Essay Development

Directions: This activity will help familiarize you with how professional writers develop their essays. Visit any or all of the following sites and locate an essay that interests you.

The New York Times Magazine

The Atlantic Monthly

Harper's

Salon Magazine

New Scientist

The Smithsonian

Activity 1: Identifying Patterns

Now consider the different patterns of essay development:

• Description
• Narration
• Exposition
  • Examples
  • Comparison and contrast
  • Process
  • Definition
  • Cause and Effect
  • Division and classification
• Argumentation

Which predominant pattern of essay development has the writer you've chosen employed? Are additional patterns involved as well? How would changing the predominant pattern change the essay?

Activity 2: Identifying Approach

Directions: Take another look at the essay you've chosen above. Which approach did the author take? Is the essay written in the first-person, the second-person, or the third-person approach? Why do you think the author made the choice that he or she did? How would the essay change if the approach changed?