Cause & Effect, Exemplification, Compare & Contrast

• Exemplification

  • provides concrete or authentic examples and illustrations in order to further clarify or explain the concept or main idea of the text
  • writer develops a general statement – the topic sentence, with one or more examples
  • illustrations through clear and specific examples help explain abstract idea and illuminate or clarify meaning in texts
• Signal Words for Exemplification

  1. after all
  2. for instance
  3. namely
  4. that is
  5. in short
  6. to illustrate
  7. as an example
  8. to clarify
  9. in other words
  10. put another way
  11. to be specific
  12. in particular
  13. specifically
  14. for example
  15. stated differently
  16. consider the following
• Exemplification

  • Spider Map Diagram

  
• Cause & Effect

  • explains why something happens and the results produced by a particular event or phenomenon
• Cause & Effect

  • Fishbone Diagram

  
• Guide Questions for Cause & Effect

  1. Why did it happen?
  2. What caused it?
  3. What does it cause?
  4. What are its effects?
  5. How is it related to something else?
• Signal Words for Cause

  1. as
  2. for
  3. since
  4. being that
  5. seeing that
  6. in as much as
  7. in that one reason
  8. because (of the fact)
  9. for the reason that
  10. due to (the fact that)
• Comparison & Contrast

  • organizes ideas by citing the similarities and differences of people, things, and events being discussed
  • can be done separately by describing only one item first followed by the second item and side-by-side discussing both items based on each point of comparison
• Signal Words for Comparing

  1. also
  2. equally
  3. in the same way
  4. in a similar fashion
  5. as
  6. like
  7. to compare
  8. similarly
  9. both
  10. in comparison
  11. likewise
• Signal Words for Contrasting

  1. but
  2. yet
  3. still
  4. even
  5. unlike
  6. though
  7. however
  8. whereas
  9. instead
  10. conversely
  11. in spite of
  12. counter to
  13. in contrast
  14. nonetheless
  15. although
  16. despite
  17. otherwise
  18. as opposed to
  19. on the other hand
  20. nevertheless
  21. the fact remains
  22. on the contrary
  23. in the meantime
  24. and yet
  25. even so