Writing Guide Section 2: Developing Ideas

Guide to Writing and Research

Section 2: Strategies for developing ideas

Ideas can be developed in many different ways. Here are some possibilities:

Examples and Illustrations

This is probably the most commonly used method of development, providing concrete scenarios in which the ideas in question are applied.

Narrative

This is used much less often than examples and illustrations, but is closely related and functions in much the same way. A narrative is really just a more elaborate example, giving the reader a full context for the ideas being communicated.

Description

A description provides vivid detail about the subject, appealing to the senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch. in some way.

Instructions about a Process

An idea might be developed by providing detailed information about how a given activity is carried out. This gives the reader a more vivid concept of what is involved, and is appropriate where the reader either has to be able to do the thing, or would understand the point better if s/he understood how the thing is done.

Comparison/contrast

Comparison is used often to clarify the qualities of a thing or idea. Sometimes, it is easiest to explain what something is by talking about other things that are similar, and describing how the subject differs from other things.   A thorough comparison discusses both differences and similarities.

Analogy

An analogy is similar to comparison, but the things that are being discussed usually have little in common on a superficial level. An analogy links ideas that are further removed from each other, and requires more abstract thinking than a simple comparison, which deals with things that have more obvious similarities.

Example:   one might compare the behavior of ants and termites, but one could create an analogy between the social behavior of ants and humans as follows:

Ants act very much like humans in that they:

Farm fungi

Raise aphids as livestock

Go to war with armies of soldiers

Use chemical sprays to confuse enemies

Capture slaves

Exchange information with one another

Cause and effect

Establishing that one thing has a causal relationship with another is a very important tool in academic writing, especially in the natural sciences and the social sciences. A causal relationship must be distinguished from a mere correlation. Things might tend to occur together, but not have a causal relationship with one another.

Classification and division

Classification of information is an essential step in analysis.   What is most important is to be very conscious of the classifications that are operating in a given situation, because the classifications often determine the structure of the ideas.

Classification is the process of grouping ideas in categories, with similar ideas or things grouped together and different ideas or things placed in different categories.   Cultural values influence classification systems, and groupings that seem almost self-evident to one group of people may be entirely foreign to another. For example, the traditional Hopi classification of animals would consider rabbits, pronghorn antelope, and deer closely related because they are herbivores, they move with a loping motion, they startle easily and run away at high speed, and provide food to humans. This classification is very different than the taxonomy of modern zoology.

Definition

Definition is often used to introduce a subject, and can be a very effective way to introduce a discussion of a subject. Providing a definition also helps in the process of classification and division by identifying the critical features of the thing being discussed.