Exemplification Paper- Reflection

            We were first introduced to exemplification in class when we read the short pieces “Red, White, and Beer” by Dave Barry, and “English Is a Crazy Language” by Richard Lederer.  The different writing strategies introduced in these pieces that I tried to incorporate in my own were facts, events, details, observations, people, and other kinds of specific items.

            It took me some time before I came up with my topic: coincidences.  I think it came to me when I was talking to someone about a crazy coincidence that had recently happened to me.  I thought that the topic was perfect because everyone can relate to it, and there are many examples in history of coincidences and also many stories in my own life. 

            It was really easy for me to write this paper because the topic really intrigued me.  I leaned so much as I was researching the many coincidences in history, that I ended up with a long list of examples.  From the great examples that I found, I was able to place the coincidences into four categories: coincidences with people, events, numbers, and nature.  This helped me to organize the paper and allow the categories to flow from one to the next.

            I think that I ended up with a really great first draft because I spent a lot of time researching the topic and making sure that I had enough exaples.  Ms. Basko agreed that I had a nice first draft with a variety of examples, but thought that one or two more would really help to make the argument stronger. 

            After fixing some other grammatical errors that Ms. Basko edited, I added in another example after paragraph three.  I’m really glad that she made the suggestion to add another example, because by adding another example, I gained more knowledge of another coincidence in history, and so will the reader of my final paper.  I wrote about the striking similarities between Morgan Robertson’s book, The Wreck of the Titan, and the story of the Titanic.

            I thought that adding another example really did help to make my final draft stronger.  This was my favorite paper to write because I learned so much through researching the topic and was able to apply many of the strategies used in exemplification, such as details, events, and people.