Assignment 1.2: Expository Writing

2. Expository Writing

Expository writing may give information, explain something or develop an idea. It is more difficult to develop than descriptive or narrative writing. In description you organize your writing around a person, place or object and then you fill in the details. A narration is centred around events and these events are related in some order, usually chronological.

In expository writing you have to establish your own order. The paragraph has a single controlling idea or topic. It uses various kinds of details to develop it. It is composed of:

• a topic sentence that arouses interest
• details arranged in a way which makes procedures easy to follow and explanations very clear. These details must be broken down into small steps, stay on topic, and follow a natural order, particularly if you are trying to explain something successfully.  Use transition words to move smoothly from one supporting detail to the next.
• a concluding sentence that ties things together.

To best understand the expository writing style, it might be helpful to recognize its root word:  expose. To expose means to uncover or lay something bare. In other words, it means to explain something: to present the facts and to write truthfully, without bias. It is meant to be based on fact and free of the writer's prejudices. Initially, this might sound like expository writing is as simple as stating the obvious. But it’s more than that. The following video will give you an in-depth explanation of this useful writing style: