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Tips and Tricks on How to Write Expository Essay

Do you trust facts instead of emotions? Then you will definitely like writing an expository essay, where your main goal is to explain the meaning of a certain subject using the logical approach. In order to write a great expository essay, you will have to gain the necessary knowledge of its features as well as the explanatory skills. Use the college assignment to develop an expository essay as an opportunity to learn how to explain things as this skill will definitely be of use in the everyday life.

As any other type of academic writing, an expository essay will be considered well-written if the writer sticks to the correct structure. If you have already written essays successfully, you must know that the best way to present an essay is to write 5 paragraphs. Here we are going to look at the tricks on how to structure essay to get A+.

7 Steps You Should Take When Planning Your Expository Essay

There are several steps to take before you start writing an essay. Be patient and follow all simple guidelines you will find below to make the essay planning process effective.

  • Make sure you have understood the teacher’s instructions. Don’t hurry to get started as you need to take a minute to think whether everything is clear or there are requirements that should be clarified.
  • Identify your target audience. If you have been assigned to present an expository essay by your college or university teacher, think about the expectations you have to meet.
  • Brainstorm ideas for your work.  First, you should take a sheet of paper and just start writing. Try not to think hard while writing. Let your mind brainstorm essay ideas freely without any pressure and stress. For a while, you are offered to forget that you must get an excellent mark for the paper as any kind of worries that you lack the necessary skills to achieve the goal may prevent you from generating genius ideas. Freewriting is one of the best tricks, which is able to help you discover a lot of interesting. There is nothing difficult-just write for 10-15 minutes. Let your mind work and hands write and you will see that some ideas are really worthy.
  • Make a list of the major questions you will have to answer in your essay. As the main purpose of the expository essay is to explain how things work, you will have a lot of questions. Your task is to think hard what exactly you are going to explain and which points to choose for the explanatory writing.
  • Group all thoughts with the help of an outline. Choose the most suitable type of the essay plan. The alphanumeric outline will be the best one as it is the most detailed. Even if you haven’t been asked to create an essay plan by your teacher, don’t ignore this advice as the well-organized outline will help you to use the systematic approach to all ideas you have brainstormed. First, include the main structural parts of the essay, then divide them into subgroups and try to group your thoughts so that you have a clear picture of the final essay version.
  • Look for the relevant sources of information for your work. It is high time to start the search for the textbooks, internet resources, articles, etc. Make sure that all sources of information can be trusted as the expository essay should be based on facts. You can use them only after having checked out their reliability. If you have any doubts concerning the resource trustworthiness, you’d better avoid using the information provided there.
  • Sort out the information and use only the relevant sources. Ensure that there is nothing unclear. If you can’t understand certain definitions, you should spend time looking up their meaning in the dictionary. It is useful to write down some ideas you would like to use. Making notes while reading is a helpful habit. This is how you can develop an eye-catching thesis statement. Writing down all worthy thoughts you can think of the great thesis, which will reflect the main idea of the whole work.

Let’s Proceed to Expository Writing Process Itself

If you have finished with the preparatory steps, let’s move further. You are on the right way and now you are offered to check out the tips on how to write an expository essay.

  • Write an interesting preview of the essay: While writing an introduction, you should always remind yourself of the importance of the first impression. The introductory part is the first thing that the reader will see and evaluate. Make it eye-catching with the help of quotes, interesting facts, or intriguing questions. For example, “Have you ever known that…?” At the same time, you shouldn’t forget about the purpose of writing an introduction. You need to introduce your reader to the topic.
  • Write the main body of the essay: This is where you are going to provide the most significant details on the topic. Your main body is the skeleton of your work. If you are writing an expository essay on the literary work, make sure to provide the reader with the background information about the writer if it really matters for your project. Usually, the number of paragraphs is three.

However, depending on the topic and the amount of information, you can limit yourself to two paragraphs in the main body. The same is about the larger number of paragraphs. If you have more points to provide an evidence for, you are  welcome to include them in the main body writing more than 3 paragraphs. Make sure each abstract focuses on one idea. Provide a supportive evidence for each new idea.

  • Conclude the essay with the well-summarized sentence. In your conclusion, it is necessary to write those ideas, which will sound logic and will interact with the thoughts in the thesis statement as there must be a connection between these essay elements.  Think of the desired feedback writing the essay. Which goal do you want to achieve? Depending on your decision, you can write the conclusion containing the call-to-action. Write so that the reader understands that usefulness and the actuality of the topic.
  • Edit and proofread the essay: Before you hand in your essay, make sure it is free from mistakes. Any kind of grammar or spelling mistakes will have a negative impact on the grade. Reread the essay several times and make any necessary corrections until you feel satisfied with the final result. If it is difficult for you to be objective, then ask somebody’s assistance in editing and proofreading. It is recommended to give your paper a rest. Return to its check in a couple of days after you have finished writing. This method really works as this is the only way to let your brain rest after the tedious paper writing process. You will be able to have a fresh look at the essay, which will allow you to notice all errors.

Expository Essay Sample You Look at When Developing Your Own Paper

Here you will find an essay example on the topic “Why is Coca-Cola harmful to your health?”

“ Have you known that Coca-Cola consists of 90% of carbonated water, burnt sugar, phosphoric acid and caffeine and 1% of the composition has the mysterious name “Merhandiz-7”?  Its chemical composition is known only to 10 people in the world who are working in the company that produces the drink. In order to evaluate the drink’s effect on the human body, it is necessary to look at  the main ingredients. Coca-Cola includes oils of lemon, orange, cinnamon, nutmeg, bitter orange blossom, coriander, and lime.

