An expository essay is a piece of writing that explains the ideas or a specific topic to a targeted audience. It includes facts, arguments, analysis and information about the topic. Unlike the academic papers, an expository essay does not involve an in-depth research. Expository essays are generally asked in exams like SAT or other standardized tests where one needs to write what they already know about the topic. It is expected that one must use examples and facts to support their knowledge. Generally, the Expository essay includes the following things:

•    A clear and concise introduction      

•    Three to five body paragraphs that include facts, arguments and information about the topic

•    A conclusion paragraph to sum up the essay

1.    Brainstorm Ideas

•    Firstly, students should brainstorm and write the points that they already know about the topic. For example, for the topic how ‘music affects your life’, think how you feel when you listen to music, what kind of music you prefer, who is your favourite singer, why you listen to music and so on.

•    Then, do a little bit of research and gather some facts regarding the topic. In this case, you may find some facts such as why music is considered as a mood lifter. With all this knowledge, you can now craft the outline of your essay and organize the information that you have gathered in a logical sequence.

2.    Draft your essay

•    Once you have gathered the points it's time to write the essay. Put all your main points clearly in the introductory paragraph. How you state your main idea is really important here.

•    Then, narrow down your mean idea into various arguments in the body paragraphs. You must include facts in the body of your essay to support what you say.

•    Also, make sure no new information is included in your conclusion. As the name suggests, a conclusion paragraph should conclude your essay and reinforce all your main points only.

3.    Revise your work

Once you have drafted the essay, keenly observed every point that you have mentioned and try to find answers to questions like:

•    If the paragraphs are logically arranged or not?

•    Have you effectively communicated your ideas?

•    Have you used to relevant examples and facts?

•    Are the sentences structured properly?

•    Are the introduction and conclusion paragraphs concise?

4.    Edit your essay

Once you have placed all the information correctly it is time to check for the basic spelling and grammatical mistakes in your essay. You must check if the essay adheres to the expected clarity or not. You may also get it edited by a friend or your teacher and seek feedback.

1.    You may organize your essay in the following ways:

•    state a sequence of events

•    perform a comparison between two things

•    describe a situation

•    provide examples

•    explain the relationship between two things and how they affect each other

2.    Try to keep the language simple and state your thoughts as clearly as possible. Make sure that you write the content which is specific to your targeted audience only. Do not write something that would be difficult to understand by a common reader.

3.    Take note of the tone of your essay. Remember when you have to address your audience and especially how you should address them. For example, in case of a personal essay, you may use the first person but the same could not apply when you are describing something on behalf of someone else.

4.    Do not write too much. As they say, an excess of everything is bad, similarly do not overwhelm your readers with too many facts and information about the topic. It is no compulsion that you need to mention every single thing that you know about the topic in your essay.

1.    Is internet the most important invention?

2.    What’s better, living in a town or living in a city?

3.    Is knowledge of foreign language necessary in this global world?

4.    Explain why or why not you like working in a team?

5.    Explain why do you admire a specific person?