How to write an Exemplification Essay from start to finish

author By Mary Boies
exemplification-essay-guide

While an exemplification essay is an argumentative essay where you use examples to prove your chosen thesis, it is one type of essay that students mostly confuse. 

How to ace an exemplification essay

The thought of writing it alone, makes most students shiver. It is a justified fear that occurs especially if we are not privy to something and its normal.The word exemplification itself is scary. However, as you read through this detailed essay guide, you will shed of your fear layer by layer until you reach the peak of your confidence to write an exemplification on any topic that you choose or one that is assigned to you.

In this article, we focus on a rare but usually assigned essay: exemplification or illustration essay. We look at what it is, how to write one, examples, and other things that you need to master to attain prowess in exemplification writing.

Let's roll the sleeves and get dirty with knowledge, won't we?

What is an exemplification essay?

To define the exemplification essay; it is critical to comprehend what the term "exemplification" means. In simple terms, exemplification means the justification of something by providing evidence. Therefore, the exemplification essay uses supporting materials to justify generalization. It is an argumentative essay where the writer offers specific examples to prove their point. One of the main key points to writing a good exemplification essay is to include specific and detailed examples to explain points across. It is viable to say that an exemplification essay is a form of analytical or argumentative essay that uses evidence to justify a thesis statement.

An exemplification essay involves the exploration of two contradicting perspectives on an issue to discuss a controversial subject. When you are writing exemplification as a student you need to show a broad outlook concerning the subjects as you maintain an objective and rational approach.

Many published materials you explore offline or online in newspapers and media consist of particular elements of exemplifications. Primarily, this is due to the fact exploration of the controversial topic is one of the major journalist tasks.

When you write an exemplification essay, it is fundamental to apply statistics, examples, facts, and quotations to provide evidence that support the subject. An exemplification essay provides you with an opportunity as a student to explain your view. Writing an exemplification essay will sharpen your skills of applying examples in proving your points in other forms of academic writing.

Types of Exemplification Essay Examples

As you prepare yourself to write an exemplification essay, it is important to know the many variations of examples you can use. There are five different categories as we outline below:

The best approach to writing an exemplification paragraph is to make the ideas simple and easier to understand. You can also get creative with the ideas to make them stick. Still, ensure you use as many relevant examples in your essay as your word count allows. Ensure that the paragraph also supports the main idea or thesis that you elaborated in the introduction.

Related: How to write an expository essay.

10 Actionable Steps to Writing an A+ Grade Exemplification Essay

Any form of writing becomes easier when you develop a good plan. A good plan will enable you to compose your amplification essay within the shortest time possible easily. As a student, you will produce a good exemplification essay when you follow the following ten steps we explain below:

1. Select a suitable topic

As a writer, the initial step to good writing is selecting your topic, and it contributes to 50% of your success. Your chosen topic should be specific, useful, current, and unique. The topic should appeal to the reader and meet s the readers' expectations of getting up-to-date, unusual, or new information from your writing.

The topic you choose should not be narrow or broad. Narrow topics will restrict you from getting sufficient evidence to prove your point of view, while broad topics will be general and not attractive to the reader.

2. Research and brainstorm

Researching and brainstorming are intertwined aspects that anyone writing an academic paper should not skip. Research provides relevant materials that provide diverse information concerning the topic.

When writing an exemplification essay, you need many pieces of evidence t to support your topic; the evidence can be retrieved from the researched material. A thorough research will provide you with sources that are critical in explaining controversial issues concerning your chosen topic. However, when undertaking your research, you should evaluate the validity of your materials to ensure that the evidence provided in your exemplification essay is compelling. You should consider reputable education websites, scientific journals, non-fiction books, news agencies, and newspapers to write an exemplification essay.

With the topic and research, you can brainstorm ideas to include in your essay. You should think of the points supporting the theme and the angle you want to handle the topic. As you do this, list down the ideas and thoughts. During this period, you will realize that you will develop your stance, which will also inform your thesis statement.

