How to Write an Expository Essay: Defination, Format, and Free Examples

What Is an Expository Essay?

An expository essay is writing that requires a student to investigate a subject, evaluate evidence, expound on the subject, and lay out an argument concerning the subject concisely and clearly. The argument can be discussed by analyzing cause and effect, examples, definition, or comparison and contrast.

When writing an expository essay, you only state facts without giving your opinion or being biased. Do not assume that your readers know about the topic by glossing over important or basic details.

An expository essay has five paragraphs; the introduction paragraph, three paragraphs in the main body, and a conclusion paragraph.

1. Introduction 

   Table of Contents

Start your introduction with a question, dilemma, statistics, or statement that will grab your readers’ attention. Introduce your topic briefly and provide your thesis for an expository essay to summarize what you want to talk about.

2. Main Body Paragraphs

Each paragraph should be introduced with a topic sentence that clearly defines the main point. This is followed by two facts to support the main point in the paragraph with evidence and real life examples to prove the statement. Conclude the paragraph with a statement that analytically summarizes all you’ve stated in the paragraph.

3. Conclusion Paragraph

Summarize your main ideas and restate your thesis for the expository essay by rephrasing it. Connect your arguments in the three body paragraphs with the broader topic. Emphasize the value of your research and answer any unanswered questions (if any).

How to Write an Expository Essay: Step-By-Step 

Before you begin writing your expository essay, ensure that you have sufficient and reliable information to expound your ideas. Writing an expository essay follows the following step-by-step procedure.

1. Choose your topic
2. Create an outline
3. Write an introduction
4. Craft the body paragraphs
5. Craft a conclusion
6. Revise your essay

Choose your Topic

Choose a good and interesting expository essay topic. Let your topic be fascinating and captivating to grab your reader’s attention.

Create an Outline

An expository essay outline will help you provide a suitable structure for your expository essay. The logic behind creating an outline is to organize the entire content necessary to write a good expository essay.

Write an Introduction

Expository writing aims to inform or expound on a particular topic. Hence, including an engaging and unknown fact will help hook your reader and urge them to keep reading the essay to the end. Write your expository essay knowing that your reader knows nothing about the topic. Craft a background concerning the topic to help your reader better understand the topic.

When writing your introductory paragraph, be careful with the opening statements and consider the following:

• Ask a question or provide fascinating information.
• Present all relevant information to assist your reader in understanding the message you want to relay in the expository paper
• Craft an effective thesis statement

Craft the Body Paragraphs

These paragraphs provide supporting evidence and expound on the topic in detail. The body has three paragraphs (but may vary depending on the topic), each discussing a separate point related to the topic.

Begin each body paragraph with a topic sentence, state facts and opinions to explain and expand the topic. Use transition words to maintain the essay flow and connect the paragraphs. When writing the body of the essay, keep the following in mind:

• Each paragraph should contain a key idea
• Each idea in the paragraphs should be supported with evidence
• Explain the importance of the examples and facts provided

Craft the Conclusion

Begin an expository essay conclusion by restating your thesis statement. The conclusion should be powerful to provide a clear overview of the topic. Propose further action or add questions to engage your readers. The concluding paragraph should not have new information; it is just a summary of the main points, including a brief restatement of the thesis statement.

Ensure you capture the following in the expository essay conclusion

• An overview of the essay
• A discussion of probable solutions
• A discussion on the significance of your research

Revise and Edit the Expository Essay

Revising the essay helps check the following:

• Sentence structure
• Grammatical and spelling errors
• Punctuation errors
• If your essay has a logical flow
• Check if the essay makes sense
• Remove irrelevant information

Types of Expository Writing

Expository essays can be written in five different ways:

1. Descriptive Essay: A descriptive essay requires the writer to describe something. It could be a situation, experience, place, person, event, etc. Descriptive essays are exceptional as the writer has a lot of freedom concerning the content. It would be best if you wrote a beautiful or exciting essay while keeping your readers interested.
2. Cause and Effect Essay: This type of expository essay explores why or how things happen and the resulting consequence.
3. Comparison Essay: As suggested by the name, this essay makes the writer critically analyze two subjects, look for and explain their similarities and differences.
4. Process Essay: This is the typical “how to” essay. A process essay aims to educate the reader on a learning process, such as making a table, how to skate, design a logo, etc.
5. Problem/Solution Essay: This form of the expository essay introduces the reader to the problem and provides solutions in its body.

Purpose of Expository Writing

Expository writing has the purpose of presenting a balanced and objective description of a topic. The writing format allows for a logical and clear explanation of complex information instead of providing the writer’s view on the subject or proving a point. An expository essay writer tries to explain a concept and impart information to a wider audience. The writer’s opinion does not matter in expository writing; the focus is on acceptable facts on a subject, including statistics and other forms of evidence. Expository writing is a valuable skill to have in many fields of work, including science, business, and journalism.

