Expository Essay Outline

Expository Essay Outline

Creating  expository Essay  outline is one of the most important steps before you actually start writing the essay. Many people think making an outline is a waste of time, but the truth is that the more thorough your expository essay outline, the less time you will need to spend researching and writing.

An outline breaks down each paragraph of the essay into different sections. This allows you to break down a larger task into manageable chunks as well as helps you visualize how different pieces of information will fit together. Let’s go through each section of the expository essay structure.

Expository Essay Introduction

An introduction is the first thing somebody reads. It is your first opportunity to impress the reader and to explain what the essay will be about. Writing a good introduction can be challenging, but If you follow the outline below you will have an introduction that is clear and engaging.

Introduction paragraph

• Hook
• Background information
• A thesis statement or a sentence explaining the main purpose of the essay
• Transition sentence

A hook is the very first sentence of the introductory paragraph and therefore the essay. It’s called a hook because the goal is to hook a reader’s attention the same way a hook catches the mouth of a fish. A good hook for an expository essay can pose a question or state an interesting fact with the goal of engaging the reader as quickly as possible. Whether it’s writing an article or an assignment for school, making the reader interested from the beginning is going to make you stand out.

The next few sentences of the introduction paragraph should give background information about the topic you want to discuss. This does not have to be too specific because you will expand upon these points in the body paragraphs, but make sure that the background information you present is both interesting as well as directly connected to the topic. The reader should have a basic understanding of some of the key terms and concepts that will be discussed in the paper after these sentences.

Next comes the thesis statement. A thesis statement is a one- or two-sentence declaration of what the purpose of the paper is. For an expository paper, a thesis statement clearly states the topic being explained and how it will be explained. As usual for expository writing, make sure that your thesis statement is not making an argument or trying to be persuasive.

You can either end the paragraph after your thesis statement or include a brief one-sentence transition to the body paragraphs. This transition sentence is usually more common when writing articles rather than writing academic papers.

Expository Essay Body Paragraphs

Body paragraphs are where you put your research. In an expository essay, you don’t need to build an argument, which can make body paragraphs simpler to write, but that doesn’t mean you should just dump information randomly. Typically, you should have three body paragraphs, each one talking about a specific issue related to your topic.

• Body paragraph 1
• Topic sentence about the first main idea or fact being presented
• Supporting evidence and facts
• Transition to the second body paragraph
• Body paragraph 2
• Topic sentence about the second main idea or fact being presented
• Supporting evidence and facts
• Transition to the third body paragraph
• Body paragraph 3
• Topic sentence about the third main idea or fact being presented
• Supporting evidence and facts
• Transition to the conclusion

When conducting research, distill three main ways you want to explain your topic and https://homeworkassign.com/explain each of them in a different body paragraph. You may be tempted to present as much information as possible, but a paper that is too dense with information can be complicated to understand. The goal of the body paragraph is to express information in a way that is clear, logical, and interesting.

Start a body paragraph with a topic sentence that clearly states what the paragraph will be about. Make sure you connect the topic sentence to the overall topic and make it clear to the reader how they are related.

Next, present the facts and information, making sure that each fact you present is correctly cited and comes from a reputable source. Since the purpose of an expository essay is to explain something objectively, the quality of your sources is very important.

Finally, end a body paragraph with a transition sentence that either wraps up the information in the paragraph or hints at what the next paragraph will be about. Transition sentences improve the flow of an essay by giving the reader either a recap of important information or by clearly marking the end of one subtopic and connecting it to the next one.

Expository Essay Conclusion

The conclusion of an expository essay aims to recap the main pieces of information in the essay and restate the hypothesis to remind the reader about the purpose of the writing.

• Conclusion
• Summary of the main ideas
• Restate the thesis statement or main purpose
• Final thoughts

You can summarize the main pieces of information by looking at your topic sentences and transition sentences. Include all the main information that relates to your thesis so that the reader is reminded about it.

You should restate the thesis statement so that the audience understands how the information you have presented in the body paragraph connects to the main purpose of the essay. Follow this up with an explanation of why the topic is important, highlight interesting connections, and identify other interesting ways the information can be explained.