The Ultimate Guide To Writing An Expository Essay
An expository essay is an essay directed to convey/explain a topic or information in a logical, unbiased, straightforward manner from writer to reader. This means the paper has to be written based on facts, logic and research without the writer’s emotions or opinion involved.
Expository essays can be a fun task for people who enjoy collecting and writing facts, but incredibly challenging for others who don’t. Either way, the expository essay isn’t as daunting as it sounds once you know your way around it. Which is why this ultimate guide is here to serve? The guide below is summarized and concise to help you get started.
- Pre-writing
- Understand that the standard expository essays commonly contains FIVE paragraphs consisting of
- The thesis/main idea
- when introducing main ideas, avoid assuming that your readers have prior understanding/knowledge to the topic
- think of what you will need to know to understand the body
- include the thesis statement
- Body
- the standard body usually contains THREE paragraphs
- begin each paragraph by introducing the main idea
- elaborate on the main idea by providing evidence (from cited quotes, researches,interviews, etc.) and details to support it
- sum up each main idea towards the end of the paragraph
- And a conclusion.
- to write a conclusion, first restate the thesis/topic
- tie the main ideas of each paragraph together
- State or suggest what should happen next, how the topic affected the readers/community/society/environment, and you can also include a call to action.
- You must first clearly understand the given topic/thesis.
- Be sure to pick a topic that you feel is narrow enough to fit into an essay structure.
- Once a topic is decided, begin brainstorming for ideas. Do some research, take notes of findings.
- The last step to take before you begin to write is to create an outline of how you want your information/findings to be presented.
- Making a draft
- When making a draft, be sure that your thesis and main ideas are conveyed without involving your opinion or feelings.
- Decide on a developmental pattern to be used:
- Definition
- Example
- Cause & Effect
- Classification
- Compare or Contrast
- Make sure each main ideas are carefully distributed into paragraphs.
- Be careful not to introduce new ideas in the same paragraphs.
- Write as a third person. Keep in mind expository essays discusses facts, situations events, etc. and not about a personal experience.
- Ensure your conclusion reinforced the thesis and main ideas.
- Re-checking
- Make sure what you’ve written gives an unbiased and fair analysis and contains relevant facts WITH examples.
- The information written is clearly conveyed to the reader.
- Be sure each paragraph contains ONE main idea.
- Proofread.