75+ Expository Essay Topics 

1. Describe advancements in communication in the last 30 years
2. What are the benefits of social media?
3. How can students deal with bullying at school?
4. Does it help to express your emotions?
5. How is the mind affected by music?
6. What attracts people to sad songs when in a depressing situation?
7. Describe the events of the Great Depression in the U.S.
8. What are the stages of personality development?
9. What is emotional intelligence?
10. How has social media affected the way we relate to each other?
11. What lessons have you learned with the outbreak of COVID-19?
12. Explain the effects of World War II.
13. Why do young people prefer rock music to other music genres?
14. Discuss the opioid crisis in the United States.
15. Describe how the technology era has affected communication
16. Discuss the significance of mental health
17. How can one avoid depression?
18. How can one effectively work from home?
19. Why is it important to have basic knowledge of IT?
20. Discuss how to treat a cold at home
21. Discuss how to prevent falls for the elderly at home
22. How to renovate a bathroom cheaply
23. Are marble tiles better than laminate tiles?
24. Are toothpicks good for your teeth?
25. How to sell a house quickly without an agent
26. Discuss the benefits of shopping online using bitcoins
27. What are the consequences of the French revolution?
28. Can mental disorders be treated without professional help?
29. What contributes to depression?
30. What are the effects of drug and alcohol abuse on an unborn baby?
31. Discuss the benefits of using solar energy?
32. Solar energy is more economical than electricity
33. Explain the effects of global warming
34. Why do some countries still practice communism?
35. Explain how cultural beliefs and ethnicity affect the health of a population
36. Which are the latest developments in the study of the human brain?
37. Describe how the newspaper was invented
38. Evaluate the consequences of Queen Elizabeth’s reign
39. What role did astronomy play in ancient Greece?
40. Why is the Gaza strip important to both the Israelis and the Palestinians?
41. Why is it important to allow for negotiations during military operations?
42. The use of art to treat mental disorders?
43. What is an IQ score, and how does it reflect a person’s mental capacity?
44. Is there a connection between being lonely and being hungry?
45. Explain why humans are exploring space.
46. How to write a descriptive essay
47. How is a persuasive essay different from an expository essay?
48. Explain the viewpoints of Mars colonization.
49. Does extraterrestrial life exist?
50. What triggers college students, and how can the triggers be managed?
51. What can be done to curb the rising cases of gun violence in the U.S.?
52. Does your level of education determine if you are a good leader?
53. Is leadership an inborn thing, or can it be acquired?
54. Gender equality in politics
55. Reasons for rising cases of drug and alcohol abuse among teenagers
56. How to deal with change.
57. Which hobbies are unhelpful to teenagers?
58. How to live with an autistic child?
59. Why should you buy health insurance?
60. How has COVID-19 affected the way we do business?
61. Gender equality in the office
62. Pets and toddlers in the home
63. Consequences of teenage pregnancies
64. What is your opinion on double standards?
65. Why is tolerance crucial in a workplace?
66. Electric cars; are they viable?
67. How to spring clean your home?
68. How do you store your fireworks after the New Year festivities?
69. How to write the best thesis statement
70. Difference between overweight and obese
71. Traditional schooling vs online schooling
72. How to become financially independent
73. Is cryptocurrency the future?
74. What are the merits of online shopping?
75. Discuss increased cases of obesity among adolescents and young adults
76. How to set up a home office
77. Discuss the pros and cons of homeschooling
78. What are your views on mercy killing?
79. How can we achieve universal healthcare?
80. Discuss how celebrities influence the lives of teenagers.

How to Start an Expository Essay

When thinking about starting an expository essay, you should start by prewriting an outline. An expository essay outline will help keep you on track and provide you with a template to show you how you should start. A typical expository essay has five paragraphs consisting of an introduction, three main body paragraphs and one conclusion paragraph. You should always follow this format unless instructed otherwise by your instructor.

The next step is to introduce your essay with a hook or catchy phrase to grab your reader’s attention. You can start with a brief story or a fascinating fact. This should be followed by background information, the context, and your readers. When writing, please assume that the reader has never heard about the topic, where your job is to inform and educate them using facts and evidence. The thesis statement is the most significant part of the introduction. A thesis for expository essay informs the reader about the message or information you want to pass along. A thesis statement should be neutral and unbiased in expository writing; it should not be seen to support one side of an argument.

Tip: Write the introduction after you finish drafting the body of the expository essay. By doing this, you will have all the evidence and expository essay ideas fresh in your mind. This will help you extract the thesis and decide the best hook to begin the expository essay.

Expository Essay Format

An expository essay follows the MLA writing format.

• Times New Roman font, 12-point and 16-point font for the title unless instructed otherwise. You can also use Georgia font and Arial font.
• Double-spacing and, in some instances, 1.5 is also allowed.
• Word count varies from 500 – 2000 words.
• Alignment is justified

Who Will Write My Expository Essay

It is a daunting task to write an engaging essay when you are prohibited from writing out of passion or personality. For this reason, you should hire a qualified expert expository essay writer to write your essay.

You might have written an expository essay while in high school, where you were allowed to be a bit emotional. However, as an undergraduate or graduate, your instructor expects you to write factually and concisely without giving an opinion on the subject matter. You can lose marks by simply putting emotions or stating your view in an expository essay.

Despite our expository essay writers being extremely passionate about what they do, they are professionals who know the components of a good expository essay. They can write factually and logically and still manage to keep the reader engaged in the essay contents, which is a distinct skill.

Our writers create high-quality papers that present reliable logic and legitimate facts without displaying their personal views. They will logically create your expository essay and apply format language to expound on the expository essay topics to show that you are well-versed with the topic. Our company only hires the best writers aware of what professors look for in an expository essay. We provide affordable and high-quality expository essays. We ensure that our writers do not compromise on quality even though our services are inexpensive.

How is this possible?

By employing only skilled expository essay writers with sufficient skills to craft these papers, we ensure that you are well-taken care of. For many years, we have helped students all over the world to compose expository essays successfully. As a top-rated expository essay writing service, our commitment is to ensure that we only deliver the best papers. Working with us will guarantee you high-quality, plagiarism-free, and grammatical error-free work to represent your essay writing skills in the best way.

Starting with choosing the expository essay topic, guiding the student on the best way to write and present the essay, our academic writing team is always ready to assist you. If you are looking for someone to write a flawless expository essay for you, contact us any time of the day or night. Our customer support team is available 24/7 to attend to any questions and inquiries from our clients and prospective clients. Order a custom expository essay today, and you will appreciate our effectiveness and efficiency.