4.6  Methods of Development: Defining by Listing Key Features

There are many thousands of kinds of sea creatures. What would you say makes a shark a shark and not an octopus or tuna or sea horse or shrimp? In your mind, what are the key features?

If you say a shark swims and has gills and fins and teeth, you haven't really shown how it differs from many other sea creatures that are nothing like sharks. Suppose you say that a shark swims very, very fast and has a large triangular fin that sticks out of the water. When people see such a fin in the water, they scream shark and in seconds there are no swimmers in the water. A shark has several rows of large, razor-sharp teeth, and is a fearsome eating machine that might attack and eat anything in the water. You're getting closer to what a shark is.

Notice that the details get you closer to an effective description.

Activity: Defining by Key Features

Now, you try defining your school building by listing key what makes it your school and not just any school. For example, if you have a heating system, that isn't specific enough to be a key feature of your building. If the heating system blows up at least twice every winter and you have to clear the school, that's a key feature.

1.	Your prewriting will be listing school features you might possibly use, and then narrowing down the list to really key features.
2.	Draft by writing a paragraph that tells how these features make this school different.

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