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  • - [David] Hello, readers.

  • Today I wanna talk about examples

  • and how writers use them in informational text.

  • As writers, we employ examples

  • to help explain ideas.

  • And as readers, we use those examples

  • to grab hold of those ideas

  • and better understand them.

  • If I tell you that I have weird hobbies,

  • I need to back up that statement with some examples.

  • I need to illustrate just how weird they are.

  • So if I say my hobbies include going for walks,

  • reading books, and drinking tea,

  • those are very ordinary interests,

  • they're not weird at all.

  • Not a good example.

  • I need to be more selective

  • and better support my claim

  • that my hobbies are strange.

  • So instead, I could say my hobbies include puppeteering,

  • making bubble tea from scratch,

  • and learning to read Middle English.

  • Well, now we're getting somewhere, right?

  • Now you're starting to understand

  • just how much of a weirdo this David guy is.

  • What is the function of an example?

  • What does it do?

  • When you come across an example,

  • ask yourself, what purpose does this example serve?

  • Why did the author introduce this detail here?

  • How does this example connect to the text overall?

  • Does it form a pattern with other details?

  • And if so, what does that pattern tell me?

  • And finally we ask ourselves,

  • does this example raise other questions?

  • Let's look at a text and evaluate its examples.

  • Here's an excerpt from a piece

  • about the author J.M. Barrie,

  • the creator of "Peter Pan".

  • "Barrie didn't have just one version

  • "of the "Peter Pan" story,

  • "he made changes along the way.

  • "For example, he learned

  • "that children were copying Peter Pan

  • "and trying to jump out of their beds to fly.

  • "Some of them were getting badly injured!

  • "So Barrie added the rule that in order to fly,

  • "you had to have fairy or pixie dust

  • "blown on you first.

  • "By adding this rule,

  • "J.M. Barrie was trying to help children understand

  • "that flying is magical,

  • "so that they wouldn't try

  • to do it themselves and get hurt."

  • So the author is saying that J.M. Barrie changed "Peter Pan"

  • and then he gives an example of the change.

  • Let's zero in on that example

  • and ask those questions that we just went over.

  • So for this example,

  • what is its purpose?

  • Well, it does a couple of things.

  • It shows us that J.M. Barrie was willing

  • to make changes to his story

  • after it was initially published.

  • It shows us that the author wants to portray Barrie

  • as a responsible person.

  • He heard about children injuring themselves

  • by copying his story

  • and so he made an effort to prevent that

  • by changing a detail in the story.

  • It's also a pretty specific example that I can picture.

  • I can imagine kids jumping off of tall things

  • and getting hurt,

  • and Barrie feeling worried about that.

  • And because I can picture it,

  • I can better understand it,

  • which helps me better understand the overall text.

  • I only excerpted a small portion of this text.

  • So I'm not gonna ask how it connects to the text overall.

  • But this example does raise other questions for me,

  • like what other children's fiction

  • accidentally encourages people

  • to do dangerous stunts at home?

  • Like jumping off your bed?

  • Examples are really powerful!

  • They can shape a reader's impression of a topic.

  • As a writer, employ them tactically

  • to help develop someone's understanding.

  • Recognize that when a series of examples comes in sequence,

  • it tells a story,

  • and story is an incredibly powerful tool.

  • Use it responsibly.

  • As a reader, understand the power that examples have

  • and pay attention to how they're being used.

  • A well-chosen example or two

  • can create a false narrative.

  • As readers, we are engaged in a push and pull with writers,

  • especially when they are trying to convince us of something.

  • Make a writer work to convince you.

  • Read with a skeptical attitude.

  • And if you can do that, you can learn anything.

  • David, out.

- [David] Hello, readers.

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