Composing Expository Papers: Recommendations and Guidelines

From the very beginning of educational career, students are expected to produce a huge number of expository essays on different topics and disciplines. The subsequent article will give you knowledge concerning fundamental skills and tell everything about the steps needed to produce an expository paper, which will meet and sometimes exceed the expectations of your instructors and professors.

The Essence of Expository Writing

To compose magnificent expository paper, one should comprehend the essence of expository writing. Well, it is known as any piece of writing, which is applied in order to inform, explain, or clarify something. The long and the short of it is the fact that expository writing is applied to pass information from an author to readers. Taking it into account, try to be really focused when selecting good topics for expository essays.

  • POINT ONE: PICKING UP A TOPIC

In case your teacher gives you a particular topic to compose about, then this stage is over even before starting. Nevertheless, more often than not, professors give a possibility to their students to pick up the topic by themselves, so it is quite significant to select an appropriate topic. At the same time, your professor can offer you a broad topic, but he/she may ask you to narrow it down to a particular facet.

When picking up the topic for the expository paper, it is necessary to narrow it down a bit according to the paper length instructions. For instance, in case a teacher has assigned you to one-page paper, it is not a good idea to choose such topic as “The History of American Literature.” There will be not enough space to cover such topic. Vice versa, if the professor wants students to compose a lengthy essay, try not to choose a topic, which will be too narrow for such assignment. If you would like to look at some similar papers completed by other students before, you can always find an expository essay example online.

  • POINT TWO: PICK UP A DEVELOPMENTAL PATTERN

One can witness a great number of methods to elaborate an expository paper, and there is a number of various ways to pass information to readers. Information mentioned below just contains several samples of developmental patterns, which can be adopted for all your exploratory essays:

Definition – The given method may be the most unaffected out of developmental patterns. According to the title, you can be expected to simply use the expository essay to define the topic completely.

Instance – With the help of the given developmental pattern, you will be able to offer and make a description of examples of a certain group or subject.

Cause and effect – The given developmental pattern will give a possibility to show the relationship between two dependent variables. Try to describe various ways where one variable has an impact on the other one, and explain the reasons of such actions. You can even do it in your expository essay introduction.

  • POINT THREE: SELECT AN ORGANIZATIONAL PATTERN

The selection of organizational design actually is determined by the size of the essay. For shorter papers, professors and instructors often assign “five part” pattern. Needless to say that it will not work if your paper is longer, though it is essential to include the parts of introduction and expository essay conclusion in all papers regardless of their length requirements.

  • POINT FOUR: CONDUCT RESEARCH ON THE TOPIC

More often than not, students try to compose their papers even without researching the subject properly. Although one should not neglect the process of research because it will help to turn your paper into a real success.