General Advice For Writing A Five-Paragraph Expository Essay

Many students would agree this is one of the easiest types of essays to write, ever. If you can go through these simple steps and write this paper, you will be well on your way to being a confident essay writer who can tackle almost any kind of writing in the future.

Steps to great writing

1. Use a hook sentence to grab the attention of your reader. It’s kind of like a fish hook. It catches the reader and then reels them in. They just can’t wait to read what’s coming next because you have intrigued them so much. This hook should be interesting and also directly relevant to your subject of your paper. You could use a quote or pose a question. You could also use a tidbit of highly interesting information about your topic.


2. The next step is providing some background for the reader, to support your topic. They need to know what context you are talking about. Don’t assume your readers know the details behind your statements or claims.


3. Identify a thesis statement or question you will be solving in the writing of this paper. An expository essay can take an informative or an argumentative stance. Decide which will be more appropriate for the topic you’ve chosen.


4. After the introduction paragraph gives your reader the basics behind your topic, and provides them with the thesis statement, they are now ready for the examples and factual evidence that make up the body of the paper. Each paragraph has a topic sentence which tells the reader the main idea you will be covering in the paragraph. You must also supply the factual evidence and your analysis of this evidence. A really great transition sentence should weave the parts of the body together.


5. The conclusion should be a summary of your topic and what you’ve covered in your paper. You can discuss the larger perspective as well, or reveal unanswered questions, but don’t ever introduce new evidence in the conclusion.


6. Never forget the important step of good editing and proofreading. Unfortunately many students skip this step and lose out on good marks they could have received. Even though you have carefully gone through your essay the first time, a final proofreading will usually find those little errors you would have missed. It’s worth the time to do so.