DEFINITION ESSAY

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DEFINITIONESSAY
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THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ME
I look I write my book, And I have my say I
draw conclusions --B. Joel
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PERSONAL UNDERSTANDING

• This essay relates your personal understanding
• of a term or idea.
• So, in the end, the reader understands the term
• as you do.

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NO DICTIONARY

• Thus, we are not concerned with a textbook or
• dictionary definition of the term.
• Yes, you may consult your sociology text book
• or your Funk and Wagnalls dictionary or
• encyclopedia for introductory comments,
• BUT DO NOT make its definition the focus of
• your essayif I wanted their definitions, Id
• read their books. Your essay your ideas.
• See the Introduction below.

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INTRODUCTION
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INTRODUCTION

• Introduce your topic (GQS generalization,
  quote, quip, question, stat)
• Funnel Effect
• Perhaps the common understanding OR the textbook
  definition of the term to set up the CONTRAST of
  your version of the term
• Etymology of the word (if it helps illuminate
  current meanings and usages)

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INTRODUCTION

• You can perhaps start with an interesting and
  relevant quote. For example, if you were to
  define the word music, you could refer to the
  following quote from the opening scene of
  Shakespeares Twelfth Night
• If music be the food of love, play on, Give me
  excess of it that, surfeiting, The appetite may
  sicken and so die. (1.1.1-3)
• Then you would begin with
• Shakespeare suggests that music is the food
  of love, and most of us would agree with him.

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INTRODUCTION

• Contrast (what the term is NOTnegationsee the
  Love Chapter below)
• Describe the special quality of the term that
  CONTRASTS it with the rest of the class (the 3
  traits will serve this purpose)
• Last sentence thesis

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INTRODUCTION

• THESIS DEFINITION
• formula
• A flibbertigibbet (TERM) is a person (CLASS) who
  is silly, scatterbrained, and garrulous (3
  CHARACTERISTICS).
• Love is a fleeting emotion that results in pain,
  temporary insanity, and hate.
• students personal understandings of terms

TERM CLASS 3 CHARACTERISTICS
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INTRODUCTION(sample)

• When asked, most people would define an
  alcoholic as a person who drinks too much. While
  this may be essentially true, I discovered that
  this definition is a bit more complicated than
  that. Last year, I came to realize that I had a
  dependency on, or a problem with, alcohol, and
  through this experience I learned that an
  alcoholic is a person who is powerless over
  his/her addiction, who exhibits characteristic
  behaviors beyond simply drinking too much, and,
  most of all, who requires the help of a Higher
  Power to deal with this life-long addiction.

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BODY
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BODY

• CHARACTERISTICS
• Some students have a difficulty understanding
  the concept of characteristics or traits,
  especially when dealing with abstractions.
• It may then be helpful to think of
  characteristics in medical terms
• as DNA, genes, of a person or abstraction
• as the symptomology of a condition, as SYMPTOMS

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BODY

• CHARACTERISTICS
• (1) For example, what are the symptoms of love
• Doctor, doctor, Ive been acting really strange
  lately I cant sleep, I cant eat, I cant
  concentrate. I think Ive caught this thing
  called love. Can you tell me what its symptoms
  are to see if Ive got it?
• (2) The symptoms of an ill person
• Doctor , doctor, Ive been acting really
  strange lately.Can you look in the DSM-IV to see
  if Im turning into a hypochondriac?!

