Patterns of Development

As we’ve talked about on multiple occasions, our work in AP Lang seeks to deepen our ability both to name and to describe the “moves” that author’s make in support of their overall purpose. While we often closely examine “small target” aspects of their rhetoric, there is also a lexicon of terms that name “big target” aspects of their rhetoric, too. An example of this refers to what are called “patterns of development.” These patterns represent structural choices that thread throughout the course of a text. In other words, no single sentence, paragraph, or section can - in and of itself - establish an author’s pattern. Instead, these elements interact with each other extensively. A definition offered in the opening lines of a text, for example, can become a reference to which the author points repeatedly as an examination of how their observations reflect that definition. There are eight of these patterns, which you should read about below and then study so that you can internalize them as potential claims about authors’ rhetoric.

Narration

Narration

Definition:

• telling a story

• recounting of events

Purpose: to explain information about your topic as a series of events in story format; a recounting of events

Description

Definition:

• targets the senses with a high level of detail

• also a type of story, but the level of detail distinguishes it

Purpose: to create a picture in words (vivid, specific details) to help the reader visualize something a writer has seen, heard, or done

Process Analysis

Definition:

• explains how something works (a machine, the political system, how to’s, etc.)

• summarizes how something was done (a historical event, a movement, etc.)

Purpose: to explain a process by giving directions or information about how to do something or how something is done.

Exemplification/ Illustration

Definition:

• making a point through the use of a series of examples

• can be one extended example

Purpose: to discuss a topic by using several/a series of examples to clarify points or to go into depth about one extended example

Comparison and Contrast

Definition:

• juxtaposing (putting two things close together w/ the intended effect of making their similarities and differences more distinct)

Purpose: to show how two or more areas of your topic are similar (compare) or different (contrast) or both, often by using juxtaposition.

Classification and Division

Definition:

• to sort - what goes together and why?

Purpose: to break a topic into groups of categories and explain what goes together and why they go together

Definition

Definition:

• defining something (a word, a concept, a trend, etc.) and then examining how a situation fits that definition

Purpose: to define a word in a way that ensures the reader and the speaker have a common understanding of what it means. In the end, an idea is defined and a situation is examined in terms of how it does/does not fit that definition

Cause and Effect

Definition:

• analyzing the cause(s) that lead(s) to particular effect(s)

Purpose: to explain what caused (cause) something to happen (effect); how did one thing lead to another?