This document outlines various ways to elucidate or clarify concepts, including definition, explication, and clarification. It provides examples of each technique. Definition can be informal, formal, or extended. Explication involves further explaining a text to expand its meaning. Clarification organizes ideas from abstract to concrete to arrive at a working definition. The document also includes sample activities and assignments for students to practice elucidating concepts.
2. Your best quote that reflects your
approach… “It’s one small step for
man, one giant leap for mankind.”
- NEIL ARMSTRONG
3. Objectives
1. Identify the ways how to elucidate a concept.
2. determine the techniques used in developing the
concept of a particular essay;
3. value understanding of the topic by actively
participating in the activity.
5. Activity
1. Divide the class into three groups.
2. Identify a problem in your community or school which you are now
currently experiencing.
3. Group 1- Write down one paragraph description of the problem and
explain it.
◦ Group 2- Think of a quote or a verse that will describe your problem and expound it.
◦ Group 3- Identify the problem and its details
6. Analysis
1. What is the problem all about?
2. How did you describe it?
3. How is the paragraph being developed?
4. Why is it important to understand a concept?
7. Abstraction
Concept paper defines an idea or a concept
and explains its essence in order to clarify
the “whatness” of that idea or concept. It
answers the questions: what is it and about
it?
8. A concept paper starts with a definition,
either formal or informal, of the term or
the concept and proceeds with an
expanded definition and analytic
description of the aspects of the concept.
9. Purposes
1. to clarify the meaning of words, or to correct
misinterpretations, or misuse of a term.
2. To stipulate the meaning of a term by limiting,
extending, or redirecting the sense in which a term is
usually understood; to use a term, borrowed from
another field of knowledge, in a special way.
10. Three ways of elucidating a
concept:
1. Definition
2. Explication
3. Clarification
11. 1.Definition
- is a logical technique by which the meaning of a term is revealed. The
definition is important because it clarifies the meaning of a word or a
concept and it also limits the scope of that particular word or concept.
12. Definition can be presented in
three ways:
A. Informal
B. Formal
C. Extended
13.
14.
15. Informal
- uses known words or examples to explain
an unknown term. This definition may be
synonyms or antonyms introduced by or, in
other words, etc.
16.
17. Formal
- the most common technique in defining in which
you are given q term to be defined and you define
the term by giving the class or the term belongs or
the genus and the characteristic that distinguish the
term from other terms known as the differentia.
18.
19. Extended
- is needed to define abstract concepts. It
allows you to broaden your definition by
using analogy, metaphor, comparison and
contrast, descriptions, analysis, functions,
etymology and semantic origin.
20.
21.
22. 2. Explication
- explain a story, a literary work, or research to
further expound on the meaning of a text.
- a literary technique in criticism and research,
used for a close analysis of an excerpt or text
taken from a lengthy piece of work.
23.
24.
25. 3. Clarification
- the points are organized from a general abstract idea
to specific and concrete examples. It entails the analysis
of the concept by looking at the examples and
specifying of some of its characteristics to arrive at one
working definition.
26.
27.
28. Application
Complete the table below by filling in the missing information.
Concept Sentence Manner of elucidating the concept
(definition/clarification/explication)
1. Automatic Center
Punch
The automatic center
punch is a device used to
make a pinpoint
indentation in a hard
material such as metal or
plastic without the use of
a hammer.
Definition
29. 2.
Justice is a broad concept
which encompasses a wide
set of ideas, most of which
also branch out into smaller
notions. For instance, it can
refer to the sentencing of a
criminal based on due
process. When an individual
gets what he deserves, even
outside the hands of the law,
it is also considered justice in
some context. This may come
in the form of vigilante justice,
in which a person dissatisfied
with the system doles out
punishing to wrong-doers.
30. 3.
The speaker in the poem,
The Road Not Taken uses
the word “sigh” to signify
possible future regret for
the decision that he made
when faced with two
paths. While the poem
focuses on two physical
paths-roads diverging in a
“yellow wood”, the
speaker is alluding to
metaphorical paths– two
possible choices that will
alter the course of his life.
31. 4.
From the moment in 1879 that cave
paintings were discovered at
Altamira, scholars have wondered
why the hunter-artists of the Old
Stone Age decided to cover the
walls of dark caverns with animal
images. Various answers have been
given, including that they were
mere decoration, but this theory
cannot explain the narrow range of
subjects of the inaccessibility of
many of the paintings. In fact, the
remoteness and difficulty of access
of many of the cave paintings and
the fact they appear to have been
used for centuries are precisely
what have led many scholars to
suggest that the prehistoric hunters
attributed magical properties to
the images they painted.
32. 5.
From the moment in 1879 that cave
paintings were discovered at
Altamira, scholars have wondered
why the hunter-artists of the Old
Stone Age decided to cover the
walls of dark caverns with animal
images. Various answers have been
given, including that they were
mere decoration, but this theory
cannot explain the narrow range of
subjects of the inaccessibility of
many of the paintings. In fact, the
remoteness and difficulty of access
of many of the cave paintings and
the fact they appear to have been
used for centuries are precisely
what have led many scholars to
suggest that the prehistoric hunters
attributed magical properties to
the images they painted.
33. Assessment
Group activity.
The class will be divided into three groups. The teacher will provide a
puzzle (a passage) and let the group fix or arrange the puzzle and
determine the ways being used in the passage to elucidate a
concept.
34. Assignment
Choose one concept that is related to
your track and write a mini-concept
paper with 300 words. Use the
techniques in elucidating a concept.