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BODY

• CHARACTERISTICS
• Characteristics are NOT
• types
• roles
• reasons
• These are for other rhetorical strategies
• Classification (the types of lovers)
• Division (the roles of lovers)
• Illustration (the reasons you love him/her)

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BODY
CHARACTERISTIC 1

• Name the trait.
• Explain the trait.
• Illustrate the trait with specific people,
  examples, and instances.
• BE SPECIFIC

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BODY

• (SUPPORT)
• Other Rhetorical Strategies
• Description
• Examples (specific person/instance)
• Extended Example
• Narration
• Process-Analysis
• Comparison/Contrast
• Division/Classification
• Negation

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BODY (sample)

• First, an alcoholic is a person who is
  powerless over his or her
• addiction. To be powerless basically means that
  it is not simply
• a matter of will power, or a lack thereof.
  Rather, the roots of
• this addiction involve biological, psychological,
  and behavioral
• factors that must be addressed in order to live a
  sober lifestyle.
• For instance, I realized that my inability to
  stop drinking was
• not due to my being too weak to resist, that I
  lacked the
• necessary will power to stop. It was not a matter
  of simply
• wanting to get betterthat was a good place to
  startbut I
• had to realize that my drinking was an addiction
  and a disease
• and that I was utterly powerless to fight it on
  my own. No
• matter how much money I had or how much weight I
  could lift,
• this disease was going to control me unless I got
  professional
• help. The irony is that I had to be in a
  rehabilitation center in
• order to realize that I needed to be in a
  rehabilitation center.

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BODY (more specific)

• For instance, I used to have periods in which I
  did not drink, and I arrogantly and erroneously
  thought that each time I had my dependency beat.
  However, all it took was a bad day at work or a
  fight with my spouse to find myself drunk in my
  favorite dive bar. What would begin with only
  one drink to take the edge off, repeatedly ended
  with me hopelessly and helplessly trapped in my
  addictive, destructive, and dangerous cycle
  again. Sadly, all that triggered my last binge
  was an encounter with an idiot driver. It was
  after that experience, not to mention the
  consequent jail time and mandatory rehabilitation
  order, I realized that I needed professional help.

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BODY
CHARACTERISTIC 2

• name trait,
• explain trait,
• illustrate trait with specifics

CHARACTERISTIC 3

• (Most Important TraitEmphatic Order)
• name trait,
• explain trait,
• illustrate trait with specifics

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REMEMBER

• PRONOUN REFERENCE
• often better to make your term plural
• WHO vs/ THAT
• who refers to people
• that refers to animals objects
• TRANSITIONS
• another, on the other hand,
• in contrast, for instance

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REMEMBER

• This is neither a CLASSIFICATION (types)
  nor a NARRATION (story) essay
• so follow the proper format for the
  DEFINITION (characteristics) essay
• use terms like traits, characteristics,
• features, qualities, aspects, attributes
• Define either a person OR an abstraction
• an alcoholic OR alcoholism
• remain consistent throughout essay
• whatever you use in your Introduction

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CONCLUSION
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CONCLUSION

• Refer back to your introduction/
• purpose/scenario
• Repeat thesis/definition traits
• Clincher sentence

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LENGTH

• 4-6 PAGES
• No fewer than 4
• To reach this length
• utilize 2 examples per characteristic
• make those 2 examples detailed and descriptive
• go to the lower level of specificity refer to
  specific persons in specific instances

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Definition Essay VSOther Essays
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Definition VS Other Rhetorical Modes

• TRAITS
• Characteristics
• Features
• Qualities
• Aspects
• Attributes
• FOCUS
• Focuses on only 1 type
• Focuses on 1 term
• SUPPORT (for each trait)
• Examples
• Narration
• Description
• PURPOSE
• To define a term through personal understanding.

• CLASSIFICATION
• Types
• Focuses on 3 types
• EXAMPLE
• Reasons (3)
• Focuses on proving a point
• Uses examples to support reasons
• NARRATION
• Detailed story
• Focuses on telling a story
• DESCRIPTION
• Sense details
• Focuses on supporting a Dominant Impression
• Uses sense details, similes

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TOPICS
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TOPICS

• (1) Choose an ORIGINAL word (used with friends or
  familyjust keep it clean, please)
• OR
• (2) Choose an EXISTING word (see list below)

