Expository Essay
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Informational
Writing
EXPOSITORY ESSAY
Characteristics of an Expository Essay
The purpose is to inform, describe, or explain
Describes important facts
Writer is a teacher
Presents exhaustive information on a topic
rd
person (using “it”, “he”, “she”, “they”), uses formal language to discuss someone or something
Written in 3
Sample focus of the paper:
o a medical or biological condition
o
a social or technological process
o
life or character of a famous person
WARNING: If the purpose of your writing is not to inform, but rather to analyze something or to persuade a
reader about something, it is possible you have wandered into the wrong essay. Please check our other
handouts on the Critical and Persuasive Essays to see which one is a better match for your writing purpose.
When writing any paper, you will most likely have to follow these six steps. This handout takes you through all six
steps in the process of writing an Expository Essay.
Step 1.
Organizing your Thoughts (Brainstorming)
Step 2.
Researching your Topic
Step 3.
Developing a Thesis Statement
Step 4.
Writing the Introduction
Step 5.
Writing the Body of the Essay
Step 6.
Writing the Conclusion
Step 1: Organizing your Thoughts (Brainstorming)
Believe it or not, there is almost no topic on which your mind will draw a complete blank. Even if you know very little
about the subject matter, you are likely to have something to say about it based on something you heard or read about
it, or your basic values. It is imperative to take an inventory of what you know first. Sorting out what you know can
be done in a number of ways:
Free writing –
writing quickly, without stopping, editing, or self-correcting to become
aware of what you already know, think, or feel on a topic
Subject tree –
related ideas, connecting outwards from the main topic, in a tree form
(See illustration 1)
List –
free flow of ideas on a topic
(See illustration 2)
Clustering –
main topic is in the middle circle, all related associations are linked to
the main topic
(See illustration 3)
Outline –
framework of an essay, which includes main points, followed by the breakdown
into sub-points
(See illustration 4)
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