Example for Grade 6: Explanatory – World's Fair - ID: 3329

In source #1 it states that, at the time the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair took place, the idea of a world’s fair was still relatively new. The event was meant to be a chance for participants to display the products of industry and innovation to the public. While the fairs that had preceded the 1893 event were exciting and anxiously awaited by the public, that year’s fair was a milestone.

In source #2 it states that, so many Athenians have seen the Fair, each looking through his own eyes, that I approach the task of writing out an impression with a sense of hesitation, realizing that I am inviting criticism from those who looked at things through spectacles different from mine. However, I shall give you a few notes taken from a list o wonderful things I saw at the fair.

In source #3 it states that, we take for granted today how easily we can snitch on the lights when we get home. But in 1893, few private homes had electric lights. The streets of most American cities were lit by gas lamps—if at all. Thomas A. Edison had painted the incandescent light bulb only 13 years earlier, in 1880.Two years later, electric lights went on in a small section of New York City.

In source #4 it states that, there are a couple of answers, one in the background and one very much in the foreground. The less obvious answer would be that it was an effect of the Industrial Revolution. The much more simple answer was that it was caused, indirectly, by the Chicago fire, which had taken place 22 years ago. But then the questions become: how could a fire have caused an event to be so splendid?