How to Write an Explanatory Essay

Hello, it’s Mike Brown again. I believe you have enjoyed my last blogs, so here is another one for you. As always, all my articles are from my perspective, so you can agree or disagree with some. But I guarantee you will learn more than you will agree with.

So, today, I’ll be writing about explanatory essays. So, here is the key phrase: How to write an explanatory essay. Shall we?

Say you just finished a movie (POV: Tenet by Christopher Nolan), and while the credits are coming up, you look to your right and see a friend looking confused at the credits, wondering what exactly he just watched (I had to watch the movie twice, and I still cannot wrap my head around the whole idea. Christopher Nolan is not human).

You ask, “what’s wrong?” He utters while blinking, “I have no idea what I just watched. Can you explain the whole movie?” You then start by explaining what unfolded, chipping in your opinions and thoughts as you describe.

What you just did is called an explanatory “talk”, which, if written down, would amount to the same as an explanatory essay.

Do you get it now? Now let’s move.

How to write an explanatory essay introduction: Defining an explanatory essay

It can be challenging, if not overly challenging to break down intricate and complex ideas into everyday terms and phrases, hence, the need for written pieces like explanatory essays. These are also called expository essays (I’ll discuss that later). They are pieces of writing whose sole purpose is to explain and break down a specific concept, theme, topic, or idea so that anybody and everybody can understand it. While you will find more of these writing pieces in academia, you can also find them in magazines, newspapers, journals, and online publications in specific fields.

For instance, if your teacher gives you the assignment to explain how a motorcycle engine works, you will have to provide a detailed description of how the different parts of the engine come together to make the car work. Another example would be to elucidate photosynthesis. For this task, you must explain how plants trap sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water and use it to create energy.

While thinking of how to answer “how to write an explanatory essay,” do not forget that the purpose is to help the reader understand the topic better. It is quite unlike an opinion essay, where you must argue for or against a specific perspective or viewpoint. Instead, you have to present all points objectively and without bias. When the reader is done reading your explanatory essay, they should be able to talk about the topic you have written about in their own words. This shows that they understand what they have read.

You should also know that there is no preset number of paragraphs in an expository essay; it depends on how complex the topic is and how many words you must put down. Nevertheless, your explanatory essay will follow the usual essay writing structure — introduction, body, and conclusion — and this will help answer the question, “how many paragraphs are in an explanatory essay?”

However, seeing that the focus of an explanatory essay is ensuring that readers understand as properly as possible, you can use as many paragraphs as possible; just ensure you provide a brief and thorough explanation of the concept.

How to write a thesis statement for an explanatory essay: A step-by-step guide

This section is a step-by-step guide on how to write an explanatory essay. Here we go!

1. Preparation

Writing an explanatory essay requires preparing properly, as with any other essay type or subtype. If you do not prepare well, then, in the words of Benjamin Franklin (there are doubts it’s Ben’s!), you are on the path of failure and not success. More preparation means more work quality, which means a better score than you expected. Conversely, less preparation amounts to lesser grades. Preparation involves knowing what to do and when to do it. Here are the steps and their substeps to help you write the best explanatory essay no one has seen yet…

• Create a topic

Every student must understand and interpret an explanatory essay’s question statement as clearly as possible. This applies to writers who need to understand speech topics or prompts. Ultimately, the most effective way of breaking down a topic for understanding is to read it, identify the complex words and terms, find their meanings, and put the sentence back together for consistent interpretation. Last, the student must understand what the teacher wants back as an answer before lifting a pen.

• Recognize all issues

Practical writers know that taking their time to treat all the issues associated with an expository essay’s theme topic is key to quality delivery. Say you are given a topic that says, “discuss some events that occurred in the life of your favorite soccer player, war commander, superhero, king, or singer and expatiate on how those occurrences help the person reach the heights they have reached.”

To answer this question, one must delineate vital concepts that the character faced at the required time. If you opt for the athlete, you will need to clearly describe the character’s performances over the years and how they have used their skill to garner personal achievements. In doing this, you will need to know all the factors that will help you describe a topic best.

• Formulating concepts and ideas

Exceptional writers know the efficacy of developing ideas relevant to the topics they write on. Gathering points that support the topic directly is important, as it will help maintain relevance and direction. Good writers gather their points together, ensuring no break in flow from beginning through till the conclusion. Also, organizing thoughts before responding to explanatory essay questions is important.

