EXPOSITORY DESCRIPTIVE WRITING What is Expository Writing Expository

EXPOSITORY & DESCRIPTIVE WRITING

What is Expository Writing? ◦ Expository writing is a type of oral or written discourse that is used to explain, describe, give information, or inform. ◦ Expository Essays: Definition, Cause and Effect, Argument, Description, etc. ◦ Expository Writing can: ◦ Introduce a person to authors, artists, or works. ◦ Explain content (introduce a reader to time, place, characters, etc. ) ◦ Explain a process (instructive and informative) ◦ Make connections (show a work relates to others, self, culture, etc. ) ◦ Give context (relation of a text to a work)

Expository Writing ◦ Expository Writing has two main components: ◦ Thesis Topic + Structure ◦ Support Explanation ◦ A good expository essay requires you to know two things well: ◦ Topic Research ◦ Audience: how much background, terms, type of info to provide (can’t assume the reader has prior knowledge or understanding of the topic) ◦ Two things that are very important in expository writing: ◦ Clarity ◦ Organization

Description ◦ To describe is to create a verbal picture. A person, a place, a thing— even an idea or a state of mind—can be made vividly concrete through description. ◦ Dominant Impression: the single quality, mood, or atmosphere the writer wishes to emphasize. It is created through the careful selection of details, and is influenced by the writer’s subject, audience, and purpose.

Description ◦ Example: ◦ For this particular Thursday game against Stanford, Fleming wears white gloves, a maroon sport coat with brass buttons, and gray slacks. Shiny silver-framed bifocals match the whistle pressed between the lips on his slightly wrinkled face, and he wears freshly polished black shoes so glossy that they reflect the grass he stands on. He is not fat, but his coat neatly conceals a small, round pot belly.

Writing a Description ◦ The writer must gather many details about a subject, relying on all of the senses— sight, touch, taste, smell, hearing. ◦ Writers must plan the order in which to present their descriptive details: the pattern of organization must fit the subject. ◦ Spatial organization (visual): used when describing a person, place, or thing. It begins at a particular point and moves in some direction (left to right, top to bottom, etc). ◦ Logical(order that makes sense): can take many forms depending on the writer’s purpose. Examples include moving from general to specific, smallest to biggest, etc. ◦ Chronological (time order): used to present a sequence of events as they occurred

Writing a Description ◦ How much detail is enough? ◦ A good description includes enough vivid details to create a dominant impression and to bring a scene to life, but not so many that the readers are distracted, confused, or bored. ◦ Usually writers use description to create the setting for a story, to illustrate ideas, to help clarify a definition or a comparison, or to make the complexities of a process more understandable.