Definition Tracing a Boundary

The Method In your college life, you will write PLENTY of essays (you’ve already started, for this class!). You may be writing on something that your readers may not be familiar with. Stating a definition is a good way to begin these essays. It can clarify your subject to your reader. Sometimes, it can even help YOU. This can help you limit what you have to say (if you’re like me, always going off on tangents!) Paper on “Schizophrenia”

Constructing short definition: First, you state the general class to which the subject belongs Then, you add any particular features that distinguish it. “Schizophrenia is a brain disease….” (the general class) “…whose symptoms include hallucinations, disorganized behavior, incoherence, and, often, withdrawal.” You can use these in any part in an essay, whenever you introduce a technical term that may not be known to the common reader.

What do you do if this unknown term is central to your essay What do you do if this unknown term is central to your essay? What happens if your readers don’t know squat about what you’re writing about? Now, my eager students, you need to use a stipulative definition – a fuller explanation that specifies the particular way you are using a term.

TV Addiction “Who is addicted to TV? According to Marie Winn, author of The Plug-in Drug: Television, Children, and Family Life, TV addicts are similar to drug or alcohol addicts. They seek a more pleasurable experience than they can get from normal life; they depend on the source of this pleasure; and their lives are damaged by their dependency. TV addicts, says Winn, use TV to screen out the real world of feelings, worries, demands. They watch compulsively – four, five, even six hours on a work day. And they reject (usually passively, sometimes actively) interaction with family or friends, diverting or productive work at hobbies or chores, and chances for change and growth.”

But, for now, we will focus more on extended definition – expository writing that relies on a variety of methods that you lucky ducks have already learned in this class. “What does poetry mean?” If you really think about it, extended definition isn’t really a method in itself – it’s more of an application of all these methods to clarify a purpose. Like description, extended definition tries to show a reader its subject. This includes establishing boundaries, so that the readers won’t confuse what you’re writing about with anything else.

An extended definition can define a word (sweet), a thing (Samsung galaxy), a condition (schizophrenia), a concept (TV addiction) or a general phenomenon (popularity of YouTube). This sort of definition takes room – at least a paragraph, but most likely, an entire essay. Now, after 2 ½ months of learning about essay writing, you have so much freedom and latitude, so many methods of writing for you to use! You’re welcome!  Remember, unlike looking up a definition in the dictionary, these definitions can imply biases.

The Process DISCOVERY OF MEANINGS The purpose of almost any extended definition is to explore a topic in its full complexity, to explain its meaning and even to argue for (or against) a particular meaning. Here are some questions that could help you….in this case we’ll talk about sexism (we can all thank the Bedford for this example)

1. Is this subject unique, or are there others of its kind 1. Is this subject unique, or are there others of its kind? If it resembles others, in what ways? How is it different? 2. In what different forms does it occur, while keeping its own identity? 3. When and where do we find it? Under what circumstances and in what situations? 4. What is it at the present moment? 5. What does it do? What are its functions and activities? 6. How is it put together? What parts make it up? What holds these parts together?

These questions might not fit every subject you may think about, and some of these questions may lead nowhere, but usually they’re worth asking. They can make you aware of points to notice, remind you of facts you already know. They can also suggest interesting points you need to find out more about.

METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT Let’s go back to schizophrenia A short definition, like we stated before, may be good if your readers are clueless as to what schizophrenia is. What if, though, all your readers have a common knowledge of psychology? Would this definition be necessary? You could open your extended definition by describing the experiences of a person who has the disease.

“On his twenty-fifth birthday, Michael sensed danger everywhere “On his twenty-fifth birthday, Michael sensed danger everywhere. The voices in his head argued loudly about whether he should step outside. He could see people walking by who he knew meant him harm – the trick would be to wait for a break in the traffic and make a run for it. But the arguing and another noise – a clanging like a streetcar bell – made it difficult to concentrate, and Michael paced restlessly most of the day.”

After this opening, you could explain how some of Michael’s experiences illustrate some symptoms of schizophrenia. You could then provide other symptoms. You could use process analysis to explain how the disease generally starts and progresses. You could use cause & effect to explore the theories of why schizophrenia occurs.

THESIS You want to center all your ideas and evidence about the subject on a single controlling idea, your thesis. You want to make an assertion about the subject, and include some sort of bias toward the subject as well. “The word chink may have been created to harm, ridicule, and humiliate, but for us (Chinese Americans) it may have done the exact opposite.” – Christine Leong, “Being a Chink”

EVIDENCE Remember: support, support, support! You make your boundaries, and ignore what lies outside. You may define the same concept as your classmates, but have completely different essays and definitions. Give your reader examples, narrate an illustrative story, bring in specific description, whatever method you use, keep coming down to earth – don’t go off on tangents and jump from cloud to cloud.

Checklist: Meanings Methods of Development Thesis Evidence Unity