3. Select appropriate examples

After researching, brainstorming, and coming up with credible sources, the next step is to read the sources and the evidence that supports your topic. Remember that your facts, statistics, and examples should be applicable and interesting to your readers. Besides, you should only select the relevant examples to your topic and those that provide concrete evidence that attracts your readers' attention.

Appropriate examples are fundamental in writing exemplification content, demonstrating an understanding of the topic that appeals to your readers. Beginning from your ideas can help shape the scope of your content. And the fact that you have researched and taken notes will help you spot good examples that can help to prove your thesis.

4. Develop an outline

As mentioned earlier, planning your writing will enable you to write your exemplification essay easily. As a writer of an exemplification essay, it is significant to make your outline. There is no universal outline of writing an exemplification essay. However, it depends on an individual thesis statement and how they connect their evidence in a logical format and establish smooth transitions.

We recommend that you should use a five-paragraph structure. The first paragraph should entail an introduction, and the last paragraph should be the conclusion, and the three paragraphs form the main body of your exemplification essay as outlined below:

5. Write the body of your essay

The body is the fundamental part of your exemplification essay, to begin with. Every paragraph of your essay should include topic sentences, transition, and evidence regarding statistics, facts, or examples.

The body of your exemplification is where you will express your viewpoint and provide concrete evidence to prove your points. As a student, you should make sure every point expressed in the body of your essay is well framed from the sources you researched before. The body of your exemplification is the main part that can reveal to the reader that you are well-conversant with your topic.

Related Read: How to format a paragraph the right way.

6. Write your introduction

Your essay introduction serves three purposes: interest, attract, and prepare your readers. Your first sentence in the introduction should hook your readers. Your essay introduction should include unbelievable statistics, rhetorical questions, or a bold statement that attracts your readers' attention.

You should ensure that you provide background information concerning the topic. In this manner, your readers will gain confidence when reading your essay. You should write your thesis statement as you wind up your essay introduction. You should ensure that your thesis statement reflects the framework of the entire essay and should comprise relevant examples.

7. Write the conclusion

The conclusion will enable you to summarize the points you discussed in your exemplification essay, forming 10% of your entire essay. As a writer, you should paraphrase the essay thesis statement to remind the readers what it entails. Moreover, briefly reinstate each point explained in each paragraph to remind them of the evidence you used in your essay. Finally, end your essay by producing a concluding sentence. Your concluding sentence should be well-defined in a way that your readers comprehend. Your concluding sentence should satisfy your audience's need for completeness.

The conclusion is an integral part of an exemplification essay because it demonstrates that your essay has come to an end and consists of the concluding sentence that makes the essay mark completeness of the essay.

8. Take a break and rest

After writing your conclusion, you should take a short break to rest your brain before proceeding to the next steps. The short break can involve going for a short walk, drinking tea, or baking a cake.

Taking a break as a writer will enable you to regain your concentration, which is vital in the next step of your exemplification essay writing.

9. Proofreading and editing

Proofreading and editing form an integral part of exemplification essay writing. As an essay writer, you should consider this step because it enables you to review your essay, detect the weak sections, and replace them. Read your essay and correct the grammar and spelling mistakes and correct them.

Read your draft once more and analyze whether it seems perfect and in case it is not perfect. Repeat the whole process to bring your essay to perfection.

10. Get your essay feedback

Getting your readers' opinions concerning your essay is vital in improving some of your weaknesses. Critics concerning your essay will enable you to develop and eliminate the mistakes when you write your following essay. Therefore, it is crucial for you as a writer to consider the criticisms and improve on them. Additionally, positive feedback will motivate you based on your strengths and will embrace your writing potential.

As a writer, you do not have to regard every recommendation your readers suggest. However, considering a fresh perspective is significant in assisting you in sharpening your essay writing skills.