Hence, it is not bad for you as a writer to use data organizing charts like flashcards and flow charts to help you identify essential concepts that will become key in your essay structure and arrangement. So, summarily, prepare your ideas to ensure flow and avoid omitting less important (but important nonetheless) keywords.

• Who is my audience?

Explanatory essays aim to persuade readers that a position taken in the essay remains the best position. Hence it is important to recognize who the audience is and what they want to see when they read. In this case, exceptional writers must prepare their essays so the audience will accept them. How do you do this? Firstly, by considering the language competency and knowledge of the proposed audience.

Following this, they should ensure that the language in use should be exciting and straightforward, as there would be young outliers in the audience who might not have developed an experienced palate for their reading. Writers need to know how to persuade the audience through figurative language to support what has been put down or presented. Altogether, this makes a fine approach for writers to pass their message to the known audience.

• Which structure should the essay adopt?

When thinking about the type of audience that will take your writing, another thought follows, “how will I structure my essay to make it as familiar and as acceptable as possible among my audience?” Writers use different styles to convey their messages, and you should not be left behind. Using your essay’s standard structure is good as it will be generally accepted, and the ideas will flow more easily for the audience. It will also help you spot inconsistencies and things that are out of place as they would not fit in and will most likely reduce the quality of your essay.
https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/essay-structure

2. Setting up

Good writers set up the stage that will house their writing themselves. But, to set up the stage, all the parts need to know where they fit in and when to appear, just like in a school play or musical. All your ideas need to be organized to form a beautiful symphony. Doing this requires researching which is better for what and which should support which. This is what setting up the stage is, finding which content falls under which and which one is the most vital piece that holds everyone together.

Here are the steps for setting up in an essay writing:

• Getting sources

Academic essays are to contain evidence or proof that you get from credibly credible sources. Outstanding writers know that to write acceptable essays, they must search for reliable sources that contain examples, theories, and facts that will authenticate their points and help them present them better in their explanatory essays. Furthermore, these sources must support the writer’s view solidly and wholly.

Then research must not be narrow; it should cover a wide range of writers, regions, and fields if need be. This is why academia encourages and teaches that students should use various kinds of writings to support their theories, be it peer-reviewed articles, credible websites such as government and medical websites, volumes, and journals as sources of evidence. Sources must be indisputable and should provide indisputable evidence for their explanatory essays. In turn, a diligent student should ensure all sources are relevant to the topic and must remain credible.

• Making notes

Note-taking is an essential activity when it comes to writing and even beyond writing. While reading during research and searching for credible sources, making notes will help you channel your first instinct towards your structure and manner of approach to various parts of the essay.

Quality and relevant notes are the goals here. This is because they play a vital role in helping writers remember how they want to use the gathered evidence to support their ideas and opinions. A diligent writer must learn to take notes during preparation, which must be relevant and quality.

• Creating your outline

Outlines differentiate writers and identify a person’s thought process. It is not uncommon to see outlines with a good number of headers and paragraphs, all in a bid to properly explain the points and ideas. The more exhaustive your outline, the better your essay will be, as it will help you streamline your writing and focus better on details.

Exceptional essay outlines must have an introduction (could be brief), a solid thesis statement (I’ll probably talk about that in another installment), and the primary points that lend credence to the main argument(s).

• Developing a properly annotated bibliography for your expository essay

An annotated bibliography refers to listing bibliographic entries for the sources you used when writing your paper. It is important to follow the required formatting guidelines (refer to the instructions given by your professor) for preparing bibliographic entries.

For an annotation to be credible, it has to have three paragraphs: a summary, a text evaluation, and another text that examines how it applies to the study. All these sections play an important role in showing the writer and the readers how the source is relevant to the primary argument(s). Also, it helps you learn how to extract only parts that support your ideas from sources.

How to write an informative explanatory essay

This stage is the part where you bring all the sections together. Writing is that process that assembles everything you have been gathering since you saw the topic. It’s like cooking; you have gone to the market to get every ingredient you need to make lasagna, and now you are making lasagna. Although making lasagna does not exactly start with your visit to the market or the grocery store, it is needed as this is the step that defines all your efforts.

