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Purpose:

Throughout Units VI and VII, we have discussed the conventions of the expository essay. The purpose of this assignment is to measure your mastery of those conventions by putting your knowledge to practice. As we discussed in Unit VI, Lesson 1, the expository essay is a general term for an essay that expounds upon or explains a topic. The objective of the essay is to convey information to the reader; most importantly, an expository essay is an exploration of a topic, and the tone is explanatory. After choosing your topic, you will need to choose the form that is most appropriate to fit the topic: cause and effect, problem and solution, or sequential. A thesis statement, which contains the paper’s argument, will be appropriate to the form you choose.

Write a 750-1000 word essay about a topic of your choice in the style described within Unit VI and VII.

Process: For the expository essay, you will complete the following steps:

Choose a topic: See Unit VI, Lesson 2, for more information about choosing a topic.

Create a plan of action: See Unit VI, Lesson 3, for strategies for assessing what you already know and assessing what you need to know.

Research the topic: See Unit VI, Lesson 4, for instruction on research methods.

Choose the organization of your essay: Choose between cause and effect, problem and solution, or sequential organization types. See Unit VI, Lesson 1, for a list of the three organizational forms, and see Unit VII, Lesson 1, for a description of thesis statements written according to the organizational form of the essay.

Create a thesis statement: See Unit VII, Lesson 1, for a description of thesis statements written according to the organizational form of the essay.

Draft the essay: See Unit VII, Lesson 1, for keeping brainstorming in mind and Unit VII, Lesson 2, for more on the drafting process and description of each essay section.