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TOPICS

• (3) Put a positive spin on a negative term. That
  is, some words carry negative connotations, so it
  would original if you were to twist the meaning
  of such a word.
• Examples of such words include the B-word, the
  N-word, and the F-word. See also Hick, Hayseed,
  Cracker, Redneck, White Boy, Yank, Faggot,
  Homophobe, Catholic?, American?, Republican?,
• See what Meredith Brooks did in her song

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TOPICS

• Bitch
• I hate the world todayYou're so good to meI
  know but I can't changeTried to tell youBut you
  look at me like maybeI'm an angel
  underneathInnocent and sweetYesterday I
  criedMust have been relieved to seeThe softer
  sideI can understand how you'd be so confusedI
  don't envy youI'm a little bit of everythingAll
  rolled into one
• ChorusI'm a bitch, I'm a loverI'm a child, I'm
  a motherI'm a sinner, I'm a saintI do not feel
  ashamedI'm your hell, I'm your dreamI'm nothing
  in betweenYou know you wouldn't want it any
  other way

• So take me as I amThis may meanYou'll have to
  be a stronger manRest assured thatWhen I start
  to make you nervousAnd I'm going to
  extremesTomorrow I will changeAnd today won't
  mean a thing
• Chorus
• Just when you think, you got me figured outThe
  season's already changingI think it's cool, you
  do what you doAnd don't try to save me
• Chorus
• I'm a bitch, I'm a teaseI'm a goddess on my
  kneesWhen you hurt, when you sufferI'm your
  angel undercoverI've been numb, I'm
  revivedCan't say I'm not aliveYou know I
  wouldn't want it any other way

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TOPICS(abstractions 1)

• Crime
• Rape
• Murder
• Alcoholism
• Chocoholism
• Workaholism
• Shopaholism
• Slacker-ness
• Yuppie-hood
• Freak/Geek-ness

• Love/Hate
• Family
• Family Dysfunct.
• Big Bro./Sister-hood
• Identity Theft
• Role Model (inspir.)
• Specific Zodiac Sign
• Determin./Courage
• Commitment/Heart
• Energy/Laziness

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TOPICS(abstractions 2)

• Loneliness
• Honesty
• Faith
• Betrayal
• Disillusionment
• Will Power
• Ambition
• Arrogance
• Class
• Common Sense

• Conscience
• Danger
• Curiosity
• Depression
• Equality
• Escape
• Innocence
• Freedom
• Fear
• Insecurity

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TOPICS(abstractions 3)

• Jealousy
• Nostalgia
• Obsession
• Team Spirit
• Persistence
• Practicality
• Rebellion
• Responsibility
• Self-Control
• Holidays
• Resentment

• Fairness
• Boredom
• Excitement
• Childhood
• Sense of Humor
• Violence
• Stress
• Beauty
• Truth
• Job Position
• Cheating

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TOPICS(people)

• Couch Potato
• Know-it-all/Brainiac
• Charmer
• Snob
• Con Artist
• Fair-Weather Friend
• Good Sport
• Show-Off
• Class Clown
• Jellyfish

• Leader/Follower
• Optimist/Pessimist
• Pack rat
• Whiner
• Control Freak
• Mother Hen
• Toady/Suck-up
• Fusspot
• Clotheshorse
• Worrywart

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TOPICS(even more)

• Daydreamer
• Alcoholic
• Lover
• Friend
• Stress-or
• Perfect Mate
• Jailhouse Shyster
• Hockey Player (goalie, forward, enforcer)

• Christian
• Wiccan
• Depressive
• Optimist/Pessimist
• Perfect Boy/Girlfriend
• Great Song (legend)
• Hick
• Faith

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TOPICS (Smore)

• RELIGION
• Faith
• God (Allah, Jehovah, Yahweh, )
• Christian, Jew, Agnostic, Atheist, Witness,
• Holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving)
• Define your Higher Power
• FAMILY
• Relationships
• Wife/Husband
• Big Brother, Little Sister
• Adult, Adulthood
• Responsibility

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TOPICS (Smore)

