PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT Methods, with examples

THE METHODS

1. Narration and description2. Definition3. Elaboration4. Comparison/contrast5. Summarization6. Analysis

Classification (parts)Process (steps)Causation (causes and/or effects)

NARRATION AND DESCRIPTION

Narrate the story of anything that unfolds in time…

ErasEventsExperimentsUniversesRomance

FROM BILL BRYSON’S A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING

In the first lively second [of the big bang] (a second that many cosmologists will devote careers to shaving into ever-finer wafers) is produced gravity and the other forces that govern physics. In less than a minute the universe is a million billion miles across and growing fast. There is a lot of heat now, ten billion degrees of it, enough to begin the nuclear reactions that create the lighter elements--principally hydrogen and helium, with a dash (about one atom in a hundred million) of lithium. In three minutes, 98 percent of all the matter there is or will ever be has been produced. We have a universe. It is a place of the most wondrous and gratifying possibility, and beautiful, too. And it was all done in about the time it takes to make a sandwich.

DESCRIBE A PROCESS

Kennedy’s mistake, in technical terms, was that he failed to keep his wings level. That was critical, because when a plane banks to one side it begins to turn and its wings lose some of their vertical lift. Left unchecked, this process accelerates. The angle of the bank increases, the turn gets sharper and sharper, and the plane starts to dive toward the ground in an ever – narrowing cork screw. Pilots call this the graveyard spiral.

NARRATION & DESCRIPTIONIN “SEEING IS NOT BELIEVING”

Lance Corporal Ted “Joey” Boudreaux Jr. was bored. It was the summer of 2003 in Iraq […] and you can joyride around the desert in a dusty Humvee only so often. Loitering at the back gate of his base, mingling with locals, Boudreaux says he scribbled “Welcome marines” on a piece of cardboard and gave it to some kids, who then posed with him, smiling, for a snapshot. He e-mailed the picture to his mom, a cousin and a few friends[….] That wasn’t the last of the photo, though.

Steve Casimiro

SUMMARIZATION

Narrative condensed and denuded of detail, with a more statement of or connection to theme.

FROM THE ART OF FAILURE – A SEGUEWAY BETWEEN NARRATIVE & THEME

Human beings sometimes falter under pressure. Pilots crash and divers drown. Under the glare of competition, basketball players cannot find the basket and golfers cannot find the pin. When that happens, we say variously that people have “panicked” or, to use the sports colloquialism, “choked.” (summary)

But what do those words mean? To choke or panic is considered to be as bad as to quit. But are all forms of failure equal? (intro of central comparison and theme)

SUMMARIZING THE HISTORY OF LOBSTER, FROM CONSIDER THE LOBSTER

Up until sometime in the 1800s, though, lobster was literally low-class food, eaten only by the poor and institutionalized. Even in the harsh penal environment of early America, some colonies had laws against feeding lobsters to inmates more than once a week because it was thought to be cruel and unusual, like making people eat rats.

Narrative would be: a particular person in a particular prison scowling at the sight of, oh no, lobster. Again.

DEFINITION1. The act 

of defining  or making definite,  distinct, or clear.

2. Optics.  Sharpness of the image formed by an optical system.

Late 14c., "setting of boundaries," from O.Fr. definicion , from L.definitionem , noun of action from definire . In logic, meaning "a statement of the essential nature of something" is from late 14c.; 

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/definition

DEFINITION WITH DRIVE Skill is the connection between life and tools, or

life and machines. Once, skill was defined in qualitative terms: How well did a person work. But as machines grow larger and more complex […] we tend to define skill quantitatively: How speedily and cheaply can a person work? And the more quantifiable skills become, the easier they are to replace with machines.

Wendell Berry, “The Un-settling of America”

STEREOTYPE THREAT

Every heard of it? It’s defined on page 91 of “The Art of Failure”(after a summary of a study)

ELABORATIONDescribing the indescribable

Bringing in experts

Giving examples

when definition doesn’t do it

tr

y

WHAT IS DUENDE?

Definition: Duende is a difficult-to-define word used in Spanish arts. Originally meaning a fairy- or goblin-like creature. Loosely translated as having soul, a heightened state of emotion, expression and authenticity, often connected with flamenco.  Wikipedia

Elaboration with expert: The duende is a power and not a construct, a struggle and not a concept. I heard an old guitarist, a virtuoso, remark, “The duende is not in the throat, the duende comes from inside up, up from the very soles of the feet.” That is to say, it’s not a question of aptitude, but of blood. --Federico Garcia Lorca

example

WHAT IS LOBSTER: ELABORATION VIA NICELY ORDERED FACTS

Taxonomically speaking, a lobster is a marine crustacean of the family Homaridae, characterized by five pairs of jointed legs, the first pair terminating in large pincerish claws used for subduing prey. Like many other species of benthic carnivore, lobsters are both hunters and scavengers. They have stalked eyes, gills on their legs, and antennae. There are dozens of different kinds worldwide, of which the relevant species here is the Maine lobster, Homarus americanus. The name “lobster” comes from the Old English loppestre, which is thought to be a corrupt form of the Latin word for locust combined with the Old English loppe, which meant spider.

DEFINE OR ELABORATE WITH NEGATIVES

Love is not all: it is not meat nor drinkNor slumber nor a roof against the rain;Nor yet a floating spar to men that sinkAnd rise and sink and rise and sink again;Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;Yet many a man is making friends with deathEven as I speak, for lack of love alone.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

COMPARISON/CONTRAST

Enrique Chagoya

1. COMPARE & CONTRAST IN ORDER TO

Reveal unseen qualities/efficacy of A by analogy to more familiar B.”

Just as bullets are traced to a gun, photos may one day reveal the camera that made them.

[B then A] --“Can Digital Photos Be Trusted”

COMPARISON STRUCTURES

Compare in blocks, in order: Axyz then Bxyz (two paragraphs)

orpoint by point: Ax Bx / Ay By / Az Bz

Panic […] is the opposite of choking. Choking is about thinking too much. Panic is about thinking too little. Choking is about loss of instinct. Panic is reversion to instinct. They may look the same, but they are worlds apart [….]

ANALYSISClassification – parts & their relationshipsProcess – mechanism and sequenceCausation – causes and/or effects

ANALYZING PARTS

ANALYZING PROCESSES

Consider what happens when you double the size of an image in Photoshop. You start with a 100-by-200-pixel image and enlarge it to 200 by 200. Photoshop must create new pixels to make the image bigger [….] Photoshop will “look” at a whote pixel and an adjoining black pixel and decide that the best option for the new pizel being inserted is gray. [a “digital watermark”]

-- Can Digital Photos be Trusted?

With Narration assisting

ANALYZING CAUSATION (CAUSES OR EFFECTS)

It won’t take long—if it hasn’t happened already—before every image becomes potentially suspect.

So?

[A]s fakes proliferate, real evidence, such as the photos of abuse at Abu Ghraib pruison in Iraq, could be discounted as unreliable.

Doesn’t affect me

And then there’s the judicial system, in which altered photos could harm the innocent, free the guilty, or simply cause havoc.

GROUPWORK #3

Assign a development method to each group member

• Narration and description• Definition• Elaboration• Comparison/contrast• Summarization• Analysis

• Classification (break down by parts)• Process (break down by steps)• Causation (break down by causes and/or effects

Then create a short essay with several well- developed paragraphs on our chosen topic.