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Organizing Ideas in an Exemplification Essay

Like any other essay, an exemplification essay must have proper organization. It is an aspect that your professors will most likely be assessed, and you need to get it right from the onset. You must have both sentence and paragraph-level organization.

You can take a chronological order approach where you narrate the text and provide examples from the beginning to the end. You can also choose to use the ascending or descending order approach, where you present the ideas without considering the order and time but considering the superiority of the examples. In both cases, the significance of the claims and examples and the degree of these claims is more important.

The structure of an exemplification essay

Exemplification essay structure comprises an introduction, the body of the essay, and the conclusion.

Introduction

As mentioned in the steps of writing an exemplification essay, the introduction of your essay includes a strong thesis statement that your readers follow. This is because the introduction forms one of the main structures of the exemplification essay.

Although there is no single good way to begin an exemplification essay, you can begin your introduction with encodes, statements of common facts, statistical statements, or quotes to hook your readers. The introduction also comprises background information concerning the topic. For effectiveness, ensure that it commences from a broad point of view as it narrows down to the thesis statement.

The thesis statement is integral to the introduction because it informs your reader about what will be discussed in your essay in the next paragraphs. It introduces the points that will be explained in the whole essay. The introduction is the b basic part of the essay and the first paragraph of your exemplification essay. 

Like any other essay, exemplification writing follows the basic principles of writing an introduction, including an introduction statement, background information, and thesis statement. You should remember that a great opening for an essay, not just for the exemplification essay, guarantees that you will sweep your readers off the ground the very first time they set their eyes in the first paragraph of the essay.

Body

The body of your essay should consist of arguments, ideas, brief examples, and details. Your exemplification essay's body should contain information supporting your topic. As an essay writer, you need to use information and arguments that assist your thesis in sounding coherent and deep to your audience.

After considering your audience and undertaking proper research for facts, examples, points, and arguments, you need to classify them by influence and importance in connection to your thesis. You should highlight your strongest facts in the first paragraph of the body of your exemplification essay. You can continue presenting your evidence and examples to prove your thesis. However, sometimes you can apply a story to justify your points. You should not forget to apply transition sentences between the body paragraphs of your exemplification essay.

 Each of your essay body paragraphs should contain different points supported with examples, evidence, statistics, and facts you have retrieved from your research. Each paragraph should consist of topic sentences, evidence that supports the point introduced in the topic sentence, and a concluding sentence that summarizes the paragraph. Body paragraph forms the basic structure of an exemplification essay. As an essay writer, you should ensure that your points are well elaborated with efficient examples and evidence that support the topic of your essay.

Conclusion

The conclusion is one of the basic structures of an exemplification essay. As stated earlier, the conclusion plays several roles, such as restatement of the thesis statement, providing a summary of the points discussed in the body paragraph, and providing a conclusion statement that gives the readers the feeling of completeness.   Your conclusion should be free from statistics and facts. You can link the last paragraph with the first paragraph of your essay body by restating certain phrases and words. You can also apply quotations or references to add additional cogency. 

It is important to note that when you write the conclusion of your exemplification essay, you should strengthen its thesis and avoid a simple summary.

Basic Outline of an Exemplification or Illustration Essay

When writing an exemplification essay, you should remember to use appropriate evidence to support your topic and controlling idea. Therefore, ensure that you assess how many examples and evidence you might need to elaborate your points. The extent depends on the topic's complexity and the knowledge your audience has on the subject.

Introduction (Paragraph 1)

Body Paragraph 1

Body Paragraph 2

Body Paragraph 3

Conclusion

Some of the transition words and phrases that you can use in an exemplification or illustration essay include: for example, for instance, thus, to illustrate, in other words, to put it better, namely, as such, particularly, specifically, such as, and in other words.

Dos ad Don�ts when writing an exemplification essay

Like any other essay, an exemplification essay also has several dos and don'ts that you should consider as a student. The following dos and don'ts discussed will enable you to write an exemplary piece of an exemplification essay.

