Expository Essay Types - An Ultimate Guide

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Is it that time of the year when your teacher has assigned you another expository essay and now you are staring at the wall for the past 3 hours?

The clock is ticking and it won’t wait for anyone!

If you don’t have a single clue about expository writing, then this is the last resort for you. There are many different types of essays and the web is full of elaborative guides for all of them. Here, students will be introduced to different types of expository writing and its various uses. The key is to conduct deep research.

So what exactly is an expository essay?

First, let’s get familiar with its true essence. The details of any expository writing tell the readership that a particular subject has to be explained and informed about, with great clarity and attention.

Here are some important characteristics which are chiefly associated with expository writing:

1. Exhaustive information on the topic is provided
2. A precise and logical manner is adopted
3. All types of expository writing are done in the 3rd person unless instructed otherwise.
4. The basic purpose of expository writing is providing information, thus, language should be formal yet easy to understand

Key types of expository essays

• Expository writing of classification

  What’s the essence? Students have to classify or categorize something according to some predetermined parameters.

  Through the use of explicit highlights, students will point at the classification of things. For example, an essay writer may have to classify types of different viruses in an essay. In this case, the viruses can be classified as isometric, filamentous, enveloped, etc. A broad topic is broken down into different categories.

• Expository writing of problem and solution

  What’s the essence?Students conduct an analysis for all the potential solutions of any problem.

  This would include shedding light on a particular problem that you might think has adverse effects on one or more segments of society. Then after discussing the possible solutions, you will propose a valid solution which you think would prove to be the most effective one.

• Expository writing of compare and contrast

  What’s the essence? Students have to describe the differences and similarities between two or more ideas, conceptions, or subject matters.

  The same structure which is employed in the cause and effect expository essay is used. Each similarity is followed by the resemblance of another element and each difference, for one thing is followed by the difference for the other. This is a point-by-point structure and can be effective.

• Expository writing of description or definition

  What’s the essence? Students will identify a correct or contextual definition of something and will offer their perspective regarding that idea or word.

  A definition essay or a description strives to explain any word which is complicated in nature with varying perspectives. It is because that thing entails different meanings for diverse groups and segments of the society. Students can also clarify any potential confusions about the word which traditionally, society might be holding onto. The opening section can provide hindsight for a commonly accepted or a standard definition of the word and the subsequent sections can enlighten people on the origin of this term.

• Expository writing of cause and effect

  What’s the essence? Students will dig a little deeper and write about why or how something happened.

  How things affect each other within the domains of a concept?

  How is a relation between two things identified?

  What is the effect of that interaction?

  These are the questions that will be answered by this type of expository writing

If you’re unsure about choosing the right type, get help from an essay writing service at reasonable rates.