• SOCIETY
• Culture
• Civilization
• Enlightened Society
• Leader
• Educator (teacher, facilitator)
• IDOL
• Classic
• Legend, Icon
• Hero, Role Model
• Champion

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A B S T R A C T I O N S
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P E O P L E T Y P E S
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POP CULTURE VS.A REAL MAN/WOMAN
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INTRODUCTIONSAMPLE INTRODUCTION 2 (using
CONTRAST)

• Unfortunately, in the contemporary American
• culture of the early twenty-first century, men
• are typically defined through pop-culture media
  in terms of
• adapted from class discussions

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(No Transcript)
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INTRODUCTIONSAMPLE INTRODUCTION 2

• Unfortunately, in the contemporary American
• culture of the early twenty-first century,
• women are typically defined through pop-culture
  media in terms of

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(No Transcript)
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INTRODUCTIONSAMPLE INTRODUCTION 2

• However, my conceptualization of a true
• man/woman remains remarkably different.
• Despite the pop-culture mythology, I still
• believe that some of the characteristics of a
• real man/woman include __, __, and __,
• and, for me, the three most significant
• traits are __, __, and __.

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LOVE IS
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suicide patient complicated life forever
selfish hell paranoid not enough ephemeral
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LOVE 1 Corinthians 13 (NIV)

• If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,
  but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or
  a clanging cymbal.
• If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all
  mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a
  faith that can move mountains, but have not love,
  I am nothing.
• If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender
  my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain
  nothing.
• Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy,
  it does not boast, it is not proud.
• It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not
  easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
• Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with
  the truth.
• It always protects, always trusts, always hopes,
  always perseveres.
• Love never fails. But where there are prophecies,
  they will cease where there are tongues, they
  will be stilled where there is knowledge, it
  will pass away.
• For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but
  when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
• When I was a child, I talked like a child, I
  thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
  When I became a man, I put childish ways behind
  me.
• Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror
  then we shall see face to face. Now I know in
  part then I shall know fully, even as I am fully
  known.
• And now these three remain faith, hope and love.
  But the greatest of these is love. (1-13)

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What is Love Haddaway

• What is love Oh baby, don't hurt me Don't hurt
  me no more Oh, baby don't hurt me Don't hurt me
  no more What is love Yeah Oh, I don't know
  why you're not there I give you my love, but you
  don't care So what is right and what is wrong
  Gimme a sign What is love Oh baby, don't hurt
  me Don't hurt me no more What is love Oh baby,
  don't hurt me Don't hurt me no more Whoa whoa
  whoa, oooh oooh Whoa whoa whoa, oooh oooh Oh,
  I don't know, what can I do What else can I say,
  it's up to you I know we're one, just me and you
  I can't go on

• (chorus) Whoa whoa whoa, oooh oooh Whoa whoa
  whoa, oooh oooh (repeat)
• What is love Oh baby, don't hurt me Don't hurt
  me no more Don't hurt me Don't hurt me I
  want no other, no other lover This is your life,
  our time When we are together, I need you
  forever Is it love (chorus)
• (repeat)
• What is love?

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Love is Blindness U2

• Love is blindnessI don't want to seeWon't you
  wrap the nightAround meOh my heartLove is
  blindnessIn a parked carIn a crowded
  streetYou see your loveMade completeThread is
  rippingThe knot is slippingLove is
  blindnessLove is clockworksAnd cold
  steelFingers too numb to feelSqueeze the
  handleBlow out the candleLove is
  blindnessLove is blindnessI don't want to
  seeWon't you wrap the nightAround meOh my
  loveBlindness

• A little deathWithout mourningNo callAnd no
  warningBaby...a dangerous ideaThat almost makes
  senseLove is drowningIn a deep wellAll the
  secretsAnd no one to tellTake the
  moneyHoneyBlindnessLove is blindnessI don't
  want to seeWon't you wrap the nightAround meOh
  my loveBlindness