ELABORATIONS
If you’ve ever found yourself having a conversation and then providing an example or a more detailed explanation of whatever you just said, then you have engaged in elaboration. Most writers do not say something just once—instead, they repeat themselves multiple times, changing the words and the sentence structure in order to help people to understand their points.
Overview:
When reading a text book or an instruction manual, most readers pause and think ‘huh?’ at least once or twice. The problem is not that the textbook is flawed (it might be, but not because it makes a student think!) Instead, the problem is that there is almost always some degree of interference. Complex subjects are difficult to understand on the first pass. Even well-written sentences sometimes need additional details added to them so that readers know exactly how to take them. As a result, good writers try to do two things that are a little contradictory: they try to avoid cluttering their writing with needless words and they try to add explanations (more words) to their writing in order to make it easier to understand.
Application:
Chances are that student writers will face a consistent challenge—page requirements. It is possible, certainly, to convey a minimum amount of information in a minimum number of words. Answering a question about when the Civil War happened is relatively straightforward. Answering the question about why it happened takes more effort.
Remember that the goal of many writing assignments is not the paper itself. It is the thought that goes into the paper. Therefore, just like a math teacher is going to ask students to show their work, so that the teacher knows both whether or not the students guessed and where any mistakes occurred, a teacher scoring a paper wants to know what led student writers to make the claims that they make. Student writers need to show their work by elaborating upon their thought process.
Additionally, however, many readers need to be convinced. Sometimes, this is going to involve a writer going into detail in order to explain the causes behind the Civil War. Other times, it might require that the student writer make sure to provide examples of times and places that other wars happened for comparison. Both cases of elaboration, however, involve the student thinking about the topic of the paper and then putting it into greater context. In this way, the need for elaboration explains those page requirements.
What to Avoid:
Don’t make the mistake of assuming that directly repeating a sentence and just using a thesaurus to change a few words is elaboration. Each new sentence needs to do something new. A follow-up can expand or narrow the scope of the previous one, or it can provide an example, or it can provide background on a subject. In any case, don’t assume that more words is elaboration if you don’t know what you are elaborating on.
If you’ve ever found yourself having a conversation and then providing an example or a more detailed explanation of whatever you just said, then you have engaged in elaboration. Most writers do not say something just once—instead, they repeat themselves multiple times, changing the words and the sentence structure in order to help people to understand their points.
Overview:
When reading a text book or an instruction manual, most readers pause and think ‘huh?’ at least once or twice. The problem is not that the textbook is flawed (it might be, but not because it makes a student think!) Instead, the problem is that there is almost always some degree of interference. Complex subjects are difficult to understand on the first pass. Even well-written sentences sometimes need additional details added to them so that readers know exactly how to take them. As a result, good writers try to do two things that are a little contradictory: they try to avoid cluttering their writing with needless words and they try to add explanations (more words) to their writing in order to make it easier to understand.
Application:
Chances are that student writers will face a consistent challenge—page requirements. It is possible, certainly, to convey a minimum amount of information in a minimum number of words. Answering a question about when the Civil War happened is relatively straightforward. Answering the question about why it happened takes more effort.
Remember that the goal of many writing assignments is not the paper itself. It is the thought that goes into the paper. Therefore, just like a math teacher is going to ask students to show their work, so that the teacher knows both whether or not the students guessed and where any mistakes occurred, a teacher scoring a paper wants to know what led student writers to make the claims that they make. Student writers need to show their work by elaborating upon their thought process.
Additionally, however, many readers need to be convinced. Sometimes, this is going to involve a writer going into detail in order to explain the causes behind the Civil War. Other times, it might require that the student writer make sure to provide examples of times and places that other wars happened for comparison. Both cases of elaboration, however, involve the student thinking about the topic of the paper and then putting it into greater context. In this way, the need for elaboration explains those page requirements.
What to Avoid:
Don’t make the mistake of assuming that directly repeating a sentence and just using a thesaurus to change a few words is elaboration. Each new sentence needs to do something new. A follow-up can expand or narrow the scope of the previous one, or it can provide an example, or it can provide background on a subject. In any case, don’t assume that more words is elaboration if you don’t know what you are elaborating on.
