Writers may give specific examples as evidence to support their general claims or arguments. Examples can also be used to help the reader or listener understand unfamiliar or difficult concepts, and they tend to be easier to remember. For this reason, they are often used in teaching. Finally, students may be required to give examples in their work to demonstrate that they have understood a complex problem or concept.

Many paragraphs in academic writing show development from general statements to specific details or examples. In most paragraphs, therefore, examples usually come after a more general statement, as in the short extract below.

Many words can often acquire a more narrow meaning over time, or may come to be chiefly used in one special sense. A classic example of this practice is the word doctor. There were doctors (i.e., learned men) in theology, law, and many other fields beside medicine, but nowadays when we send for the doctor we mean a member of only one profession.

For example / instance, the word doctor used to mean a learned man.

For example, Smith and Jones (2004) conducted a series of semi-structured interviews in ......

By way of illustration, Smith (2003) shows how the data for .....

A classic / well-known example of this is .......

An example of this is the study carried out by Smith (2004) in which .......

X is a good example / illustration of .......

X illustrates this point / shows this point clearly.

This can be illustrated briefly by .......

Young people begin smoking for a variety of reasons. They may, for example, be influenced by their peers, or they may see their parents as role models.

The evidence of X can be clearly seen in the case of..…

Another example of what is meant by X is ......

Diseases that can result at least in part from stress include arthritis, asthma, migrane, headaches and ulcers.

Young people begin smoking for a variety of reasons, such as pressure from peers and the role model of parents.

Pavlov found that if some other stimulus, for example the ringing of a bell, preceded the food, the dog would start salivating.

In Paris, Gassendi kept in close contact with many other prominent scholars such as Kepler, Galileo, Hobbes, and Descartes.

The prices of resources, such as copper, iron ore, oil, coal and aluminium, have declined in real terms over the past 20 years.

Many diseases can result at least in part from stress, including: arthritis, asthma, migrane, headaches and ulcers.