How to Communicate Information

1. Define
2. Describe
3. Demonstrate
4. Explain

Define

• Operational definition
  • The Electoral College is a system of voting for the U.S. presidency that includes 538 electors representing the states.
• Definition by negation
  • The Electoral College is not a place but a process.
• Definition by example
  • Electors include elected officials, state party leaders, or people in the state who have a personal or political affiliation with their party’s presidential candidate.
• Definition by analogy
  • The Electoral College is like the World Series in baseball.
• Definition by word origin
  • The word elector derives from the Latin eligere, “to choose or pick out.”

Describe

• Use concrete words and vivid imagery. See Using Language.

Explain

• See Strategies for Explaining Complex Ideas.
• Use Analogies to build on prior knowledge.
• Appeal to different Learning Styles.
• Arrange points in a pattern.