration: Think of incidents or situations that reveal the meaning of the term.
- Description: Observe a person who is associated with the term and take notes on what that person looks like, sounds like, and so forth.
- Illustration: Brainstorm a list of examples.
- Comparison-contrast: Think of similar and different terms with which you can contrast it.
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Draft your thesis statement.
- include a brief definition (including the class to which the term belongs and its key distinguishing characteristics), and
- convey why your extended definition might be useful, interesting, or important to readers.
Notice how a weak thesis (in this case, a barebones definition) can be revised to reveal the writer’s main point. Collaboration. In small groups, take turns reading your thesis aloud. Have classmates try to identify the following:
- the term, the class to which it belongs, and its distinguishing characteristics, and
- the writer’s main point.
Consider revising if . . . the class is overly general. the distinguishing characteristics lack specificity or are too limited. group members cannot identify the main point. |
Choose a method of organization. If you use one main supporting pattern, use the graphic organizers in the related chapter to organize your essay. If you use several patterns of development, use graphic organizers to try out several organizations, and then pick the most logical order. |
Draft your extended definition essay. Use the following guidelines to draft your essay.
- The introduction should introduce the term, provide any background information readers will need, and include your thesis. When introducing your term, it may be helpful to explain what the term is not as well as what it is or include a brief history of how your term has been used. But whatever you include, be sure you convey why your term is worth reading about.
- Each body paragraph should use one or more patterns of development (narration, description, or comparison-contrast, for example) to explain one of the term’s distinguishing features. Be sure to include enough details for readers to understand each characteristic. Use transitions (such as another, also, or in addition) to guide readers as you move from characteristic to characteristic.
The conclusion should bring your essay to a satisfying close, revisiting your thesis and elaborating on why understanding the term is useful, interesting, or important. |
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Evaluate your draft and revise as necessary. Use Figure 18.3, “Flowchart for Revising an Extended Definition Essay,” to guide your evaluation and revision.
- Avoid the awkward expressions is when or is where in defining your term. Instead, name the class to which the term belongs.
- Make sure subjects and verbs agree in number. When two subjects are joined by and, the verb should be plural.
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Edit and proofread your essay. Refer to Chapter 10 for help with . . .
- editing sentences to avoid wordiness, making your verb choices strong and active, and making your sentences clear, varied, and parallel, and
- editing words for tone and diction, connotation, and concrete and specific language.
Pay particular attention to the following: When two nouns are joined by or, the verb should agree with the noun closest to it. When the subject and verb are separated by a prepositional phrase, the verb should agree with
the subject of the sentence, not with the noun in the phrase. |
