Development by example
In academic writing instruction, giving examples is often strongly encouraged. In most textbooks on academic writing, among other types of supporting evidence, examples are presented as a common means of rhetorical support for the writer's position in academic writing (Raimes, 1999; Reid, 2000a; Smoke, 1999). Many teachers emphasize that providing contextually relevant examples and illustrations represents a reasonable and valid means of thesis support in explaining one's position on an issue.
Instructional materials in L2 academic writing consistently point out that the examples employed in written academic discourse need to be representative of general points and ideas discussed in support of the writer's thesis. The types of examples included as supporting illustrations also need to be varied and rely on materials such as pertinent facts, statistics, descriptive details, and elaborate explanations (Raimes, 1999; Smalley et al., 2000).
However, what actually represents pertinent facts, descriptive details, and elaborate explanations is not clear cut. Although giving examples represents a prevalent explanatory and thesis support strategy in constructing persuasive text in English, teachers and researchers have found that college-level L2 writers rarely employ this strategy successfully and in accordance with the guidelines identified in L2 composition instruction (Dong, 1998; Hvitfeld, 1992). In fact in many cases, the strategy is counterproductive and leads to L2 writers' academic prose that seem to be particularly un-academic, when it includes high frequencies of discourse and text features incongruous with common characteristics of written academic discourse in English (Johns, 1991, 1997; Jordan, 1997). Some examples of incorrect and/inappropriate examples found in student writing can include:
*For example, I do too;
*For example, I agree/I hate it.
- by means of information obtained from published and citable sources (such as statistical data, research findings, or opinions of experts;
For example, Peters (2004) has a different view and states that... - by explicitly stating that generalizations indeed apply to most (or many) cases / people / situations / events;
For example, 42% of all high school students have part-time jobs or in U.S. universities today, only a minority of students are male, 49%.
To clarify and explain unfamiliar terms and abstract concepts
- by means of specific cases that demonstrably apply to most (or many) cases / people / situations;
For example, when coastline changes its shape, the tide pools where people fish will also become different. In this case, the local people cannot go to fish where they used to before.
- by means of expanded/detailed descriptions that deal with the publicly known and verifiable events (such as political, financial, social, demographic, medical, natural, or historical developments), lives of public figures, communities, groups of people, or sets of circumstances, or explanations examined from several perspectives. For instance, an example of how the teaching of math in Japan is better than that in the United States has to include points about elementary and secondary schools, boys and girls, and/or teacher training and expectations of students.
Education is important for the economic survival of the poor. For example, in the course of his or her working life, an average high school graduate can earn 1.2 million dollars. College graduates can earn 2.1 million dollars, and people with master's degrees, on average, can make 2.5 million. It seems clear that the more education workers have, the more money they can make. Educated adults have greater earning power and can have a higher standard of living.
- narrations of personal experiences, as well as those of one's family members, classmates, roommates, or neighbors
- explanations of personal opinions, which are not based on demonstrable and verifiable facts
- stories or rumors that one has heard from other people