Characteristics of expository writing include clear and concise, step-by-step style. This method of writing has advantages and disadvantages.
An expository text discusses an idea based on factual data. The writing style is clear and concise while building toward a concluding argument. Examples of expository texts include most writing assignments for school and college students, driving directions, cooking instructions, and "how to" articles.
Characteristics of an Expository Text
The expository text informs, describes or explains a topic through chronological, sequential format. Typically the paragraph will begin with words such as "first," "next," and "then". This format relies on cause and effect logic, avoids first person pronouns, and does not state the author's opinion. An expository text is usually written with the assumption that the reader has no knowledge of the topic being presented. The premise of an expository text is to explain or clarify a difficult subject.
Advantages of Expository Writing
Expository texts are very useful in communicating step by step, instructional information as well as explaining or describing a difficult subject. It is a format that allows the reader to easily follow and understand instructions that can serve as functional knowledge of a topic.The clear and concise style of the writing allows the reader to utilize the information in an unambiguous, straightforward way. The data driven, factually based presentation of the information assures the reader that the information is based on experience and is objective.
Disadvantages of Expository Writing
The chronological nature of an expository explanation may not be suitable for the nonsequential nature of events. Whereas assembling a piece of furniture, or cooking a recipe, might necessitate a step-by-step procedure for a consistent result, natural events are typically not linear. An expository history may be described to explain the cause and effect sequence of an event, however, that history is typically only one of many possible histories. The nature of an expository text might place the author, and subsequently the reader, in the position of understanding the topic through the customs of the expository text. This could include forcing a topic into a singular, cause and effect sequence, as well as a writing style that infers an absolute objectivity free from opinion.
Expository Text as a Tool
Evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of expository writing as a method of understanding and explanation can be misleading. The expository method is a tool that can be effective for a specific purpose. It can also result in a selective and narrow understanding of the topic explored.
For example, viewing expository writing as a tool, like a hammer, shows that it might be effective for specific tasks, such as hammering a nail, but ineffective for tasks that might be better suited for a screwdriver.
Students who are taught to research and write exclusively in the expository method may be limited by a singular approach to research.
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