How to Successfully Write an Expository Essay

1. How to Successfully Write an Expository Essay Ms. Williams English III

2. The Introduction When writing your expository essay, follow these eight basic steps: • Select a topic:Be sure the topic is narrow enough to make it manageable within the space of an essay • "Should abortion be legal?" • Write a thesis sentence:Be sure the thesis statement(or sentence) expresses a controlling idea that is neither too broad nor too specific to be developed effectively • Yes, abortion should be legal because people should have the right to choose to be parents." • Select a method of development:Check through all the methods before you finally settle on the one which will best serve your thesis: • definition | example | compare and contrast | cause and effect | classification | process analysis

3. Thesis Statement • It's important for your thesis to be arguable and not clear cut when writing an expository writing essay. The best way to tell if your thesis is arguable is to think of a possible counterthesis. • For this example, a counterthesis would be "No, abortion should not be legal because abortion is murder and the baby has the right to life." • Your thesis statement should come slightly after your analytical question at the end of your introduction or in your first body paragraph.

4. Find Evidence to Support Your Thesis • The next step is to find evidence from multiple sources to support your thesis. A good expository writing essay will provide evidence to support its thesis as well as strong arguments to refute a counter-thesis that may exist. You should provide evidence from experts that supports your thesis and then add your own ideas and thoughts. • It's also important to use direct quotations whenever possible. Your evidence should be incorporated into your body paragraphs and each body paragraph should have a main idea that supports your thesis.

5. Write topic sentences for the body paragraphs of the essay: • For each body paragraph, furnish a topic sentence that directly relates to the thesis sentence • Each body paragraph should tackle one key idea. • Support each of your ideas in every body paragraph with relevant facts and figures. Avoid repeating facts in different paragraphs as it will make your essay look as though it was not carefully planned. Place facts whenever needed.

6. Write the body paragraphs of the essay: • Each body paragraph should develop the primary support covered in that paragraph's topic sentence

7. Furnish a paragraph of introduction: • An introductory paragraph should state the thesis of the essay, introduce the divisions in the body paragraphs of the essay, and gain the interest of the reader

8. Write a paragraph of conclusion: • Restate the thesis and divisions of the essay • Bring the essay to an appropriate and effective close • Avoid digressing into new issues • Your conclusion should briefly summarize the strongest points in your essay and leave the reader with no doubt in his mind that your thesis is true. It's important to avoid introducing any new pieces of information in your conclusion. Always try to be bold in your conclusion and leave the reader walking away with a strong sense of why your thesis is true.

9. RUBRIC • 4- Student presents a final product that demonstrates a thorough understanding of the writing process providing evidence of effective strategies in each step. It is obvious that the student can self-assess in order to revise and edit for a final product. • 3- Student presents a final product that demonstrates a general understanding of the writing process. The evidence may be somewhat sketchy – with fewer drafts or little significant change from one draft to another. One step of the writing process may be less evidenced than the others (e.g. the prewriting may be a simple list of just 3 topics and little else.) • 2- Student presents a final product that demonstrates a minimal understanding of the writing process. There may be steps missing – or no evidence of the steps is produced. The student may be able to explain how he revised or edited, but explanations may be simplistic such as “I checked it over for mistakes and there weren’t any” or “I read it over and it made sense to me” – in other words the student failed to make substantive changes through the writing process but did address the process. • 1- There is little to no evidence that the student can use the writing process. Steps are missing and the final product is ineffective so that it is evident that revising or editing were not addressed. • 0- Student does not attempt the task.