Using Examples To Support Written Statements In The Humanities
In most kinds of formal writing, it is important to support broad statements with specific examples. If your writing includes numerous unsupported claims, it may seem ill-informed or hastily prepared. Appropriate use of examples to support your argument, in contrast, will make your writing more persuasive and can lead to better marks for essays. Depending on the subject of the text, examples may take many forms, including written text, quotations, diagrams, graphs, pictures, music or other illustrations. These activities focus on the use of written text to support general statements.
In these activities you will identify when examples are being used to add weight to statements and you will practise selecting appropriate examples yourself.
Activity 1: Identifying exemplification
There are three texts below, each of which contains statements supported by examples. The information added by these examples lends more weight and credibility to the statements.
Instruction
Identify any examples that have been used to support the general statement or statements in each extract. Highlight the entire example in each case and click on ‘Bold’. Highlight and click ‘Normal’ if you wish to change your choice. In each case, notice the particular linking phrases that have been used.
OnereasonT.S.Eliot’s’TheWasteland’isregardedasanexemplarymodernisttextisbecauseofthewaythatitjuxtaposesfragmentaryallusionsfromtheEnglishliterarycanonwithreferencestomodernBritishcultureaftertheFirstWorldWar.In’AGameofChess’forexample,EliotcombinesthespeechofmembersoftheurbanworkingclassleavingapublichousewiththewordsofShakespeare’scharacterOpheliafromact4,scene1ofHamlet(‘Goodnight,ladies,goodnight,sweetladies,goodnight,goodnight’):
Youareaproperfool,Isaid.
Well,ifAlbertwon’tleaveyoualone,thereitis,Isaid,
Whatyougetmarriedforifyoudon’twantchildren?
HURRYUPPLEASEIT’STIME
Well,thatSundayAlbertwashome,theyhadahotgammon,
Andtheyaskedmeintodinner,togetthebeautyofithot-
HURRYUPPLEASEIT’STIME
HURRYUPPLEASEIT’STIME
GoonightBill.GoonightLou.GoonightMay.Goonight.
Tata.Goonight.Goonight.
Goodnight,ladies,goodnight,sweetladies,goodnight,goodnight.
NormalBoldShow feedbackHide feedbackOne reason T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Wasteland’ is regarded as an exemplary modernist text is because of the way that it juxtaposes fragmentary allusions from the English literary canon with references to modern British culture after the First World War. In ‘A Game of Chess’ for example, Eliot combines the speech of members of the urban working class leaving a public house with the words of Shakespeare’s character Ophelia from act 4, scene 1 of Hamlet (‘Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night’):
You are a proper fool, I said.
Well, if Albert won’t leave you alone, there it is, I said,
What you get married for if you don’t want children?
HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME
Well, that Sunday Albert was home, they had a hot gammon,
And they asked me in to dinner, to get the beauty of it hot-
HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME
HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME
Goonight Bill. Goonight Lou. Goonight May. Goonight.
Ta ta. Goonight. Goonight.
Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night.
In this text, an extract from Eliot’s poem ‘The Wasteland’ is quoted in full to exemplify the point that the writer is making. The linking phrase that has been used is: for example.
SymphonicwritingafterBeethovenfollowedtwoprincipaldirections.Theprogrammaticsymphony,exemplifiedbyHectorBerlioz’sSymphonieFantastique,incorporatedextramusicalelementsintothesymphonicnarrative.Incontrast,’absolute’music,suchasthesymphoniesofJohannesBrahms,wasregardedasmusicallyautonomousandfreefromexternalreference.
NormalBoldShow feedbackHide feedbackSymphonic writing after Beethoven followed two principal directions. The programmatic symphony, exemplified by Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, incorporated extramusical elements into the symphonic narrative. In contrast, ‘absolute’ music, such as the symphonies of Johannes Brahms, was regarded as musically autonomous and free from external reference.
In this text, a general statement about directions in symphonic writing is supported by further explanation and two examples. The linking phrases that have been used are: exemplified by and such as.
ItseemsthatthereismuchevidenceforcontinuityofIberiansettlementintotheRomanperiod,includingceramicmaterialsseenbothintheRepublicandEarlyEmpire.Nevertheless,thedistributionofurbansettlementsremainedmarkedlydifferentiated,perhapsinpartasafunctionoftheViaAugusta.SuchdifferentiationcouldbetracedbacktothepossibleprocessesbywhichIberiancommunitieswereintegratedintothepoliticalandeconomicstructureofRomanBaetica,forexamplethroughtraderegulation.OnemayarguethereforethatextantnetworksofcommunitiesbecamefocusedaroundkeyurbanareassuchasCarmoandUrso,withinterritoriesrelatingtovisualdominance.
