Expository Writing to explain. Expository Here are some more examples of expository!
Expository Writing
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5/10/2013 1 EXPOSITORY WRITING English 521 Expository Writing The function of the expository essay is to explain, or to acquaint your reader with a body of knowledge. By explaining a topic to the reader, you are demonstrating your own knowledge. EXPLAIN, DESCRIBE, GIVE INFORMATION OR INFORM The creator of an expository text CAN NOT assume that the reader or listener has prior knowledge or prior understanding of the topic that is being discussed. Expository Writing One important point to keep in mind for the author is to try to use words that clearly show what he/she is talking about. Since clarity requires strong organization, one of the most important mechanisms that can be used to improve our skills in exposition is to provide directions to improve the organization of the text. METHODS OF ORGANIZATION The Expository Essay Chronological Order Paragraphs separate the process or series of events into major stages. Classification Paragraphs divide the material into major categories and distinguish between them. ‘The Truth About Lying’ in Echoes 11 is an example of a classification essay.
Transcript of Expository Writing
5/10/2013
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EXPOSITORY WRITING
English 521
Expository Writing
The function of the expository essay is to explain, or to acquaint your reader with a body of knowledge. By explaining a topic to the reader, you are demonstrating your own knowledge.
EXPLAIN, DESCRIBE, GIVE INFORMATION OR INFORM
The creator of an expository text CAN NOT assume that the reader or listener has prior knowledge or prior understanding of the topic that is being discussed.
Expository Writing
One important point to keep in mind for the author is to try to use words that clearly show what he/she is talking about.
Since clarity requires strong organization, one of the most important mechanisms that can be used to improve our skills in exposition is to provide directions to improve the organization of the text.
METHODS OF ORGANIZATION
The Expository Essay
Chronological Order
Paragraphs separate the process or series of events into major stages.
Classification
Paragraphs divide the material into major categories and distinguish between them.
‘The Truth About Lying’ in Echoes 11 is an example of a classification essay.
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Increasing Importance
Paragraphs are arranged so that the most important point comes last, thus building the essay's strength.
TOPICS AND THESIS
The Expository Essay
The Thesis
A good thesis statement will help organize your
essay and give it direction; it is the central idea around which the rest of the essay is built.
In order to better understand the success of a National Hockey League team such as the Toronto Maple Leafs, an examination of its history, its management, and its commitment to excellence is necessary.
Ideal Thesis Statements
The ideal thesis (like the topic itself) will be neither too broad nor too narrow for the compass of your essay. Clearly a 3000-word essay will have a more complex argument - and a more complex thesis - than an essay of 600 words.
One of the most common problems with essays is that they are based on a thesis that is too obvious to be worth arguing (called a TRUISM)
POSSIBLE THESIS STATEMENTS
The Expository Essay
Specific Topic
How commercials manipulate their audiences
OR
Problems in fighting the medieval fire-breathing dragon.
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A Thesis That is a Truism
Television Commercials attempt to sell their products to the largest possible audience.
OR
Fighting fire-breathing dragons was hell.
A Thesis That is Too Broad
Several tactics are used to entice consumers to buy the advertised product.
(This thesis is likely to produce an essay that is simply a shopping list of examples, dull both for the writer and reader)
OR
The flames of passion in courtly love claimed more knights' lives than all the fire-breathing dragons in medieval Europe."
(The topic is unwieldy because it involves two areas of research, courtly love and fire-breathing dragons)
A Sharper/Specific Thesis
Commercials sell their products by suggesting that those who buy them will instantly enter an ideal world where they are irresistibly attractive.
OR
Fewer knights would have been broiled in their armor if the medieval world had known of fire-extinguishers.
Perhaps Too Limited
Beer commercials are offensive.
OR
'Puff the Magic Dragon' is a sweet song.
Some Types of Expository Writing
Type of Essay Description Key Words
Description The author describes a topic by listing characteristics, features, and examples.
For example, characteristics are...
Sequence The author lists items or events in numerical or chronological order.
First, second, third, next, then, finally,
Comparison The author explains how two or more things are alike and/or how they are different.
Reasons why; if...then; as a result; therefore; because
Problem & Solution The author states a problem and lists one or more solutions for that problem. A variation of this pattern is the question-and-answer format in which the author poses a question and then answers it.
Problem is; dilemma is; puzzle is solved; question...answer
Some Expository Essay Types
To be read by the handsome and witty Coffin.
