Judy Said:

What is a good transition for a 9th grader to use when writing an expository essay?

We Answered:

Due to the fact that ....
In sum...
As I have demonstrated, ...
While it may seem as though X, it has been shown Y.

Philip Said:

where can i find help writing an expository essay on gay marriage?

We Answered:

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Andy Said:

Why shouldn't you use 1st and 2nd persons when writing an expository essay?

We Answered:

Supposing your subject were railways. The only time YOU (1st Person) would be relevant would be when you relate any experience or opinion you might have. But the subject is railways, not you.

Brandon Said:

Tips on writing an expository essay?

We Answered:

Remember to develop a really strong thesis that you can stick with throughout the essay.

Its a good idea to keep a journal (not a huge one, but a journal nonetheless) while you are reading so you can write comments and questions you have down while you are reading. You can write your own responses to interesting sections, questions about things that might not make sense to you for later research, words that you don't quite understand and want to look up, etc.

Get some post-it notes and stick them in the book in places you want to come back to (or simply write down the page number in your journal, use a highlighter in the text if you can, I know if it is a school-owned text that is impossible).

When you are writing an expository essay, you'll probably want to do a lot of paraphrasing. You probably already know what this is, but basically it is taking a section of text and simplifying it without losing the context. Be careful not to plagiarize, even if your intentions were innocent, teachers consider this a big no-no. Paraphrasing is good for avoiding this. When you paraphrase, you can keep the reference to the text short and sweet but still get your point across validly.

As far as references to the novel, do you mean how much should you refer to the novel in your essay when you are discussing it? If so, you can make as many as you need, although, try not to overdo it. If you can read through it and still know what you are talking about, or have someone else read it and not get lost, you probably don't need to refer back to it again as long as you are still on the same point. You don't want your essay to be overwhelmed with references to the book, so what my suggestion would be from personal experience is to make a reference to the book every time you change points. This will keep the references down and ensure you still have an adequate amount of your own thoughts and responses.

Quotations are a nice touch if they are short. Try to avoid quoting huge passages, don't quote to substitute for your own thinking (be insightful! That's the fun in an essay!) and definitely don't quote just because you don't understand the idea enough to paraphrase it. Avoid that!

Also try to stay neutral in an essay like this. Its good to be insightful, but not always as good to become the judge and jury of a person's statements or opinions, even in a novel, if it is an expository essay.

Good luck on this, and if you have more questions, feel free to email me! saya_miller@hotmail.com.

Ben Said:

Is it possible to write an expository/narrative essay?

We Answered:

If you are uncovering new information for the reader, yes you can do this. Information new to a reader can be part of a narrative.