Modes of Development

Ways to Develop Paragraphs and Essays

Narration

• Storytelling

• Organized chronologically (in time order)

• Transition words: First, then, later, then

• Less emphasis on topic sentences

• Often used as examples within larger works

• Thesis revolves around lessons learned in story.

Description

• Notes physical characteristics

• Word picture

• Uses senses: sight, sound, etc.

• Organized spatially (left to right, top to bottom)

• Organized by order of importance – What stands out.

• Example: description of a donkey.

Comparison and Contrast

• Similarities and differences• Block format: Part 1= Item 1, Part 2 = Item

2• Point format: Point 1 = Item 1, Item 2.

Point 2 = Item 1, Item 2• Example: How is Irish Catholicism different

from Mexican Catholicism? How are Catholics similar and different from Protestants?

Cause and Effect

• How and why.

• Why did or does something happen?

• What happens as a result?

• Example: Why does the earth shift? Why does unemployment rise? What happens to buildings constructed on landfill? Why? Do tax breaks help the economy? How does war affect the treasury of a country?

Definition and Example

• Clarifies a term or concept like democracy, communism, composition, Catholicism, love, freedom.

• Literal definition: dictionary definition

• Figurative definition: meanings beyond dictionary definition

• Connotation: emotional meanings of a word.

Classification

• Categories of a an idea

• Types of an idea

• What are the different types of love?

• What are the different types of people?

• Provide examples

Argument and Persuasion

• Trying to convince the reader of your point of view or impel him or her to action.

• Pathos – emotion (fewer facts, more heart wrenching stories) How Aunt Gertrude died from smoking

• Logos – reason (cold hard facts) – How many people die each year from second hand smoke

Classical Argument

• Problem (Intro)

• Solution (Thesis)

• Evidence (Body)

• Refutation (Opposing point of view)

• Conclusion (Impel reader to action).