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Writing a Definition Essay

Writing a Definition Essay. Prof. K. E. Ogden. What is a Definition Essay?. When you write a definition essay: --Your main purpose is to explain to your readers your understanding of a key term or concept --your secondary purpose is to persuade readers that your definition is a legitimate one.

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Writing a Definition Essay

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  1. Writing a Definition Essay Prof. K. E. Ogden

  2. What is a Definition Essay? • When you write a definition essay: --Your main purpose is to explain to your readers your understanding of a key term or concept --your secondary purpose is to persuade readers that your definition is a legitimate one

  3. Components of a Definition Essay • Definition essays aren’t simply the “dictionary” definition of a particular word or concept. The writer acknowledges that there can be multiple truths for defining complex words and concepts • You need to convey what a particular term means to you • You need to acknowledge and engage in conversation with other writers and their ideas about a particular concept or word

  4. How to build your definition • Consider the simple definition first; this is where you might look at several common dictionaries and how they define a term so that you can point out the strengths, weaknesses, inconsistencies, and complexities involved in the definition • Consider how others define the word or concept; a scholar, a specialist in a particular field; a common person; a peer; Engage in conversation with these writers

  5. Brainstorm as an exercise • Consider a question that has mystified philosophers for centuries: Is there a God?

  6. Where to begin: • Common definitions of God • How “specialists” define God • How “common people” define God • Then think about how YOU define God; and Why you define God in that way.

  7. EVIDENCE • How • Why • How Come • As Compared to What/ Contrasted with What • For Example • What it is not • Describe --these are all questions that will help you to develop evidence to support your ideas about a particular concept

  8. Thesis Statement • You need to state what you’re trying to define and why: The people in my grandmother’s living room took a word [nigger] that whites used to signify worthlessness or degradation and rendered it impotent . . . Meeting the word head-on, they [African-Americans] proved it had absolutely nothing to do with the way they were determined to live their lives.—Gloria Naylor

  9. Revising • MEANINGS: Have you explored the idea thoroughly, and shared the obvious and not-so-obvious meanings? • DEVELOPMENT: Where might you offer more of the description, comparison, examples, How Come, Why etc.? • FOCUS: Does each paragraph build on your idea? Does each paragraph have a single focus?

  10. Finally: • Why did you write it? (Yeah, I know, I assigned it . . . BUT • What is your purpose? What do you hope to have the reader think, feel, understand by the end of your paper? • Does each paragraph build toward accomplishing that purpose?

  11. Global Revision Strategies Check out HACKER 22-23 for mechanics and Language Usage ideas

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