Assignment Instructions: Read about the Expository Research Essay to understand fully

what type of essay writing an expository is, the benefits of writing an expository essay, some
writing tips, and the general structure of an expository essay. With this knowledge in mind,
use the information in your Expository Essay Mind Map and complete the Section-block
outline and then the traditional outline.

Expository Research Essay

An expository research essay is a writing style wherein an author exposes or informs readers
about a series of events, idea, book, historical event, or some other subject. The main
purpose of this research essay is to explain a topic in a precise, straightforward, and logical
manner. The expository essay requires a great deal of research in order to provide a deep
insight into the topic. Unlike some other types of an essay, a writer doesn’t need to take
sides and develop an argument. Writing style should be in the third person and unbiased.

Benefits of writing an expository essay

Every school assignment has its own unique purpose and an expository research essay is not
the exception. The purpose of this research essay is help you develop and improve some
valuable skills. Below, you can see the most important benefits or skills you can gain with
expository research essays:
 Research – expository essay is all about research. The more you do it, the better
your skills are. You’ll need research skills throughout your life. Expository essay
teaches you how and where to look things up for maximum results
 Critical thinking – while the expository essay involves an unbiased approach to the
subject, you still need your critical thinking skills in order to approach the subject
from different angles
 Reporting – the expository essay is like a huge report, but it is still necessary to be
concise and present facts in a coherent and easy-to-follow manner. As your skills
improve, you’ll be more efficient in the way you express yourself in other aspects of
your life
 Organizational skills – this type of paper revolves around the facts on a given
subject, but they need to be represented in an organized manner. You can’t write
them randomly because the essay would be cluttered and difficult to follow.
Therefore, you need to organize your paper. Since practice makes perfect, you’ll
notice soon that your organizational skills developed significantly

Writing Tips

An expository essay is similar to working as an investigative journalist on some super

important assignment. Your job is to investigate a topic thoroughly and report facts,
regardless of your own opinion about them. In order to write a top-quality expository essay,
follow these tips:
 Research topic thoroughly and try to learn more even though you may already be
familiar with it
 Use evidence to support every claim or fact you include

Page 1
  Use only reputable sources for evidence e.g. studies, official figures and
announcements, journals, and other similar sources
 Avoid fabricating information just because you want to emphasize something
 Avoid showing how you feel about the topic
 Organize facts in a manner that will be easier to follow e.g. chronologically, based on
priority etc.
 Use concise and clear language
 Prioritize quality over quantity; it’s not about how many facts you introduce, but
how strong they are
 If the essay describes a process or activity, second person writing can be used too
 Vary sentence length throughout the paper to add more rhythm
 Avoid vague expressions, be precise

Expository essay outline

The outline is like a blueprint; its function is to act as a guide that you can use to build a
house, or in this case a research essay. Without the outline the risk of straying off the
subject increases. It’s needless to mention you get confused due to a multitude of ideas that
you don’t know where to place. Let’s take a look at the outline you should follow when
writing an expository essay:
 Introduction – your opportunity to make a positive first impression. It should consist
of the:
o Hook – the first sentence of the essay; it should include a quote, statistic, an
anecdote, or anything else you find catchy to grab the reader’s attention
o Background info – brief info about the topic itself in order to set the context
for the reader (general to specific)
o Thesis statement – specifies the exact topic you’re going to write about,
things you will explain and analyze (shoot for 1 complex sentence)
 Body paragraphs – the central part of the essay. The number of paragraphs isn’t
specified, you can write as many as you need to thoroughly analyze the subject. In
most cases, 3-5 main sections each with 3-5 paragraphs is sufficient. They should be
written in the following manner:
o Topic 1 – fact 1 + evidence, fact 2 + evidence etc. – basically, each paragraph
starts with a topic sentence that announces what aspect of the subject you’re
going to discuss. Within the paragraph, you mention the facts you discovered
while researching supported by evidence
o Topic 2 – fact 1 + evidence, fact 2 + evidence etc.
o Topic 3 – fact 1 + evidence, fact 2 + evidence etc.
o And so on…
 Conclusion – summary of the thesis, main facts, and evidence. It also discusses the
importance of the subject, raises more questions that make a reader think, and
finishes with call-to-action

Page 2
 Expository Research Essay – Section Block Outline
Topic: Gym
Inquiry Question: What is the main purpose of doing gym?
How can someone develop a muscular physique in a healthy way

Review your mind map and think of each main branch off as a Section, change “HEADING” in
the table below to the correct name of the main branch section in your mind map. From the
section branches, list the sub-section topics you will write about. We are not organizing
information yet, but rather we are selecting the sections of our research essay and the
relevant information we want to include within that section. You do not have to use all 7
sections and you can use more if you want, but the normal research expository essay is
about 3-5 Sections, with 3-5 paragraphs per section – this is a guideline to follow.

INTRODUCTION SECTION 1: Purpose SECTION 2: Place to work

Hook:Gym is extremely _Reduce weight _Gym
popular in society _Build muscle _Yard
Background Info (context): _Prevent health problem _Home
It supports lot of people
Thesis

SECTION 3: Different styles SECTION 4: To avoid SECTION 5: Essential food

in gymnastic injuries
_Back-squad _Warm up _Dairy:Yougurt,cottage
_Leg press _Using right equipment cheese,low fat milk
_Barbell Bench Press _Stretch _Grains:Bread,cereal,
_Meat,fish,poultry

SECTION 6: To work SECTION 7: HEADING CONCLUSION

efficiently
_List out the target Summary of the thesis, main
_Saying no with unhealthy facts, and evidence;
food Importance of topic subject
_Being patient and work and raise more questions;
hard Call to action;

Page 3
 Expository Research Essay – Traditional Outline

Topic: Type your topic here

Inquiry Question: Type your draft primary inquiry question here

DO NOT complete the RED sections of the outline yet, only the BLUE using your mind map
and feedback from peers. Using your Section-block outline as a reference, start to organize
the sections and sub-section information in a traditional outline (below), focusing on
LOGICAL FLOW of information, so that it’s easy for your reader to follow your presentation
of the facts about this topic. You should be asking yourself, “What is the best way to present
this information so that’s it is easy to follow and understand by my readers?”

I. Introduction
a. Hook
b. Background Info
c. Thesis statement
II. Body
a. Section 1: Purpose
i. Body Paragraph 1
ii. Body Paragraph 2
iii. Body Paragraph 3
iv. and so on…
b. Section 2: Place to work
i. Body Paragraph 1
ii. Body Paragraph 2
iii. Body Paragraph 3
iv. and so on…
c. Section 3: Different styles in gymnastic
i. Body Paragraph 1
ii. Body Paragraph 2
iii. Body Paragraph 3
iv. and so on…
d. Section 4: To avoid injuries
i. Body Paragraph 1
ii. Body Paragraph 2
iii. Body Paragraph 3
iv. and so on…
e. Section 5: Essential food
i. Body Paragraph 1
ii. Body Paragraph 2
iii. Body Paragraph 3
iv. and so on…
f. Section 6: To work efficiently

Page 4
 i. Body Paragraph 1
ii. Body Paragraph 2
iii. Body Paragraph 3
iv. and so on…
g.

III. Conclusion
a. Restate thesis
b. Essay’s key points
c. Final points / Call to action

Page 5