I think it’s not an “either/or” situation. Examples help to understand the issue (understanding the summary requires that writer’s and reader’s maps are sufficiently similar), to remember it better, and help to think about one’s own life (if the example is good). And yes, a bad example is bad, and a long example is inherently bad, unless author has great storytelling talent.
I think it’s not an “either/or” situation. Examples help to understand the issue (understanding the summary requires that writer’s and reader’s maps are sufficiently similar), to remember it better, and help to think about one’s own life (if the example is good). And yes, a bad example is bad, and a long example is inherently bad, unless author has great storytelling talent.