DOs

  1. DO provide yourself time.

Providing yourself with enough time when writing an exemplification essay is critical in ensuring that you have sufficient time of writing your essay step by step. Little time may affect the quality of your essay because you will be rushing to complete it without considering what is required.

  1. DO be honest

Honesty is one of the integral values in essay writing. As an exemplification essay writer, you should ensure that you are honest in your writings. You should write your exemplification essay personally and justify the sources you use based on your research. 

  1. DO adhere to your topic

As an exemplification essay writer, you should ensure that you provide relevant points to your topic. Irrelevancy is one of the aspects that affect many essays. Becoming irrelevant can discourage your readers from reading your essay.

  1. DO take short breaks

Taking a break is necessary especially when writing an exemplification essay; writing involves starts and fits. In case you feel that you are making a good move. Then you can proceed. However, when you feel stuck, then you can take a short nap, exercise, or move around. We recommended that you take short breaks when writing your exemplification essay to regress your concentration.

  1. DO be descriptive

The description is one of the tenets of essay writing. Just like any other essay, an exemplification essay involves the application of dynamic nouns and active verbs to explain several points in the essay.  Being descriptive will ensure that your exemplification essay is well-composed and concise.

DONTs

  1. DON�T overuse idioms or use clinches

Expert exemplification essay writers recommend that you should not use cinches or overuse idioms when writing your essay. You should delete unnecessary phrasal verbs and idioms in your essay

  1. DON�T plagiarize your essay

Plagiarism is one of the aspects that reduce the integrity of your work. It involves using somebody�s work without proper citing. To avoid being accused of plagiarism, you need to thoroughly paraphrase the sources you researched and cite the sources as required.

  1. DON�T write a resume in an exemplification essay form

Narratively writing the essay will prevent your essay from serving its intended purpose. As an essay writer, you should remember that an exemplification essay demands facts, evidence, and examples to fulfill its purpose. Writing this type of essay as a resume can affect its validity and discourage readers.

  1. DON�T completely emphasize

Exemplification essays only need examples, facts, and evidence to justify the validity of the points explained in the essay. Stressing the points does not make the points consider ideal in the absence of concrete evidence. As an assay exemplification writer, you should get your facts and evidence right before beginning your essay. Stressing out your points in the essay cannot prove your relevance to the topic of your essay.

  1. DON�T depend on spellcheck

Even though automatic programs such as Microsoft tools are important tools that can be used in spell checking, they are not infallible. Many mistakes can be detected when you do not proofread and edit your essay. Therefore, as an essay writer, it is vital to reread your essay to check any spelling mistakes before submission.

How to pick a good exemplification essay topic

In some cases, you may be allowed to choose an exemplification essay topic that best suits your interest. The following are some of the ideas that you can apply to select a topic that will make your paper fantastic.

Exemplification essay topics

Many students ask about the best exemplification topics. However, a good exemplification topic depends on you. All of us are different in hobbies and interests, however, there are numerous exemplification essay topics that we have provided that you can choose as a student.

Simple exemplification essay topics

Good exemplification essay topics

Common exemplification essay topics

Exemplification essay topics for college students

Summing up!

Although this guide is detailed enough, it is possible to experience fear when writing your first exemplification essay. We advise that you keep practicing. And if it is an essay whose deadline is far away, write down an essay plan and consult with your professor.

We envision a situation when you have your ideas but you are not so confident. If that is the case, there are many ways to get started with an essay when you don�t feel like it. Alternatively, you can go ahead and write your essay following our guide. After you are done, let a friend, professional proofreader, or your instructor read it and advise on the areas to adjust before you submit it for grading and feedback.

We also have great writers whom you can hire to write a great sample exemplification essay for you. You can then use the example to craft yours from scratch. And since they are custom written, you are guaranteed that they will be 100% unique.

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