Expository Essay Tips

 

The second type of essay you will be asked to complete for the HSPA is an expository essay.  This one you may not have worked on as much as the persuasive, this means that being prepared for what they want is even more important.  Therefore, make sure that you follow the guidelines.

Purpose:

This type of writing assignment provides you with a quotation (or two) and a question connected to it for you to address.  While persuasive essays are meant to convince the reader, the expository essay is more informative and requires that you craft a relevant thesis and support it with information from your education and/or life.  As the examples from life tend to score lower on these, you will be asked to stick to relevant examples from your education over your personal experiences during our practice.  You will be asked to write a 5 paragraph essay that establishes a clear point of view and justifies the position through examples and explanation.

 WARNING:  There are three big issues that students tend to have with this essay:

1. Students tend to use a thesis that is off topic given the question posed
2. Students tend to write solely opinion, without using support (which is the point of the essay)
3. Students use support that is NOT concrete or specific, but instead vague

 

Outline:

To adequately outline this type of essay, it is important that you decide what your thesis should be PRIOR to outlining properly.  If you need a T chart to do this, use one, if you immediately know what your thesis will be, you can skip that step.  Unlike with the persuasive, you may claim that both sides of the issue are true as long as your thesis and the subsequent support proves it.

For this essay, you need areas of specific support instead of general reasons.  One SAT class I observed used the rule of Martin Luther King – as his life works for many prompts.  If you know a bunch of literature, historical moments and famous people, you will easily be able to select some that apply for the topic given.

Next, take the three people/events/stories and list specific details that make them ideal for the thesis you’ve decided on and writing the three body paragraphs will be simple.

**Pretend that the reader has never heard of the people/events/books you are using and EXPLAIN them and how they apply.

Structure:

Paragraph 1 (the introduction) must accomplish three things:

1. Set up the situation as posed by the prompt
2. Provide a CLEAR thesis
3. Frame the major aspects of your argument (the general focus of your 3 body paragraphs: in science, literature and professional sports/this is proven consistently by major historical moments, etc.)

 

Paragraphs 2-4 (body) include:

1. A topic sentence that includes a transition (First, the most obvious reason, another reason, etc) and the general focus of this paragraph
2. Explain what/who the example you’ve chosen is
3. Connect the person/event/book back to the topic

Paragraph 5 (the conclusion) must:

1. Sum up the major points of the essay
2. Restate the thesis (in new words)
3. End with a “KICKER” that ties your argument up in a single statement