Example and Illustration

The essays below provide multiple examples to make (illustrate) their points. You can learn to write a good example/illustration essay from these websites:

All writers in this collection speak for themselves—and themselves alone.

A visual representation of this collection exists on Pinterest.


A Box of Puppies

Lena Dunham, creator and star of the HBO series Girls, chronicles the dogs that she has pursued as pets.

Example & Illustration • Humans & Their Animals • First Person • Discussion Questions & Writing Prompts • Connect with Author


Even the Gorillas and Bears in Our Zoos Are Hooked on Prozac

Author Laurel Braitman explains that zoo veterinarians often treat problem animal behavior with the same drugs used in human mental health care.

Example & Illustration • Humans & Their Animals • Third Person • Discussion Questions & Writing Prompts • Connect with Author


Fruitful Questions: Sometimes, Things Aren't as Different as They Seem

Freelance author James Sollisch explains the nature of critical thinking by giving examples of people who shifted old paradigms.

Example & Illustration • School Life • First Person • Discussion Questions & Writing Prompts


Rise and Shine: What Kids Around the World Eat for Breakfast

See what the rest of the world feeds its children. Hint: it's not Pop-Tarts.

Example & Illustration • Times & Places • Mixed Person • Discussion Questions & Writing Prompts • Connect with Author


A San Francisco Restaurant Has Stepped up to the Plate to Wage War on Yelp

Writer Stacey Ritzen explains how one person took back power from online bullies.

Example & Illustration • Modern Challenges • Mixed Person • Discussion Questions & Writing Prompts • Connect with Author


Ten Things Every College Professor Hates

Students often do not know what it means to be professional with their professors. In this essay, sociologist Lisa Wade gives examples of improper classroom behaviors and then explains why they are inappropriate.

Example & Illustration • School Life • Mixed Person • Discussion Questions & Writing Prompts • Connect with Author


Why Adverbs, Maligned by Many, Flourish in the American Legal System

Jacob Gershman, who covers law for the Wall Street Journal, explains how a single adverb can change a court's interpretation of the law.

This essay is now behind the Wall Street Journal paywall. You must access it through Global Newsstream. Sign in to Atlas and click Search the Library (top left) to access this database.

Example & Illustration • Language & Writing • Third Person • Discussion Questions & Writing Prompts • Connect with Author


Wild Obsession: The Perilous Attraction of Owning Exotic Pets

Lauren Slater of National Geographic details the problems that exotic pets have caused their owners.

Example & Illustration • Humans & Their Animals • Third Person • Discussion Questions & Writing Prompts • Connect with Author


Yes, Animals Were Harmed: 21 Films and TV Shows That Killed or Hurt Animals

The staff of the AV Club list twenty-one examples of filmed entertainment (from the early twentieth century to the present) in which animals accidentally or intentionally came to harm.

Example & Illustration • Humans & Their Animals • Third Person • Discussion Questions & Writing Prompts


You Are Ready to Find Her

In the process of giving up her child for adoption, Leigh Anne Tani reflects on her own adoption into a family.

Example & Illustration • Love & Relationships • First Person • Discussion Questions & Writing Prompts