Expository Essays: Types and Examples

Activity:

Categorize the topics under the types of expository essays. Some types may appear in more than one type.

6 to 10

Types of Expository Essays

1. Cause and effect
2. Description
3. Problem solution
4. Sequential order
5. Report
6. News article

Topics

School rules   Current news   Conflicts with your friend   Sports   Video games   My family

Examination stress   Fashion   Preparation of coffee   Pollution   Depression   Your school annual day function

Here Are the Answers!!!

1. Cause and Effect:

• Video games
• Examination stress
• Pollution
• Depression

2. Description:

• Sports
• Video games
• Your school’s annual day function
• My family
• Examination stress
• Fashion
• Pollution

3. Problem and Solution:

• Conflicts with your friend
• Examination stress
• Depression

4. Sequential Order:

• Preparation of coffee

5. Report:

• Annual day function

6. News Article:

• Current news
• Annual day function

Features of an Expository Essay

The following are the purposes of an expository essay:

1. To inform
2. To describe
3. To explain

Characteristic Feature of an Expository Essay

1. Describes important facts
2. Presents exhaustive information on a topic
3. It is written in 3rd person (using “it”, “he”, “she”, and “they”)
4. Uses formal language to inform/discuss someone or something

When writing an expository essay, these six steps need to be considered:

Step 1. Organizing your thoughts (Brainstorming)

Step 2. Researching your topic step

Step 3. Developing a thesis statement step

Step 4. Writing the introduction step

Step 5. Writing the body of the essay step

Step 6. Writing the conclusion

Step 1: Organizing your Thoughts (Brainstorming)

The following are the ways to organize your thoughts:

1. Free writing – Written quickly, without stopping, editing, or self-correcting to become aware of what is already known and felt about the topics.
2. Subject tree – It is in a tree form connecting related ideas to outward from the main topic.
3. List – Free flow is the collection of ideas on a topic in a listing manner.
4. Clustering – The main topic is in the middle circle, and all related associations are linked to the main topic.
5. Outline – Framework of an essay, which includes main points, followed by the breakdown into sub-points.

Let’s take an example and apply one of the brainstorming methods to write an expository essay.

Examples  

Topic: Depression

Outline

I. Introduction

1. What is depression?
2. Thesis – Depression is a complex condition

As evident in its causes/symptoms/treatments.

II. Body.

1. Causes of depression.
2. Symptoms of depression.
3. Treatments of depression.

III. Conclusion.

1. Why is studying depression important.
2. Reiterate causes/symptoms/treatments.
3. Consequences of depression.

Step 2: Researching your Topic (Example Topic_-Depression)

Research is a collection of ideas by visiting a library or searching online.

The source of the collection of information along with the author’s details should be provided wherever required.  Plagiarism must be avoided.

Step 3: The thesis is like building a bridge:

A crossbeam of the bridge represents a claim, and the columns represent supporting details in the bridge analogy.

The claim and the supporting details should be combined to create a thesis statement.

A thesis has two main components:

1. A claim
2. The supporting details that sustain it

How to Make a Perfect Claim?

1. What point am I trying to make?
2. What am I trying to say?
3. What am I getting at?

Example: Depression affects mostly teenagers. (This is stronger as it makes an assertion that must be supported with evidence.)

The following are the supporting details based on the claims.

1. Categories/topics
2. Time frames/chronological periods
3. Cause/effect
4. Supporting details organized

Example:

i. Categories/topics:

The causes, symptoms, and available treatments are required for depression to be categorized.

ii. Time frames/chronological periods:

The medical team could get the cause and cure of depression from 19^th century to 21^st century.

iii. Cause/effect:

What are the causes and effects of depression?

Step 4: Introduction to the Topic

The introduction is the most important part of the essay. It helps in providing a roadmap for concrete discussions of the topic.

1. Definition: It should clearly specify what we are discussing.
2. Relevance: Expose the significance of the topic, concept, or theme. How does it affect or impact society?
3. Thesis: Copy the thesis statement generated in the previous step. Let’s take our topic and start the introduction to complete the expository essay:

Example:

Topic: Depression

a. Definition:

Depression is a very crippling condition that makes people feel despair in their lives.

b. Relevance:

While 26% of all Americans experience depression during their lifetime, most remain undiagnosed and untreated.

c. Thesis:

Depression is a very critical condition, understanding of which requires an in-depth look at its causes, symptoms, and available treatments.

Step 5: The Body of an Expository Essay

This is the detail part, and it involves accounting for each supporting detail in paragraphs.

In the body, necessary evidence should be discussed.

Example:

Topic sentence 1: The cause of depression is because of many factors.

Topic sentence 2: It may not be clearly evident, but when a person is suffering from depression, many symptoms will be shown.

Topic sentence 3: The treatment for depression is possible in many cases.

Based on the above topics, write the body of the essay using evidence.

Step 6: Writing the Conclusion

The conclusion brings the essay to an end. It should link to the introduction.

The following components comprise a conclusion:

Relevance: Repeat the importance of your topic.

Review: Reiterate the points you discussed.

Summary: Summarize your conclusions.

Let’s look at how our topic essay is concluded.

Example:

Relevance: Depression affects all types of people, thousands of men, women, and children every year; many endure it without any help.

Review: In conclusion, the symptoms, causes, and available treatments of depression have been focused on and discussed in this essay.

Summary: Depression affects both the people experiencing it and those around them as well.

Education about this painful condition may allow us to reach out to a greater number of people suffering from it.

The Different Categories of an Expository Essay are as follows:

1. Cause and effect
2. Description
3. Problem solution
4. Sequential order
5. Report
6. News article