In the same vein, students must bring all the “ingredients” together — references, citations, sources, ideas — to create a unique essay supporting their thoughts or beliefs. Here are the steps you will need to create the best essay, that essay that rocks your professor’s socks off:

• Create a draft

This is where note-taking comes in handy. With the notes you have taken and your thesis statement, you will develop a draft of your essay. Good drafts should not veer too much from the standard essay format and must comprise basic and relevant sections and parts. For starters, drafts should have introductions, a body, and a conclusion.

This helps you picture the end of your essay (what your essay will look like) from the beginning. Also, it helps writers identify key factors that relate to their structure. Hence, having a draft of your expository essay ready is the first step to arranging all your writing in a way that induces good flow.

• Adding all of it up

Essay writers need to combine all of the compiled information to send out the message. Each aspect should have all it needs to be complete, and all sections and paragraphs rightly follow each other logically. All this is necessary to help you create an essay so people can read and grab the message. Also, one needs this as it can be used as a reference for revisions, especially when written so well.

• Replacing sources

You may have to replace some sources that seemed so right previously. You need to be as flexible as possible when identifying credible sources as you can either find better ones (that support the main argument better) or bring a different but vital view to it. The clarity in the message is important, and writers need to ensure it is as applicable as possible before moving on.

If some sources do not seem applicable after adding all your writing together, which is possible, you need to remove them and find new ones. You can go for weightier evidence — the more they support your main argument and opinions, the better — and either replace or make some major ones and the others minor.

• Changing your outline

Good essay writers should also remain flexible enough to change their outlines. This usually happens after you have adjusted some sources in your initial draft. Also, these changes usually come off as necessary alterations simply because they need to relate to the essay topic or a subform. This helps you maintain focus and significance to the topic throughout your essay. Also, a reviewed outline is important as it allows you to create a solid structure for your final submission. So, when you get new sources, ensure it reflects in your drafts, too.

• Get a working thesis.

Every paper must have a notable thesis statement that covers the primary concept or idea. Before now, you should know that every paper would include a thesis statement. That statement keenly and accurately summarizes the writer’s opinion or position.

Thesis statements should appear in the introduction, and students should use the draft and outline (revised) to create the statement to ensure harmony. This statement shows readers and other writers that you understand what you have written in a few words. Once readers can relate to the thesis statement, they know what they are about to read, and they will be able to agree or disagree faster and lay down their opposing points in return.

How to write a conclusion for an explanatory essay

The concluding stage of drafting an expository essay is all about revising and polishing every part of the essay. At this point, the objective is to proofread your paper and make it as flawless as possible while communicating the main message effectively before submission. Polishing requires attention to detail, which is a key attribute needed at this time. Here are the steps you will need to undergo to submit the best explanatory essay you have ever written:

• Revising

The best papers have gone through much revising, which is on point. Having a rigorous revising procedure will help your explanatory essay meet the expected quality your professor demands. There are some factors to consider when revising: spelling, paragraphs, and grammar. Then you must revise depending on the requested language format, ensuring that American words are spelt “Americanly.”

A paper’s grammar enhances readability, which should be your target. If your paper has some unreadable elements, you cannot submit it. To help you, give your friends a copy each to look through and give their comments on what they understand and what they do not. You can spot common mistakes you could not get before now because you wrote them yourself. A fresh set of eyes and minds does not hurt in any way.

• Editing

Editing is another key step in the “wrapping up” process. Writers should always consider making vital changes to their explanatory essay when it is time to edit. Much of this step involves deleting or rewriting vague statements and adding more evidence to improve the quality of the essay.

You should also ask friends to give their opinions as critics of your ideas and opinions. This does not mean you should change; it only means you want to test your essay in shallow waters before submitting it. Editing ensures that the paper is more readable and understandable. A good score is a goal. Never forget that.

• Check topic sentences

Having a topic sentence that relates to your essay’s central claim is the hallmark of a proper explanatory essay. Every paragraph or section should begin with a topic sentence. This statement acts more like a doorman, opening the doors to the rest of the paragraph or section. It should hinge on one idea and be connected easily to the thesis statement present where? In the introduction, remember?

Topic phrases will also be of good help to writers when writing essays of this sort. If not used, the whole paragraph or page might appear unclear and offer a wrong (or none at all) meaning. Hence, you should avoid discussing too many points on one page or section, as it will improve the essay’s overall quality. The more focused your explanatory essay is, the more marks you will get.

