Seminar for Unit 3 Margaret Baker AIM: mbakeroffice

Development of ideas The purpose of this seminar is to give you some tools for developing or explaining your ideas in writing. These modes occur naturally in your thinking processes and will appear in combination within a paragraph or essay. The examples provided come from a sample topic: Protecting Children Online.

Development of Ideas A solid paragraph will often contain 4-5 solid sentences of support for the topic sentence. The methods presented in this presentation will give you flexibility in approaching your topic sentence and thesis ideas.

Narration Narration is telling a short nonfiction story or anecdote (personal experience, observation, or reflection based on past experiences). It is a direct short story that will add spark to your writing while introducing the topic or illustrating a main point.

Example of narrative For the topic “Protecting Children Online” you may tell the specific story of a child who was involved with an online predator. You would want to let the story provide support for a main point in your essay. For example, if you want to say that predators pose as children, you would want to tell a story about a child who developed a friendship with a person he/she thought was another child.

Comparison/Contrast Comparison and/or contrast - Often explaining how things are alike or different (or how they were once and how they have changed) will provide new information. This strategy can be useful in showing relationships. By showing the comparisons and/or contrasts we provide clarity and insight. Therefore, we understand each one more clearly.

Example of compare/contract Comparing talking with strangers on the internet to talking with strangers in the school yard can help highlight the potential dangers of the internet. Through comparison, you can show that strangers on the internet are just as dangerous as the classic “Stranger who offers candy”

Definition Definition - This strategy is necessary to define key terms, vague terms, or ambiguous terms. Your reader needs to know exactly what you mean so that he or she can understand your main points.

Example of definition Defining exactly what you consider to be an internet predator will help put your reader “on the same page” as you. Spelling out that you believe ‘internet predators are adults or older teens who engage younger children in IM and in chat rooms for the purpose of collecting personal information and getting the child to finally meet in person’ will focus the topic.

Process Analysis Process analysis - Sometimes explaining how something is done, made, or works, or how it came to be will clarify a topic for a reader. Writing of this type analyzes the process, breaks it into steps and shows how the process works

Example of process analysis Describing the process that predators use to approach children will be an important step in getting your reader to understand just how predators work. A step-by-step example describing first contact, the repeated gathering of information, and the final meeting will heighten the reader’s understanding of the process. (This is more general than the narrative, which might show the same process dealing with a specific instance).

Cause and Effect Cause and Effect - By explaining or analyzing the causes, effects (or both) of something, and the whys and what happened, or will happen, your readers will be able to understand and often cope with the new ideas.

Example of cause/effect You might use cause/effect as a means of communicating and exploring which children are at risk. Children who are lonely or unhappy and/or who have unsupervised time on the internet are most vulnerable to falling prey to predators.

Classification Classification - Writers often use this "sorting out" tactic to clarify a complicated or complex topic. The writer looks at the topic and breaks it into the components or subgroups that can be more easily understood. Each component is described and explained in relationship to the others. The individual components as well as the relationship between them can be more easily understood by the reader.

Example of classification You might use classification to break the idea of an internet predator into key groups: sexual predators hackers cyber bullies Subcategories can help you focus your discussion.

Explanation All of these methods are ways to help you explain what you are trying to say. Idea development means focusing and explaining your idea so that your reader has a clear idea of what you are trying to say. A good revision technique is to review your development of ideas to ensure that your have explained yourself fully and clearly.