Department of English

Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University


 

Examples Paragraph


The illustration (examples) paragraph is useful when we want to explain or clarify something, such as an object, a person, a concept, or a situation. When we illustrate, we show how something is as we point out. When we illustrate with examples, we give instances that show or prove to the readers so they can see for themselves how something is as we claim it to be.


You will notice, then, that illustration paragraphs often answer questions that ask what, how, in what way—questions that need or ask for explanation, examples, cases, and details to illustrate how something is true.


Sample Illustration Topics


 


 

Sample Published Illustration Paragraphs


Paragraph 1:

Zimmer, Carl. A Planet of Viruses.


         Scientists' research has revealed that viruses are by far the most abundant life forms on Earth. There are a million times more viruses on the planet than stars in the universe. Viruses also harbor the majority of genetic diversity on Earth. Scientists are finding evidence of viruses as a planetary force, influencing the global climate and geochemical cycles. They have also profoundly shaped the evolution of their hosts. The human genome, for example, contains 100,000 segments of virus DNA.

 

           

 




 

Sample Illustration Paragraphs



Paragraph 1:

Responding to the question: Where are piedmont mountains found?


         Piedmont, or mountain, glaciers are found in many parts of the world. In North America they are distributed along the mountain ranges of the Pacific Coast from central California northward. They abound in the Andes range in South America and are familiar and greatly admired spectacles in the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Caucasus Mountains and the mountains of Scandanavia. Rivers of ice flow down the valleys of various Asian mountain ranges, including the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush, and the Karakoram and Kunlun ranges. They are also a feature of the Southern Alps of New Zealand and are found in the lofty mountains of New Guinea. The largest piedmont glaciers are the Malaspina and Bering glaciers, both in Alaska.

 

          

Paragraph 2:

Responding to the question: How does high population density affect the behavior of mice?


         When mice are kept at high population densities, their behaviour changes in a number of ways. Aggressive activity within populations of mice rises as density increases. Cannibalism of young also goes up, and so does aberrant sexual activity. Communal nesting, frequent in natural mouse populations, increases abnormally. In one example, 58 mice one to three days old (from several litters) were found in one nest, most unusual communal living. None survived because most of the mothers deserted them immediately after birth.

 

          

Paragraph 3:

Responding to the topic: favorite childhood games


 

 

 

 

 

2202111 English I

Writing Test 1 (examples)

  

 

When I was a little boy in elementary school, the neighborhood kids and I all looked forward to playing so many games in my backyard during the long summer holidays between grades. For instance, one of our favorite games was whiffle ball, a kid's version of baseball. All we needed was a cheap plastic bat and a cheap plastic ball and we could entertain ourselves in the backyard from morning to afternoon. Or if we broke the bat or lost the ball, we would play "Red Rover, Red Rover." To play this game, we would join hands in two opposing lines and hurl ourselves at the locked wrists of the opposing team, trying to break through their line. Once the sun set, our favorite game was hide-and-seek. My backyard was perfect because there were lots of bushes and trees where we could hide out of sight of the kid who was "it." Even on rainy days, we had fun activities out in the garden shed in the corner of the backyard. For instance, we would often act out our favorite TV game shows, like "Let's Make a Deal," or sing along to the theme song from "The Monkees," a popular TV show about a rock-and-roll band, on my little record player. Even now, fifty years later, I still look back on all those fun summertime games out in my backyard with a lot of fondness.

 

 

 

 

 


 

Paragraph 4:

Responding to the topic: favorite childhood toys


 

 

 

 

 

Nantana Wongjitpaisal

2202111 English I

Acharn Puckpan Tipayamontri

June 21, 2012

Writing 1 (examples paragraph)

  

History Toys

 

My favorite childhood toys reflect the places I lived in when I was young. My favorite toy as a child of seven years old was the dried fallen branches in the woods. There was a small one behind our house and it provided endless fun for me and my brothers and sisters. Collected sticks and branches became our castle, our fort, and our play home. Wood pieces gave us play swords, fishing rods, umbrellas, and jungle gyms. They were my best childhood toy because they contained so many other toys. What I most loved to play with at eight years old was dirt marbles. We lived in a neighborhood where there was an eternal pit of mud on the strip of grass in front of our apartment. My brothers and I would mix the smooth mud with sand from the side of the road, roll it into balls and leave them to dry in the hot afternoon sun. We would hit them against each other to gain points and arm our slingshots with them. The toy of my last year of elementary school that I obsessed about was stickers. At that time we lived in a narrow alley with shophouses all long it and we children would buy from there stickers and products that included free stickers of robots, cartoon characters, and spaceships that we would collect, trade, or compete for in sticker flipping games. My cherished toy as a new teenager was my bicycle. We lived in a soi with lots of pavement and no cars. I was head of the bike gang and we would set up ramps for jumps and design obstacle courses for racing. Now I have started university and am no longer a child but I think happily of these toys of childhood which show a history of where I have been and what Bangkok used to be, thankful for the young adult that I am because of them.

 

 

 

 

 

           

  

 

Further Reading
Harvey, Michael. The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2003. Print.

Rosenwasser, David, and Jill Stephen. “What is Analytical Writing?” Writing Analytically. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1997. Print.

 


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Last updated August 31, 2016