• Concluding sentences

Well-written essays need to be brought to a conclusion with skill. The last sentence in every paragraph should summarize the main idea in the section or paragraph. The concluding line must give closure in summary form without bringing in new arguments or evidence. If you do not do this properly or at all, you risk disconnecting your readers at the last and most important minute. Also, the last sentence must always be connected to the ideas presented in your topic sentence for each section.

• Transitioning

You must link each section to the next with linking phrases. You must use transition words like because, and so throughout your entire expository essay to help the reader move from one section to another without needing to track back. However, there is such a thing as using too many transition words when writing essays; try avoiding that.

Flaws of this kind reduce readability and might cause your readers to consistently get lost while moving between sections, paragraphs and points. You must learn how to use transition words properly; otherwise, they might be the one factor that does not allow your readers to get your message and allow you to get top marks.

How to write an explanatory essay on a quote: useful tips to use

Here are some useful tips to use when writing explanatory/expository essays:

• Start your introduction with a delicious hook. You can check online for how to write a hook for an explanatory essay.

• Get information on how to write an introduction paragraph for an explanatory essay. They could make or mar your score.

• Offer context where needed.

• Preview your main points in the introduction before diving in

• Keep your introduction short and straight to the point

• Organize paragraphs with logic

• Offer analysis where needed

• Summarize the main points at least once.

• Offer your recommendation too.

• Show readers how important your topic is

• End with a powerful or inspirational quote to raise the spirits as much as possible. Note that this is optional.

How to differentiate between explanatory and expository essays

While explanatory essays are also expository essays, not everyone agrees. If you check online, you might see many websites and journals giving their opinions about which is which and which is not. Some might even say that expository essays no longer exist.

So which should you go with?

A smart answer is to go with whichever one your teacher says. Trust me, that’s the smartest thing to do.

So, if your professor gives you an expository essay as your assignment, then you’re doing an expository essay. If it comes as an explanatory essay, then you are doing an explanatory essay.

While some academics define explanatory essays as writing that explains what something is, how it was developed, and how it works in part or as a whole, others define it simply as an essay that describes a viewpoint or examines the efficacy of a thing. So, if you were told to write an essay on a local housing policy, for example, you would talk about how it was developed (that is, its history and creation) and how effective it has been if it has been in place for a while.

Some professors then define expository essays as writing that uncovers the reality or myth surrounding a person, place, object, or idea through analysis and investigation. I have to say, defining these two essays separately does not need to be so technical. As long as they both 1) come off with objective perspectives and 2) are logically placed by facts and theory (and include some analysis if requested by the professor), then our essays are good to go, whether expository or explanatory. Get it? Good. Moving on.

Types of explanatory essays

Up next are the types or sub-forms of explanatory essays.

There are seven types of or sub-forms of explanatory essays in academia and other places you will find them. I’ll list ’em, mention their characteristics and give topic examples of them. All you need is to follow me carefully so you can get the gist as much as I want you to.

Definition essay

‍Also known as a descriptive essay and probably the most basic type of explanatory essay, the sub-form describes anything — person, place, thing, concept, and what have you.

In this explanatory essay type, you are to explain, define, and expand on a concept (whether simple or complicated, but usually unfamiliar and complicated) to your audience in a more open and easier-to-grab approach.

Furthermore, while your introduction introduces and unravels the concept, your personal views and opinions should also appear to let people distinguish later between what is fact and what is your fact.

After the introduction, you can start proving what needs to be proved by writing detailed, well-structured, relevant, and well-researched content. You then summarize in the conclusion and add a few personal notes.

An example of an essay of this type is “How Do Suspension Bridges Work?” The essay will revolve around the construction of suspension bridges and how they are uniquely designed to carry that much weight.

Some other examples of this type of essay are:

• What is sleep paralysis?

• What’s your definition of a superhero?

• Define contemporary music

Cause and effect essay

This essay type revolves around a situation, showing what caused it to happen and what it affected by happening. You will need to answer questions (albeit basic) like “what caused this?” and “what will happen now that this has happened?” You can do this by either the block pattern, where you explain all the causes in the preceding section and mention the effects (in order) in another section, or by chain pattern, where you explain each cause and its corresponding effect one by one.

An example of this essay is” How Highways Funded By The Government Helped Transform America”. This essay will discuss the creation of federally funded highways by implementing federal programs by US senators who felt that was the next way to go regarding the country’s development. You will then explain the effect the highways had on several regions of the country at all levels — communities, economies, cities, towns — and you can chip in some public responses at the time.

