Expository Paragraphs

Specific Details

We will return later on to some of the lighter kinds of writing, but first let's turn our attention to a more academic-style of writing, one that is frequently needed for papers in an academic environment. Unlike descriptive paragraphs which are supposed to describe something (by giving a series of details) or narratives that tell a story (by describing a series of events), the purpose of expository paragraphs is to explain or analyze a topic. Its topic sentence generally suggests to the reader that its controlling idea will be supported with 1) information, 2) an explanation, 3) facts, or 4) illustrations.

An expository paragraph, like the descriptive and narrative paragraphs that we have discussed, also contains a topic sentence, in which the topic and controlling idea are clearly stated, which introduce the topic of the paragraph and state the author's idea or attitude about the topic. Therefore, all the sentences in the paragraph will attempt to "prove" this point you the author want to make.
To illustrate, let us look at the following topic sentence to identify the topic and the controlling idea about going to college in the United States:

Going to college or university can be very expensive.

In this sentence, the topic is going to college; the controlling idea is that it can be very expensive. Now lets check and see how well the author has proven this controlling idea:

Going to college or university can be very expensive. It is well known that tuition and room and board are not cheap. But there are other expenses that make going to college even more expensive. For instance, the cost of books and supplies is high. In addition, there are other fees tacked onto the bill at registration. Students usually have to pay for using the health and sports facilities as well as Internet connections. And if a student decides to add or drop a class after the semester has started that will cost extra money as well. The expenses never seem to end.

The author has given the reader a good idea of what kind of expenses a student is confronted with at college or university but do the readers truly have and idea of how expensive it can be? For most readers this is not enough information and leaves them wondering what expensive means to the author, after all that is very relative. As stated above, the topic can be supported with 1) information, 2) an explanation, 3) facts, or 4) illustrations. For this topic, details would add some valuable information to prove the author's point.

Let us once again look at this paragraph with some details added:

Going to college or university can be very expensive. It is well known that tuition can be very expensive. At some private universities, it can cost up to $25,000 a year. And even though it is much cheaper to attend a state university, it can cost up to $1,500 a year, which is still a lot of money for a poor student. Room and board are also not cheap. If a student lives on campus, it normally costs $400-$500 just for the room and utilities. Food on campus can run between $300 and $400 more. If a student chooses to live off campus all of these expenses can be reduced by at least $100 each but then the students must take the time to pay the monthly bills and cook for themselves. In addition to these major expenses, books and supplies usually cost between $250-$400 dollars per semester. The student must also calculate the extra $250 which are tacked onto the bill at registration for using the health and sports facilities as well as Internet connections. And if a student decides to add or drop a class after the semester has started that will cost another 10% of the university fees as well. The expenses never seem to end.

The reader now has a much better idea of exactly how expensive life at college can be.

For this week your assignment is to choose a topic and controlling idea, which you can support, making use of details for each support. Here are some suggested topics to choose from:

  1. The Internet is very helpful for learning;
  2. Using music in the English classroom helps the students in several ways;
  3. Students choosing English as a major should have certain interests, such as reading literature, culture, and linguistics;
  4. For the KISD students: The field of design takes in many areas.
  5. What is an elite university? (or anything related to this controversial topic)
  6. Free choice for all of you who have thought about something in the past weeks that has been inviting you to write about it.

Here is another example from a student that might give you some ideas of what to write about and which is very nicely structured.

I hope you all pick a topic that interests you so that you can enjoy your writing!

P.S. I have enjoyed the texts I received this week and look forward to some more from this lesson. So would those of you with the passwords starting with 11 to 20 send me your texts? That is if you want to.

I also wanted to announce an extra meeting for the students at each of the universities to get together and discuss any problems or questions on texts, etc that some of you may have: for the University of Münster, University of Cologne, and KISD please check the dates and times.

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