Techniques

The illustration essay is also known as an exemplification essay. Once you have gathered enough examples to support your thesis, keep the following in mind:

You should only choose examples that are relevant to your main idea.

If you stray from your main focus by using examples that aren’t connected to your essay, you’ll lose your reader. Therefore, if the connection isn’t immediately clear, be sure to point that out to your reader before you go on a tangent.

You may arrange your examples chronologically.

When you list your examples, you may list what occurs first in a time sequence. This helps to keep your essay organized and gives the reader a preset pattern to follow.

You may arrange your examples by order of importance.

Essentially, it’s up to you how you arrange your examples in regard to importance. You may begin with the most important to catch the reader’s interest immediately. However, if your technique is to leave the reader with a lasting impression, you may leave the most important example for last.

You should start with simple examples and build up to more complex examples.

It’s important to start with simple examples. This way, you provide the reader with a foundation of examples, which helps him or her comprehend the more complex examples.

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