I've already suggested that one of the best ways to develop an essay's content is to ask and answer interesting questions, especially questions about causes or effects or questions that ask about the significance of an issue ("so what" questions). But there's another way to develop content for an essay that can be equally productive. That technique is to examine a specific illustration in detail.

Let's return to the question we're trying to answer, "Why do people love violent entertainment?" To use the "specific illustration" technique, we'd pick a particular violent movie we liked and explain why we liked that movie. We'd try to focus on the reasons that were related, either directly or indirectly, to its use of violence. In other words, we'd focus on the gratifying aspects of the film that could not have been achieved if the film had been non-violent.

Students tend to be skeptical of this technique at first. A typical question might sound like this: "How can what I have to say about one particular movie apply to thousands of other movies that are like it in only one way?"

An important paradox is involved here. The better you appreciate this paradox, the better your writing will be. Here's the paradox: "The broader your topic, the less you'll find to say about it. The narrower your topic, the more you'll find to say about it."

You don't believe me? Here are some excerpts from an essay about one student's reaction to the movie "Independence Day." This isn't a perfect essay. Some of the points aren't completely clear. But let's work with it anyway. Compare this essay to the original one, "Why People Love Violent Entertainment." Which writer tells you something you didn't already know? Which one provokes you to think about why we love violent entertainment? Why?

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The movie "Independence Day" is one of the best examples of the modern American non-fictional adventure film. This movie has three major characteristics of Hollywood entertainment: people with great character, courage, and ingenuity; advanced technology used for good and evil; and a crisis demanding nothing less than saving the human race. People all over the world like to fantasize about aliens attacking the earth and they hope the earth survives, no matter what happens. In violent movies like "Independence Day" people use their advanced technology combined with their basic humanity to save the world from crisis. It's these three characteristics that make people want to watch a movie like "Independence Day".

"Independence Day" has the greatest examples of heroism. In this movie, the president, the cable repairman, and the pilot all have courage, a great personality, intelligence, and love for the earth, which they save from the alien's attack. No matter how bad the situation becomes, the main characters always have the last hidden key to avoiding the earth's destruction. This movie draws the audience in to feel as if they're a part of the movie. Moreover, this fact makes people continuously want to watch violent movies. This tactic is used by man movie makers as a way to help people escape from their monotonous lives. The characters in "Independence Day" epitomize the people we'd like to be. They're portrayed as people from all different social and income levels, and even different racial backgrounds, working harmoniously together to save planet earth. Presently, there's a lot of tension among people of different social, economic, and racial backgrounds. Seeing a movie that shows true unity gives the audience an inspirational message and the good feelings such messages provide…

Crisis is one of the main ingredients used by Hollywood filmmakers. In the finale, filmmakers always make the heroes save the human race in a chaotic situation. In this movie, the human race wants to prove their superiority to the other living beings of the universe by making the story so powerful that only humans can solve the problems…In the case of "Independence Day", the primary goal of the aliens is to take control of the earth and deplete all of earth's rich resources. This ultimately will wipe out the human race. Towards the end, it looks as if the aliens are going to win. However, the cable repairman thinks up a solution, to blow up the mother ship. In the end, of course, his plan succeeds and people of all different backgrounds have banded together to save the earth…

This movie truly illustrates the three characteristics of a great Hollywood film. This is why Americans love violent movies. A good message of "Independence Day" is that America is the nation who saves the world from the alien's attack. What American people liked is that America is shown as the leader of the world. However, it's a fantasy that only a crisis of this magnitude can bring everybody closer together.

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Some questions for discussion:

1. How useful is this model? Can you think of other movies that follow it? If so, does that surprise you? Why?
2. Can you think of some super-popular violent movies that follow a different or even an opposite model? Do they also deliver a different sort of message? What could we learn from contrasting different models and messages?
3. Critics of violent movies criticize the modern movie establishment for making "anti-social" entertainment. This commentary suggests that this is a gross misrepresentation of the nature of the problem. Could that be one reason why Hollywood filmmakers have difficulty understanding the criticism of their critics? What could be done to create greater understanding on all sides?
4. What's the problem with the last sentence of this essay? How would you fix that problem? (Hint: Remember the "so what" question.)
5. What ideas are still not adequately developed in this essay? What would you do to develop them?
6. Could you write a more effective essay by narrowing the topic even further? If so, what would be your approach?
7. A good investigation of a topic frequently raises more questions than it answers. This is not necessarily a flaw, but it can become a flaw if we feel the writer didn't understand the implications of his own train of thought. (See question # 4, above.) What are some of the implications of this essay? Does this writer seem to recognize them? If not, is that a problem for you as a reader? Explain.

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One final note: As these questions suggest, writing is a process, not a product. One reason why many students find writing difficult is that they have the wrong goal when they sit down to write. Too frequently, that goal is to get a product that's "good enough" for a certain grade as quickly as possible. Students who have that goal quickly become frustrated with an invitation to investigation, like the example on this syllabus. Frequently heard comments sound like these:

"But I thought you said my essay would be good enough if I gave a concrete example, and I gave one. So why are you asking me to go through the whole process again and ask more questions?"

"When can I stop doing this?"

"How specific do I have to be?"

"How many questions do I have to ask?"

"How many drafts do I have to write?"

Worst of all, they may ask the question that makes every teacher cringe: "How many pages does this have to be?"

I hope this reading and thinking exercise has helped to show why these questions are misguided.