Information collection & exchange

 
Robert 
responsibility. 
[Joy M. Reid. The Process of Composition. Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1988. Reprinted by permission of Prentice-
Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.] 
N
activity. There is no single correct answer to an exercise such as this. Students can compare their results 
and discuss the differences. 
Students need help in organizing their paragraphs and longer essays into coherent patterns of discourse. 
The following is an exercise which points up the need when writing a narrative to put events in a 
chronological order. 
1. Issue a muddled picture sequence to Group A. Tell them to put the pictures in the correct order. 
3. Call Group A to the front of the room. Tell them to hold up their pictures in the order they have decided 
upon. Ask Group B whether the pictu
John
Age
Physical appearance 
Way of dressing 
Occupation
Favorite pastime 

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3. Now the procedure is reversed. The students are given a second table already filled in. Using the data 
in the table, and following the model of the essay about the brothers, they write their own comparison and 
contrast essay about two young girls. 
 
Marie 
Ruth
Age
12
12 
Physical appearance
short, chubby
tall, thin 
Way of dressing
neat, feminine
careless, casual 
Performance in school
star pupil
indifferent student 
Favorite pastime
reading alone
playing with friends 
The type of text which may be taught by using the analysis of models ranges from personal and business 
letters, through various types of expository paragraphs, to longer texts such as critical reviews and 
descriptions of laboratory experiments. In the following example, the technique is applied to a paragraph of 
description. 
First the students see a model paragraph.