Every component of this drink is harmful. Carbon dioxide irritates the gastrointestinal tract. It causes the weakness of the valve, which is located between the esophagus and the stomach. As a result, the contents of the stomach get back into the esophagus, which causes inflammation in it and heartburn. Carbon dioxide has a bad effect on the gallbladder and liver.

Sugar is popularly called “sweet death”. Its excessive consumption leads to the destruction of teeth. Sweet soft drinks are especially harmful to the teeth. Sugar also has the ability to suppress appetite. Drinks of the Coca-Cola type are harmful as in 200 g there are about 5 teaspoons of sugar. Excess sugar leads to weight gain and skin diseases like acne.

Orthophosphoric acid destroys the tooth enamel, acts badly on the stomach, especially with increased acidity. When used in large quantities, it leads to the washing away of calcium from the bones. This happens because the body tries to neutralize the acid with calcium, and this causes a shortage of calcium for the structure of bone tissue. Therefore, in children who are addicted to the use of Coca-Cola, fractures, and diseases of the musculoskeletal system are frequent.

Caffeine, contained in Coca-Cola, causes sleep disturbances. It accelerates the excretion of minerals from bone tissue, and this can lead to osteoporosis, a disease in which the bones become brittle. But the most dangerous thing is that caffeine can become addictive, as this substance is close to narcotic effects. That’s why lovers of this drink want to drink it again and again.

Coca-Cola does not quench the thirst as advertising tries to convince us. After all, there is a lot of sugar in it. A synthetic sweetener, contained in the cola and other sweet carbonated drinks, artificially stirs up a thirst, encourages you to drink more and more. In large doses, it causes nerve disorders, depression, and mental development disorders. Preservative sodium inhibits the activity of enzymes that break down fats and starch, which contributes to the development of obesity. Therefore, it is better to drink as little as possible beverages like Coca-Cola, preferably abandon them altogether.”

In the provided sample, you can notice that the main body contains four paragraphs due to the fact that the author has to provide all findings and the evidence explaining the statement about the harm that can be caused by Coca-Cola drink.

Best Expository Topics Ideas for You to Choose From

If you lack time to brainstorm topics ideas, you are offered to check out the list of the interesting expository essay themes below:

  1. Explain how can people avoid conflicts living in the society?
  2. How to give up bad habits?
  3. What are the effective methods of learning foreign languages?
  4. Is it possible to gain weight drinking sweet beverages?
  5. Explain the importance of information technologies nowadays.
  6. Why is it difficult to adjust to living in another cultural environment?
  7. Explain how the system of education works.
  8. Why is Star Wars one of the most popular films of teenagers and adults?
  9. Explain how goosebumps appear.
  10. How to become a leader?
  11. How to overcome stress?
  12. How to deal with emergencies effectively?
  13. Explain how the parents contributed to your personal development.
  14. Why can’t modern people imagine their life without social networks?
  15. How to explain the great influence of advertising on the buying habits?
  16.  How to manage the monthly budget so that you avoid borrowing from friends?
  17. Explain how the computer system works.
  18. What are the main language means used in the lyrics of Robert Burns?
  19. How to look fashionable spending little money on clothes?
  20. How to combine work and studies?
  21. How to lead a healthy lifestyle?
  22. What is the impact of the computer on the child’s development?
  23. How to treat allergy?
  24. How to increase IQ level?
  25. Explain which effect Internet has on people’s relations.
  26. Explain what are the main principles of being happy.
  27. Is it possible to be satisfied with everything in life?
  28. Explain how young people from poor families became rich on the basis of the well-known examples.
  29.  How could the people’s life change without computers?
  30. How to prevent unreasonable shopping?
  31. Define the key principles of the successful academic writing.
  32.  Choose the book genre and explain which distinctive features it has.
  33. Explain that it is necessary to solve problems with negotiations.
  34. Explain why alcohol is used by teenagers as a method to demonstrate that they are adults.
  35. How important is it to learn more about IT today?
  36. Which effect can global warming have?
  37. Explain the negative consequences of any kind of addictiveness.
  38. Explain how the moral values changed during the last 20 years.
  39. Why is it difficult to live in the same house with two older generations?
  40. Explain the necessity to be patient and tolerant working in a team.

Are you inspired to choose the topic for your college assignment? Pick up one of the offered topics for your expository essay and an excellent mark is guaranteed if you reveal it to the full extent following the tips on how to structure a good essay that have been discussed in the article. Remember that the skeleton of an expository essay should be facts and not opinions. Write the essay having analyzed the sample provided and you will create your own masterpiece easily.

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7 comments

  1. Thanks for the simple guide to writing an expository essay, which always seemed to be the most difficult one. Now I have a clear picture of what it is and how it differs from other essay types.

  2. I am writing an expository essay and have a question: “ What is the three key actions I need to take while writing this type of an essay?”

    • The formula for writing an expository essay is the following: choose an idea, examine it, evaluate the information, and provide an argument.

  3. Looking at the sample I understood that the mistake I always did writing my expository essay was the use of my own point of view instead of providing facts. Thanks for your help in understanding how to structure the essay properly.

  4. Tell, please, what kind of support can I use in the essay?

    • As it has already been mentioned in the article, each idea should be well-grounded and have an evidence. You can provide a factual, logical support, as well as, the use of statistics.

  5. I am assigned to write an expository essay soon

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