1.
What is an illustration essay?
Facts
Examples
Details
Anecdotes
Statistics
Expert opinion
Personal observations
2.
Any phrase that includes words such as
Provide specific examples to support your answer
Cite evidence to support this claim
Base your conclusions on observation or experience
Illustrations make writing interesting
Illustrations make writing persuasive
Illustrations help explain
For example
3. Original: An anti-female bias is rampant in television
commercials. It is very much alive, yet most viewers seem to
take it in stride. Few people protest the obviously sexist
characters and statements on such commercials. Surely,
theses commercials misrepresent the way most of us live.
Revised: An anti-female bias is rampant in television
commercials. Although millions of women hold responsible
jobs outside the home, commercials continue to portray
women as simple creatures who spend much of their time
thinking about wax buildup, cottony-soft bathroom tissue,
and static-free clothes. Men, apparently, have better things to
do than fret over such mundane household matters. How
many commercials can you recall that depict men
proclaiming the virtues of squeaky-clean dishes or sparkling
bathrooms? Not many.
4.
Select examples to include
Limit to strongest
Use a variety
Relevant
Dramatic
Accurate
Representative
5.
Develop your examples sufficiently
SPECIFIC
Organize the examples
spatial, chronological, emphatic, simple to
complex
Choose a point of view
first or third preferred
6. Many of today’s drivers have dangerous habits.
Children today are not encouraged to use their
imaginations.
The best things in life are definitely not free.
Some of the best presents are those that cost the
least.
A part-time job is an experience that every student
should have.
The Internet has resulted in a generation of lazy
students.
You can tell a lot about people by observing what
they wear and eat.
More needs to be done to eliminate obstacles
faced by physically challenged people.