NormalBoldShow feedbackHide feedbackIt seems that there is much evidence for continuity of Iberian settlement into the Roman period, including ceramic materials seen both in the Republic and Early Empire. Nevertheless, the distribution of urban settlements remained markedly differentiated, perhaps in part as a function of the Via Augusta. Such differentiation could be traced back to the possible processes by which Iberian communities were integrated into the political and economic structure of Roman Baetica, for example through trade regulation. One may argue therefore that extant networks of communities became focused around key urban areas such as Carmo and Urso, within territories relating to visual dominance.
Three examples are used as support for different points in this text. The linking phrases that have been used are: including, for example and such as.
If you would like to see a list of linking phrases that can be used to introduce examples, open the link below:
Linking phrases (pdf, 7KB). You may wish to print this document.
Activity 2: Supporting general statements
In this activity, you will identify appropriate examples from a text to support four general statements. You will also practise using appropriate words and phrases to introduce them.
Instruction
Read the following main text on opera. Then select suitable evidence from the main text to support each of the four statements above the textboxes that follow. Add a supporting statement, using your own words, by typing in each textbox.
Show helpHide helpTry to use appropriate ‘signposting’ language to indicate to the reader that you are providing supporting examples. For example, such as, to illustrate are all examples of such ‘signposting’ language.
An opera is a drama which combines soliloquy, dialogue, scenery, action, and continuous (or nearly continuous) music. Although the earliest works in the genre we now call opera date only from the very end of the sixteenth century, the association of music with drama goes back to ancient times. The choruses and some lyric speeches, at least, in the plays of Euripides and Sophocles were sung. The medieval liturgical dramas were sung, and music was used, albeit incidentally, in the religious mystery and miracle plays of the late Middle Ages. In the theatre of the Renaissance, where so many tragedies and comedies imitated or were inspired by Greek examples, choruses were sometimes sung, especially at the opening or the ending of an act; moreover, between acts of a comedy or tragedy, intermedi or intermezzi – interludes of pastoral, allegorical, or mythological character – were usually given; on important state occasions, such as the wedding of Grand Duke Ferdinando de’ Medici in Florence in 1589, these intermedi were spectacular and elaborate musical productions, with choruses, soloists and large instrumental ensembles.
(Grout and Palisca, 1996)
The use of music in dramatic productions had a long history before the Renaissance.
Show feedbackHide feedbackSupporting information for this statement could have been drawn from this section of the text:
The choruses and some lyric speeches, at least, in the plays of Euripides and Sophocles were sung. The medieval liturgical dramas were sung, and music was used, albeit incidentally, in the religious mystery and miracle plays of the late Middle Ages.
A good answer would be similar to the following:
In ancient Greek plays, for example, music accompanied chorus and lyric speeches, and in the Middle Ages, liturgical dramas and miracle plays employed music to varying extents.
Opera is, by its very nature, a multimedia event.
Show feedbackHide feedbackSupporting information for this statement could have been drawn from this section of the text:
An opera is a drama which combines soliloquy, dialogue, scenery, action, and continuous (or nearly continuous) music.
A good answer would be similar to the following:
It consists of speeches, music and the visual effects of action and scenery.
The audience in the Renaissance theatre was likely to be exposed to music at several points in the production.
Show feedbackHide feedbackSupporting information for this statement could have been drawn from this section of the text:
In the theatre of the Renaissance,…choruses were sometimes sung, especially at the opening or the ending of an act; moreover, between acts of comedy or tragedy, intermedi or intermezzi- interludes of pastoral, allegorical or mythological character – were usually given;…these intermedi were spectacular and elaborate musical productions.
A good answer would be similar to the following:
Not only were choruses in the drama itself occasionally sung, the acts of the plays were frequently separated with intermedi or interludes, whose musical content could be extensive.
The intermedi that were the forerunners of early opera were expensive to mount and reserved for the most significant public events.
Show feedbackHide feedbackSupporting examples for this statement could have been drawn from this section of the text:
On important state occasions, such as the wedding of Grand Duke Ferdinando de’ Medici in Florence in 1589, these intermedi were spectacular and elaborate musical productions, with choruses, soloists and large instrumental ensembles.
A good answer would be similar to the following:
Numerous musicians, including instrumentalists as well as solo and chorus singers, had to be employed for the production of the most expansive intermedi, such as those accompanying the wedding celebrations of Grand Duke Ferdinando de’ Medici in 1589.