Speakers and writers often use an anecdote as an example of an
important point. Anecdotes are very, very short stories told to
make a point. The writers and speakers hope that associating their
point with a memorable story will make the point memorable, too.
Anecdotes are usually true stories about real people. They can
be personal stories told in first person by the person to whom
they happened. Or they can be third-person stories told by someone
who saw or read about the incident.
Anecdote characteristics
One of the best places to see an anecdote example is in the Reader's
Digest joke columns such as "Humor in Uniform."
Analysis of any one of items in those columns will reveal each
anecdote has a setting, characters, and action (a plot) just as
a novel does. Because the anecdote is so short, it cannot contains
any detail that is not necessary to making the point.
The bare-bones nature of anecdotes makes them very useful tool
for teaching correct use of narration. Writers are forced to select
only the details relevant to their point.
Call for anecdotes
Most students are not naturally good storytellers and many wouldn't
even think of using a story as an
example or illustration without prompting.
You can prompt students to provide an anecdote example by incorporating
that requirement within a writing prompt. However, you shouldn't
require anything so fancy until your students are writing competently
using the old standby expository
paragraph formula.
Using an anecdote requires a greater degree of writing skill
and creativity than following a formula. Most students can handle
it only if they already have a good understanding how to develop
paragraphs by traditional means.
How the requirement works
Requiring an anecdote example in the
development of a traditional five-paragraph essay....
Having to write only one little story as part of a bigger project
they know they can do provides students a sense of security at the
same time it challenges them to try something new.
Anecdotes within compositions
Using anecdotes as one supporting point within an expository essay
presents some challenges for inexperienced writers.
The first, of course, is choosing what to relate. The story
cannot be so long it swamps the essay or so short it doesn't make
its point clearly.
FYI: Students have much more difficulty relating personal anecdotes
than relating third person narratives.
Another challenge is to draw out the significance of the
anecdote without insulting the audience. Writers cannot just tell
the story any more than they can just present a statistic and hope
the readers figure out how it supports the thesis.
In teaching these writing skills, you cannot rely on a formula.
Each situation is unique and demands a unique response.
What you can (and should) do is draw students' attention to how
other writers use anecdotes. Make that part of your literacy
coaching.
You could also have students read anecdotes and then write a
sentence summarizing
the point. Again the Reader's Digest anecdotes might make
good practice material.
Another third major challenge, especially for students who crave
the security of rules for writing, is how to paragraph the anecdote.
The rules of grammar may call for the anecdote to be a couple
of short paragraphs. That can freak out students who believe a
five paragraph
essay has to have exactly five paragraphs each of which has
exactly X sentences. Teaching the five
paragraph essay as a way of thinking about a topic helps avoid
that problem.
Using an anecdote
is one of several alternatives to standard expository paragraph
development writer can use. Others are:
