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Composition 05a: Methods of Development

Published: Thursday, 18 July 2019 19:31 | Written by Matthew Hill | Hits: 2261

 

Methods of Development: Building Your Discussion

 

Development happens differently in different pieces of writing. As a writer, you must often make choices as to which kinds of development strategies are best for your particular writing task.  

 

In most cases, the length and purpose of a piece of writing factor into the development decisions you make.  The piece of writing above was a simple narrative paragraph, which required more descriptive details and some additional background information, in the form of a couple of additional sentences.  Longer pieces of writing, like essays, might require entire paragraphs dedicated to different aspects of development.   An essay arguing a particular position on gun control, for example, might devote a paragraph to describing current trends in gun violence in America’s inner cities and then provide two paragraphs narrating or telling the story of different efforts at controlling the flow of guns into urban communities.  

 

The following sections outline some different strategies for developing your writing.  Use them in conjunction with the major modes of discourse that we have discussed before—Narration, Exposition, Compare-Contrast, Argument, and Writing Process Analysis—to provide depth, detail, and evidence for your writing. 

 

Some of the most common and useful methods of development are:

 

 

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