What is an Expository Essay

What is an Expository Essay

Want to write an expository essay that will elevate your grades?
Don't know what to do and what to avoid?

This blog explains the key features of this type of essay by presenting detailed examples. These expository essay examples will help you understand the basics and apply them when writing your own essay.

Let's get started.

1. What is an Expository Essay?

An expository essay is a genre of investigative type of writing that investigate and examine an idea, concept or belief and present relevant evidence to back and support the presented ideas. Writing an expository essay is quite common in classroom evaluation as the teachers assign this type of essay to evaluate the students’ analytical abilities.

An expository writing is objective in nature and it is entirely based on presenting and explaining plain hard facts. These facts are explored and presented with the help of a number of types of evidence. Especially the visual presentation of data like charts, statistical data, graphs and presentations work best to explain the facts clearly.

Here is a complete guide that will help you learn more about writing an expository essay.

2. Expository Essay Examples

The expository essay examples will demonstrate how to write an expository essay without missing anything. These examples will help you in understanding the basics and once you are through them, you will be ready to write your essay in no time.

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3. How to Write an Expository Essay Outline?

An expository essay outline is just like any other essay and because you have been writing essays since your school years, you will have no difficulties. However, the difficult part is to know about the type of information that will go into each section.

We have divided and explained the entire process that is essential to write an expository essay successfully.

3.1 The Prewriting Phase

For an effective essay, you need to plan the entire essay before writing. Many students try to do the essay without planning and end up nowhere. Instead of just getting into the paper writing process, brainstorm and think about how you can present the ideas in a structured manner.

Make points of what you will add in each section.

3.2 Preparing the First Draft

After brainstorming and noting down every main detail and theme, prepare the first draft of the essay. Add what points your will add in each section. An expository essay structure has the following sections:

Introduction: An introduction is the first section of an essay. It is the brief mentioning of the main points and 5themes of the essay. It includes the background of the main topic and some information about it. However, everything is added briefly.

Thesis Statement: A well-defined but brief thesis statement will elevate your essay and inform the readers about the main theme of your essay. However, the thesis statement should be brief and should not present the whole theme of the essay.

Body Paragraphs: Generally, these are three in number and present three main ideas. These paragraphs examine, analyze and present the main ideas along with the supporting evidence. Each sentence must begin with a topic sentence and expound on the main idea of that paragraph.

Conclusion: It is the last encounter between you and the readers and this is why it must be strong and memorable. Restate your thesis statement and the overall essence of the essay. You can do it by mentioning the main points briefly or by just presenting the answer of the main essay question.

3.3 Final Revision

Revision is the most important part of the writing process. In this phase, you can revise, modify and restructure your essay and rectify it according to the guidelines and main essay question. Some of the things to consider while revising your essay are:

• Have you answered the main question properly and completely?
• Does your essay meet all the guidelines of the instructor?
• Have you added all the main ideas in the essay?
• Is there a proper transition between the sentences and paragraphs?
• Are all the paragraphs consistent and well-structured?

Answering these questions is a must and therefore, you should never miss this part.

3.4 Proofreading

After you are done, proofread the entire essay before submitting it. It may seem daunting and dull but, just like revision, proofreading is also important. Proofread the essay thoroughly and see if everything is in line. At this stage, you can still make the changes.

We hope that these tips will act as a writing guide for you and will help you in writing an excellent expository essay.

4. What are the Other Types of an Expository Essay?

This type of essay is further divided into subtypes that are explained below.

Descriptive Essay: This essay describes a place, person or event in detail. It includes great sensory details and is written to persuade the reader see the writer’s viewpoint.

Definition Essay: A definition essay describes a certain phrase or term in detail. The topics can be concrete or abstract in nature and includes the explanation of both literal and contextual meanings of the chosen word.

Compare and Contrast: These essays explain two or more things by comparing and contrasting them. They highlight the main points and describe the chosen objects by elaborating their various elements and qualities.

Classification Essay: The writer breaks down the main essay topic and divide it into several classes and categories and explain them one by one.

Process Essay: The writer breaks down a process and explains it in detail. This could be a manufacturing process, a recipe and even a writing process. It explains the how process and how to do it in detail.

Cause and Effect Essay: This essay describes the reasons behind a phenomenon or happening. It explains why something happens and what are the causes behind them. In short, a cause and effect essay explains the relationship between a certain event and its reasons.