MODES PROJECT : DEFINITIONJohn Shin

Nina Wang

Arlette Trujillo

Amy Tran

Anthony Hinojosa

WHAT IS DEFINITION?

Tells what a term means and how it differs from other terms

Formal definitions: brief, succinct explanations of what words mean

Extended definition: longer, more complex definitions.

Lays foundation to establish a common ground.

Explains the special qualities that identify a purpose, place, object, or concept and distinguish it from others that are similar to it.

Expands on and examines essential qualities of a policy, event, group, or trend.

UNDERSTANDING FORMAL DEFINITIONS

TermnaturalismClassa literary movement

DifferentiationWhose original

adherents believed that writers should treat life with scientific objectivity

Termauthority Classa power

DifferentiationTo command and

require obedience

UNDERSTANDING EXTENDED DEFINITIONS

Includes the three basic parts of a formal definition – the term, its class, and its distinguishing characteristics

Then “extended” part of the definition, adding further description of or about the term

(1—term) Chris Smith (2 – class) is a student at George

Washington College (3 – summary/description) He is 19, is

working on an engineering degree, and is from Chicago, Illinois.

USING DEFINITION

Use formal definition when a word has several meanings

Extended definitions useful in explaining abstractions such as freedom, controversial terms such as right to life, or slang terms

In extended definition essays, a brief formal definition can introduce readers to the extended definition, or to help support the essay’s thesis

PURPOSE

Explain, entertain, establish a standard. To persuade To clarify Identify areas of conflict

EFFECT

Informs audience Ensures that writers and audiences are on

the same page. Sets values for the audience to relate to. Ex. An AP class to a regular student as to an

AP class to an overachiever.

FUNCTION

Help create argument Support thesis and evidence

AUDIENCE

Sets a social context. Open to interpretation. Establishes the time period. Ex. “bad” then, “bad” now

EXAMPLE #1

“Good families prize their rituals. Nothing welds a family more than these. Rituals are vital especially for clans without histories because they evoke a past, imply a future, and hint at continuity… A clan becomes more of a clan each time it gathers to observe a fixed ritual(Christmas, birthdays, Thanksgiving), grieves at a funeral, ( anyone may come to most funerals; those who do declare their tribalness), and devises a new rite of its own.”

Jane Howard “In Search of the Good Family”

EXAMPLE #2

“I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs…I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling complaints about a wife’s duties…I want a wife who will take care of the details of my social life…I want a wife who is sensitive to my sexual needs…”

Judy Brady “I Want a Wife”

HOW TO USE DEFINITION

Using synonyms (words with similar meanings)

Using negation (telling what it is not) Using numeration (listing its

characteristics) Using analogies (comparisons identifying

similarities between the term and sometime dissimilar)

Discussing its origin and development (the word’s derivation, original meaning, and usages)

PHRASING YOUR DEFINITION

Provide true definition, not just descriptive statement

Repetition is not definition (don’t include defining term in the definition)

Define as precisely as possible

HOW IS CLASSIFICATION AND DIVISION DIFFERENT FROM DEFINITION?

Classification and Division breaks down larger concepts into parts.

Definition defines those concepts but does not categorize them.

WHY IS IT NOT DESCRIPTION?

“Blessed is he who found his work; let him ask no other blessedness. He has a work, a life purpose, he has found it, and will follow it! How, as a free-flowing channel, dug an torn by noble force throughout the sour mud-swamp of one's existence, like an ever-deepening river there, it runs and flows; -- draining off the sour festering water, gradually from the root of the remotest grass blade; making, instead of pestilential swamp, a green fruitful meadow with its clear-flowing stream." Labour by Thimas Carlyle

Description uses sensory details Definition states your stance or argument for the

subject

WHY IS IT NOT EXEMPLIFICATION?

"The trouble with the clans and tribes many of us were bit into is not that the consist of meddlesome ogres but that they lie too far away. In emergencies we rush across continents and if need be oceans to their sides, as they do to ours." In Search of the Good Family by Jane Howard

Exemplification provides examples and concrete details to back up an assertion or claim.

Definition further describes what’s been stated

HOW TO WRITE A DEFINITION ESSAY

Intro ¶ Should include a generic definition of your

term or even an attention grabbing fact. Gives contradiction to your term to provide

contrast. Ends by giving author’s definition that is

going to expand throughout the essay.

HOW TO WRITE A DEFINITION ESSAY

Body ¶’s 2-4 Further description and details about the

subject. One or several relevant examples. A description of the subject in action or use. A background/history of the subject. Includes first component of your definition. Give analysis for how the example

substantiates your definition.

HOW TO WRITE A DEFINITION ESSAY

Conclusion ¶ Give an overview of your above points Say something particularly interesting

about subject

EDITING CHECKLIST: DEFINITION

Avoid using is when and is where in your formal definitions

ExampleINCORRECT: According to Paul Fussell, an

honorific uniform is where people get a neutral or positive impression.

CORRECT: According to Paul Fessell, an honorific uniform is a uniform that conveys a neutral or positive impression.

Use present tense for your definition – even if past tense is used elsewhere in the essay

PRECIS

Being a Man by Paul Theroux

1. In Being a Man, (1985) Paul Theroux argues that the concept of masculinity involves being “stupid, unfeeling, obedient, soldierly”, creating an unrealistic model of the average man.

2. Theroux eliminates this opinion by defining the stereotypical “masculine man” by saying that men should not be forced to be barbaric but to be more of a gentleman and believes that this is “emotionally damaging” and “socially harmful.”

3. He compares masculinity and femininity in order to encourage males not to conform to the social expectations put in place, but rather embrace their individual dispositions.

4. Theroux addresses both men and women who feel obligated to live by the gender stereotype, hoping to gain empathy from the reader.