Assignment: English Definition Essay
1. 2-3pages in length; not including the Works Cited page
2. Follow your formatting style and provide both in-text citing and a bibliography page.
3. A clear thesis statement is required.
4. Use a minimum of three outside sources for support and since you are defining a concept in your field of study and will be doing an annotated bibliography, keep that is mind for possibly using these three sources as part of that assignment.
5. NEVER use Wikipedia - self policed websites cannot be counted on for truthful and credible information.
6. A clean, printed, hard copy is to be turned in to the professor in class.
7. The essays are due on the assigned day (on the syllabus) and will be docked one letter grade per day that they are late. That means EVERY day, not just class days.
Purpose: The purpose for definition writing is to provide a more detailed and extended definition than is generally found in a dictionary or simple definition. If you take an informative approach the tone should be detached and objective. If the tone takes a persuasive slant, the tone might be more urgent. A third possibility for definition is satiric, where a funny approach works well.
When taking the purpose into account, it is imperative that the purpose be kept in mind so that the essay stays focused on the stated thesis.
Audience: If the essay is meant to inform for general readers, helpful sources should include examples, characteristics and origins. If the essay is meant to persuade then the focus may shift toward a more emotional tone that ignites the reader's feelings and wish for change. If the approach is satiric the focus can show a more humorous definition but be sure to choose a topic that is appropriate for humor. As always, the audience for college essays should be inclusionary and be for all to read and written at an adult level.
· When developing the information to be added to a definition essay remember to:
· 1st - choose a term that fulfills the definition requirement and is a topic that is broad enough to define (i.e. cult, friend, loyalty, academic honesty, effective parenting)
· 2nd - Classify the term (i.e. Academic dishonesty - cheating)
· 3rd - Characteristics (i.e. cheating on a test, looking up answers on a phone, plagiarism, copying another person's homework, etc.)
· Develop the extended definition by asking questions:
- How does X look, taste, smell, feel and sound? (Narration)
- What are some typical instances of X? (Exemplification)
- How does X work? (Process Analysis)
- What leads to X? What are X's consequences? (Cause-Effect)
- What does X do? (Narration)
· What are X's component parts? What different forms can X take? (Division-Classification)
· What is X like or unlike? (Comparison-Contrast)
Organization and Development: Generally definition essays need to sharpen the focus of the reader by grabbing his or her attention by creating a very strong introduction that provides a brief, formal definition of the term that the extended definition will explore. Definition by negation is often helpful in that the essay can explore what a term is NOT. Another possibility for development is to create a stipulative definition that defines something in small terms. (Ex. Defined narrowly, a good student is one who gets good grades.) The introduction might also end with a plan of development. (Ex. Academic dishonesty begins with doing something easily justified in a students' mind, becomes an easy out, and ends with cheating becoming the normal mode of behavior.)