To get started on an expository essay, consider a problem or issue of concern related to your chosen topic category (food, education, technology, or race/class/identity) that you would like to “expose” to an audience. Please keep in mind that this is not a narrative essay, and so you will not be focusing on your own personal connection to the issue in the essay. Instead, you should discuss the topic in terms of its larger social significance. Additionally, you should not write a basic informative essay about a well-known or well-understood topic. Your essay should strive to offer some new or unique perspective or insight on the topic at hand.
Some questions you should consider addressing in the essay:
What is the problem or issue?
Why is it a problem/issue?
Who is affected by it?
How are people affected?
When did it become an issue?
Where does the issue exist?
Once you have identified a thesis–your main claim on the issue, think about what types of support will help your readers to better understand the viewpoint you are expressing. Will you need to describe a cause/effect relationship between things? Will you need to compare/contrast? Is there anything that must be defined for an average audience? Use these and other questions to consider how best you to explain your viewpoint to your readers. Organize your ideas in a logical manner to formulate the body paragraphs (support) in your essay.
Finally, use your conclusion to readdress your thesis in light of the supporting ideas you have provided in the body of the essay. The conclusion can also offer implications (other related matters to think about or seek more information on) or applications (possible actions that can be taken on the issue).
This expository essay should describes a problem or issue, NOT the solution. While your conclusion paragraph might give a brief glimpse at some possible solutions, the goal of this essay is simply to expose the issue.
Your expository essay should be a minimum of 1000 words in length and include a Works Cited page with at least 3 reliable sources. The entire document should be properly formatted in MLA style. You should be sure to include well-formed introduction and conclusion paragraphs, and your body paragraphs should be well-organized with clear topic sentences at the beginning of each paragraph.
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