Reading a Definition Essay

Before you write your own definition essay, you should read and review an essay written by another student. You'll see how the student defines and explores a term using a variety of details. You'll also note how the writer's explanatory voice shows interest in the topic.

Reading a Student Model

Read the following definition essay, in which Julie explores the meaning of the word courage. Note how she catches the reader's attention and introduces the term and then develops paragraphs that explore the meaning and history of the word. Click on the side notes to see the different features of this definition essay.

Warm-Up for Definition Essays

Words let you think. When you don't have a word for something, you can't think very effectively about it. For example, you might think very little about the pencils you use, but having terms for different kinds of pencils can awaken your thinking:

• Hexie: a pencil with six flat sides
• Rounder: a pencil with a round bore
• Flatty: a carpenter's pencil, made not to break in a pocket and sharpened by whittling
• Dentcil: a pencil that has been chewed
• Penstub: a pencil that has been sharpened too many times; a golf pencil
• One-shot: a pencil with no eraser
• Mulligan: a pencil with a large eraser
• Fakecil: a pencil that won't sharpen correctly, with a tip of wood that doesn't write
• Lightsee: a #3 pencil that doesn't write darkly enough to be easily read
• Smudgie: a #1 pencil that writes like a crayon and smears
• Spock: a mechanical pencil
• Horseleg: an oversized pencil that doesn't fit in a sharpener

What Is a Definition Essay?

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A definition essay deeply explores the meaning of a term. It includes dictionary definitions (denotations), but goes far beyond, providing examples, etymology, synonyms, antonyms, and other details. Instead of defining the term narrowly, a definition essay seeks many connections and applies the term in many contexts.

The poet William Blake once noted that one could "see a world in a grain of sand," which is what you'll be doing when you write your definition essay. One interesting word, like a grain of sand, can lead you to many connections with the much wider world. To warm up your thinking, you can start by explaining a school-appropriate slang term to an older person.

Thinking About a Slang Term

Every generation has its own slang—words used in special ways that are generally not understood by people in the older generation. If you use a slang term in the presence of an older person, you may be asked what the term means. For example, the term "woke" in its modern slang usage has a very specific meaning:

Editing Dialogue

One key component of an effective narrative is dialogue—the words people say. Handling dialogue can be tricky.

When two or more people are having a conversation, start a new paragraph whenever you have a new speaker:

Note that a comma separates words like said or asked from the quoted material. A period separates a complete sentence from quoted material.

When one person speaks, or the spoken words are details included in a larger idea, you can embed them in the paragraph.

Place quotation marks before and after quoted material. When periods or commas follow quoted material, always put them inside the close quotation marks. When exclamation points or question marks follow quoted material, place them inside if they punctuate the quotation and outside if they punctuate the whole sentence. Note the correct punctuation in the following dialogue.

Revising for Pace

You can't go into great depth about everything that happened over a few months' time. The essay would turn into an endless novel. Imagine Jake's journey across the Great Plains if he reported every excruciating detail.

On the other hand, you can't tell an effective story if you just gloss over everything. Imagine Jake's whole personal essay rendered that way.

You need to dive into deep detail in an important moment and then provide a quick summary of other action before diving into detail again. Focus on significant events. The trip to the library, the trip to Goodwill—these changed the writer, while mile marker 193 in Kansas did not.

Writing the Beginning

The beginning of your essay has a number of jobs:

• Catch the reader's attention
• Introduce the character (yourself)
• Describe the setting (time and place)
• Create conflict

You can click on the side notes of this excerpt to see how the sample student essay does all of these things in a compact space:

This excerpt catches the reader's attention by creating an intriguing mood. You can experiment with other opening strategies.

1. Start in the middle of the action.

   A lump in my throat, I grabbed a script and took the stage in front of a theater filled with strangers. Old strangers. How did I wind up here?

2. Use interesting dialogue.

   "If you get cast in this show, you're going to have to swear. Onstage. Loudly."

3. Pose a fascinating question.

   Do caterpillars know what they are doing when they entomb themselves in a chrysalis, or do they just figure they've finally gone crazy? I felt slightly crazy when I buried myself in two months of rehearsals for On Golden Pond.

4. Make a startling statement.

   Sometimes guts are smarter than brains.

Reading a Personal Essay

You've probably written many personal narratives over the course of your schooling, but this may be your first personal essay. Instead of focusing on one brief event in your life, you will focus on a series of events over a longer period. As a result, you'll need to be selective about what events you report, and you'll need to tie them together so that they create a clear narrative arc. You can get a sense of how to do so by reading another student's personal essay.

Reading a Student Model

Read the following personal essay, in which Carson reflects on a winter of discontent and the surprising creative outlet that he discovered. Note how he zooms in to specific events with description and dialogue before zooming out with transition sentences to show the progress of time. Click on the side notes to see the different features of this personal essay.

Warm-Up for Personal Essays

What is your very first memory? Was it splashing in a bathtub with little plastic boats, or sharing a cookie with the kid who lived next door, or seeing a reindeer in a holiday parade? People say that your very first memory says a lot about who you are. Why? Because the experience meant something to you at the time and still means something to you now—since you've held onto it all these years.

In fact, the reason we can't remember our earliest years is that we hadn't yet begun to develop what psychologists call autobiographical memory. You probably learned to walk when you were very young but have no memory of it. That's because you didn't start to fashion a mental narrative of your life until you were about three years old. At that point, you started remembering experiences because they helped to explain who you are. Your very sense of self is tied to the memories you have and the stories you tell about them.

You can explore an especially important period in your life by writing a personal essay.

What Is a Personal Essay?

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A personal essay is a narrative about an important time in your life, showing how it shaped who you are. Instead of focusing on just one event, a personal essay relates a number of events over an extended time frame, weaving them together into a "story of you." It won't be enough just to put details in chronological order—first this happened . . . then that happened . . . and afterward this other thing. . . . Instead, you need to show the significance of each event and build them into a narrative arc. You'll learn how in the coming lessons. First, though, you can warm up by imagining you have a time machine.

Thinking About Your Past

In the book Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, chronic overachiever Hermione Granger uses a "time-turner" to jump back in time and attend a second class while her first self was busy studying in a different class. Now imagine that you have your own time-turner—but you won't be using it to attend classes.

Also, your time-turner works a bit differently. It takes you back to relive three months of your life. You don't watch yourself from the outside. You experience everything again, only this time with your memories of the future riding along. What time period would you choose? Why?

You can use a cluster to explore possible times. Think of "seasons of your life" (approximately three months) and write down at least three such time periods. Then explore each season by adding images, thoughts, actions, and sensations. Use this student cluster as inspiration:

Editing for Comma Usage

A comma creates a slight pause, gently separating the idea that comes before from the idea that comes after. This little separation help readers understand how words relate to each other. For example, a comma can show a reader how two or more adjectives work in front of a noun.

To Separate Equal Adjectives

Use a comma to separate two or more adjectives if they modify a noun in an equal way. Do not use a comma if the adjectives modify the noun in an unequal way.

How can you determine if adjectives are equal or unequal? Use one or both of these simple tests:

• If you can switch the order of the adjectives and they still sound right, they modify equally and need a comma.

  I have a challenging, difficult job.

• If the word and works between the adjectives, they modify equally and need a comma.

  I have a difficult and challenging job. I have a difficult, challenging job.

To Set Off Introductory Clauses and Phrases

Use a comma after an introductory clause or a long introductory phrase. The comma helps the reader know when the introduction is over and the main part of the sentence is beginning. If an introductory phrase is very short (three words or fewer), the comma is optional.