How to Come up With a Good Expository Essay Structure
Expository essays are common in academic writing. This type of essay involves conceptualizing an idea, investigating and developing a conclusion. From this, writing an expository essay could be a daunting task if you do not understand important steps to take to complete such assignment. Knowing how to come up with a good expository essay structure is the most vital step is. With the correct structure, you will capture every aspect of the essay, including the introduction, body, and the conclusion.
The main aim of an expository essay is giving a logical and clear explanation of the subject matter. It presents a balanced analysis of an issue anchored on facts and devoid of your opinion and feelings. Oftentimes, an expository essay assignment will use words like define or explain. For example: ‘Write an essay explaining the effects of the First World War.’ Notice that this does not give you leeway to incorporate personal opinion. While this type of paper excludes opinions, you must have the right structure.
Guidelines on How to Come up With a Good Expository Essay
Unlike any other paper, writing an expository essay is a life skill. It is an example of a daily task for most careers. Therefore, understanding the writing process helps writers to master the structure of expository essays. In most cases, an expository essay has five paragraphs, including the introduction, three body paragraphs and the conclusion. Here are the steps of writing an expository essay:
Developing a Good Expository Essay Structure
When planning for research, knowing how to come up with a good expository essay structure is paramount. At this initial stage, define your purpose of writing the essay. Ask yourself why you are writing essay, noting down some of the reasons that come in mind. Also, try to visualize what you intend to do with your finished essay.
In case it is an assignment essay, understand the instructions and seek clarification from your instructor to clear doubts since professors use these guidelines during grading. For example, this sample essay, on Innovation, tells you how innovation differs from creativity.
A good structure allows you to organize ideas. Think about your reader and put their needs and expectations into consideration as you start writing. Note down key indicators in remaining focused to the needs of the audience as you write the expository essay. For a class assignment, your focus should be on the lecturer’s expectations since he or she will read your final copy and give you a grade.
Generating Ideas for a Good Expository Essay
Take quality time before you start writing and think about the idea you want to investigate and write about. Here are some of the ways of developing your ideas.
List your ideas: Develop a list of all your ideas in the expository essay. Classify your ideas depending on how they relate and expand them using other prewriting techniques.
Free writing: Write whatever that comes in mind continuously for ten minutes without editing yourself. After this free exercise, review your notes, highlighting the most important points for your expository essay.
Clustering: Write a summary of your idea on a piece of paper and circle it. Draw lines from the circle and develop ideas, making as many connections as you can.
Questioning: On a piece of paper, answer the following questions: “Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?” Give detailed responses for every question.
Make an Outline: Once you have the ideas, you want to include in your expository essay, organize them into an outline, showing the logical flow of ideas before you start writing. A detailed outline will help you on how to come up with a good expository essay structure.
Identify appropriate sources: Like any academic paper, a good expository essay requires detailed information from a range of sources. This will help you evaluate what other people have written on the same topic. However, consult your instructor on the types of sources to use. Common sources are books, journals, magazines, newspapers and reliable websites.
More Tips On How to Come Up With a Good Expository Essay Structure
After planning for your expository essay, the next step is the introduction of the essay. Start with a sentence that connects well with your topic. Think about what you intend to discuss in the body of the essay and capture it in the introduction. Importantly, identify the main idea of your expository essay at this level. A bad introduction leads to a bad essay. Consolidate your energy and come up with a superb introduction at all times.
Contextualize your idea: Give enough background information on the topic. This will guide your readers in understanding the issue at hand. Think of what readers expect in the essay and arouse their curiosity by capturing it in the introduction. Having your readers in mind is paramount and helps you as the writer on how to come up with a good expository essay structure that wins attention.
For example if you are writing a book, the introduction should contain the title of the book, the author and a brief plot. If the essay is about an individual, give the name of the person and sneak preview of his or her biography.
As you put your idea into perspective, have in mind that the context should be linked to your thesis statement. Give a detailed explanation of what your reader wants to know before narrowing down to your topic of discussion.
When developing your essay structure, remember to have a thesis statement, which expresses your argument. It gives the beliefs you are about to support in the body of your expository story. This expository essay on Corruption in Sudan investigates corruption, detailing how it continues to affect Sudan actions being taken to tame the scourge.
A Good Expository Essay Structure must express the main points
Number of paragraphs: Ask yourself the number of paragraphs you will need to complete your expository essay. Most expository essays have five paragraphs even though they could be more than that. Refer to your instructions or consult with your instructor on the number of pages or words for the expository essay.
In case you choose a five-paragraph essay, limit your body paragraphs to three. Discuss different evidence to support your thesis in every paragraph. This principle should apply to every expository essay regardless of the length.
Topic sentences: Start every paragraph with a topic sentence to introduce a new idea you are discussing. Make sure the sentence introduces only a single piece of proof to your argument. Topical sentences give you a standard approach on how to come up with a good expository essay structure as you ideas flow logically, making it for the reader to follow.
Expound your Evidence: Upon stating your topic sentence, elaborate your evidence to support your thesis statement. Here, you need to delve into your sources and filter relevant information that backs your argument. Since supporting evidence comes from documented research work, they will appear as paraphrases or quotes.
You can also use interviews, personal experiences and anecdotes to develop your evidence. For your expository essay to be strong enough, consider having two or three pieces of evidence for every argument.
Analyze your evidence: Here, a lot of emphasis is on the evidence you employ to support your claims. For example, you have to show how the evidence links to the thesis of your essay. Visualize what your readers need to know as they go through your work.
Paragraph transition: There should be transition between paragraphs to enhance continuity and flow of ideas in a logical sequence. When concluding a paragraph, sum up your main point and show how it relates with the next argument.
More on How to Come Up With a Good Expository Essay Structure
When learning how to come up with a good expository essay structure, always remember that every section of the essay is important. A good conclusion for your expository essay could be all you need to win your audience. Make it catchy, having in mind the content of your paper.
Reaffirm and rephrase your thesis in the conclusion. The first sentence of this section restates your argument. However, restating the thesis alone is not enough. Mention how the evidence in the paper supported your beliefs throughout the paper.
Summarize and Review: Summarize each of the pieces of evidence in the essay in one sentence. Never introduce new ideas in the conclusion, as this section draws its content from your ideas and thesis statement. Go back to your main points in the essay body and expound they offer supporting evidence to your claims.
Offer call for action: Your last sentence of the expository essay should be an overall statement on the topic. The conclusion also gives you chance to recommend what should happen next depending on your findings. You are also at liberty to offer a solution to a problem you observed during your research or ask new questions about your subject matter.
These elements give a logical method of how to come up with a good expository essay structure, no matter the purpose of your research work. The structure should capture all the main points to have a standard paper that presents your arguments and supporting evidence. Above all, have your readers in mind.
With the above guidelines, we hope coming up with a good expository essay structure will not be a problem any more. However if you have difficulties handling your expository essay get in touch with us for assistance. Visit our homepage for more information about our academic writing services. You can also continue reading more academic paper writing guidelines and sample papers on this blog.
References:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/02/
http://web.gccaz.edu/~mdinchak/ENG101/expository_writing.htm
https://www.sbcc.edu/clrc/files/wl/downloads/StructureofaGeneralExpositoryEssay.pdf