Patterns of Development

Narration

to explain information about your topic as a series of events in story format

Description

to create a picture in words (vivid, specific details) to help the reader visualize something a writer has experienced

Process Analysis

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

Exemplification/Illustration

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

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

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

Definition

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

to explain what caused (cause) something to happen (effect); how did one thing lead to another?; answers why something happened as the result of something else