The Definition Essay

The word game

Basketball championship

Monopoly marathon

White-tailed buck

Each is a valid definition without context, no visual clues, and no introduction.

About 11 definitions coming from the same root: the common Germanic gam, meaning “to enjoy”

Purpose of a definition essay

Explain to your reader your understanding of a term or concept

Persuade that your understanding in a legitimate one

DOES NOT simply repeat the dictionary definition

Conveys what a particular term means to you

The word patriotism

Begin by giving your definition of the wordComing out for 4th of July parades

Displaying the flag

Supporting the troops

Being politically active

Questioning the government

Think of specific instances so the reader will be able to fully understanding your meaning of the term.

First try: Patriotism is showing support for our military troops.

Patriotism is showing support for our military troops, such as sending care packages to soldiers overseas.

Make a cluster

Patriotism

Red, white, & blue

Join the army

vote

Fly the flag

Support the troops

Buy only “made in America”

“United we stand; divided we fall”

Pray for our country

Prewriting questions

Is it unique? Are their others like it?

How is it different? Compare and contrast.

What different forms does it occur?

What is it at the present moment? What was it 50 years ago?

What are its functions?

Prewriting Development

Describe your term

Compare and contrast it to another term

Explain the cause and effect

How did it come to be?

The DefinitionWrite the definition in your own words.

Do not sound like a dictionary

Avoid is where and is when

You may consult a dictionary, but your definition will include a personal meaning.

A single sentence definition is not sufficient.

Supporting paragraphs develop the characteristics of the term being defined.

May include descriptions and examples. May include what it IS NOT

Examples

Major support points in your essay are your examples of the term you are defining

Choose at least three that demonstrate your use of the term being defined

Explain each example with details

Transitions Used

Is defined as …

Is understood to be …

Means that …

Is sometimes thought to be …

Signifies …

ThesisState what your topic is and at least hint at what your definition looks like.

This is your opinion and must be supported throughout your essay

Example opening paragraph

The United States is presently at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, where American troops are fighting and dying. At home, cars and homes display solid yellow or red, white, and blue ribbons that call for Americans to "Support Our Troops." It is patriotic for Americans to support their daughters and sons fighting in a war, but this patriotism does not mean that Americans must blindly support the decision to go to war. Being patriotic means that Americans must do the opposite: they must question their government. Questioning the government, voting, and respecting the rights of others are what make true patriots in a democratic society; whereas, blind following of one's government creates dictatorships.

Term paragraph

This is your second paragraph.

The term must be clearly defined, historically. How long has this term been around? Has its meaning changed any during its history?

Etymology of patriotismpatriot (n.) 1590s, "compatriot," from Middle French patriote (15c.) and directly from Late Latin patriota "fellow-countryman" (6c.), from Greek patriotes "fellow countryman," from patrios "of one's fathers," patris "fatherland," from pater (genitive patros) "father" (see father (n.)); with -otes, suffix expressing state or condition. Liddell & Scott write that patriotes was "applied to barbarians who had only a common [patris], [politai] being used of Greeks who had a common [polis] (or free-state)."

Meaning "loyal and disinterested supporter of one's country" is attested from c. 1600, but became an ironic term of ridicule or abuse from mid-18c. in England, so that Johnson, who at first defined it as "one whose ruling passion is the love of his country," in his fourth edition added, "It is sometimes used for a factious disturber of the government."The name of patriot had become [c. 1744] a by-word of derision. Horace Walpole scarcely exaggerated when he said that ... the most popular declaration which a candidate could make on the hustings was that he had never been and never would be a patriot. [Macaulay, "Horace Walpole," 1833]Somewhat revived in reference to resistance movements in overrun countries in World War II, it has usually had a positive sense in American English, where the phony and rascally variety has been consigned to the word patrioteer (1928). Oriana Fallaci ["The Rage and the Pride," 2002] marvels that Americans, so fond of patriotic, patriot, and patriotism, lack the root noun and are content to express the idea of patria by cumbersome compounds such as homeland. (Joyce, Shaw, and H.G. Wells all used patria as an English word early 20c., but it failed to stick.) Patriots' Day (April 19, anniversary of the 1775 skirmishes at Lexington and Concord Bridge) was observed as a legal holiday in Maine and Massachusetts from 1894.

Classification & Differentiation Paragraph(s)

This is the third and possibly fourth paragraph of the essay.

What does it mean to be patriotic?

What form of patriotism can be achieved?

Classify an action that is not patriotic and tell why, then find a middle action—half patriotic, half not—showing why, and then show an action that is as patriotic as we are likely to get in this life.

Compare and contrast examples of what is patriotic and what is not.

Conclusion paragraph

Last paragraph

Restate, using different words, the thesis statement of your paper.

Extend the idea you have been talking about regarding the idea of patriotism to a problem of today. Do this briefly.