Some other examples of cause-and-effect essays include:

• Cause and effect of smoking on human beings

• Cause and effect of homelessness around the world.

Compare and contrast essay

In this essay type, you are to take two things (phenomenon, people, objects, situations, events), gather facts and theories about them, and outline their similarities and differences.

It is typical of the objects being compared and contrasted with belonging to a category, albeit uniquely. For instance, if you are to write an essay about high school and college, all you need to do is highlight what they share and what’s different. You can relate the manner of teaching, curriculum, grading systems and processes, campus life and parties, etc. Sounds easy, right?

You must use the chain and block pattern to make this essay work.

An example of this essay is “Electric vs Fuel-powered Cars” You will have to talk about the characteristics of each, citing their processes, how they work, ease of use, and pros and cons. You can create categories and work with them: fuel/energy consumption, size, drive time, and cost.

Some other examples of compare and contrast essays include:

• Which is better for businesses: Instagram or TikTok.

• American vs British English: What are the differences?

• Which breed is best as a pet: golden or labrador retriever?

‍How-to essay

Almost everyone must have written an essay in this format; it is that prevalent. In this essay, you are to explain a procedure (doing or creating something), and the best way of doing so is to take the person through the steps of that procedure one after the other. Now you understand why the name of the essay is “How-To.”

Writing a “how-to” essay aims to provide your readers with the required steps to the end when they follow the steps and get the expected result as accurately as possible.

An example of a “How-To” essay is “How to order pizza from McDonald’s.” Yeah, I order takeout in a while to assuage my hungry appetite. I know I have to work it off in the gym anyways. So the essay will contain the best steps to order pizza from Mcdonalds’ — from making calls to payments along with every other thing you need to know — what to do and what not to do — so you get your correct and complete delivery by your door.

Some other examples of how-to essay topics are:

• How To Get The Best Parking Spots At the Mall

• How To Apply and Get a Permanent Residency Visa

• How to Start a Business and Keep It Running

Classification essay

In this essay type, as the name implies, you are to classify points of a particular topic into distinct sections or groups with solid accuracy and logic. In other words, you must classify scenarios, events, objects, and people with similar characteristics into different groups. You will then explain why you have classified it that way.

To help your essay look authoritative and of good quality, use quality references and examples for each section or category you have selected.

Some examples of classification essay questions are:

• Which driver type is most dangerous to other drivers: speeding, distracted, or drunk?

• Which is the best portable electronic device to own: a smartphone or tablets?

• What’s the best type of music: opera, jazz, or hip-hop?

Explanation synthesis essay

I’m sure you’ve never heard of this type of essay. This is because it is not so common.

This essay type is used when using different sources to explain a specific point of view. In other words, you’re synthesizing between two things. What’s more, you do not have to choose a side or try to convince the reader of an option for a side. Its main objective is to highlight and analyze similarities and differences. You can check online to learn how to write an explanatory synthesis essay.

Some examples of explanatory synthesis essays are:

• Renewable energy and wind power

• Traditional vs homeschooling school

• Having a higher education is much better than being a college dropout.

Problem and solution essay

The problem and solution essay is simply identifying an issue or problem you will need to extract from the topic and supplying the best way (or ways) to solve it in your own opinion. You can determine how you look at the problem (single or multiple views) and outline your approach to determining the best solution that fits. You can also combine the compare and contrast technique to help you find the best solution.

An example of a problem and solution essay topic is “How to solve obesity in America with bike infrastructure.” This will highlight the obesity problem caused by an overreliance on vehicles (cars, buses, SUVs) and how introducing bike infrastructure like bike lanes and trails could push Americans to be more physically active and get healthier through pedaling and cycling.

Some other examples of problem and solution essay questions are:

• The rising issue of animal abuse

• The growing lack of clean water in indian cities and towns

• How bribery is being made to look normal

‍Chronology essay

This essay handles the history behind a person, event, thing, concept, or myth in chronological order. Every chronology essay starts from the past into the present and suggests what could have been in the future.

An example is “World War 2” An essay on this topic will explain how World War Two started, what caused it, how it went on and out, and how it affected the world into the future.

So, which is your favorite? Haven’t you decided yet? Well, there is a lot of time left to decide, and that is why we will also be discussing the writing process. If you’ve read this far, you should read till the end because there is a lot to learn.

Other examples of chronological essay topics are:

• The man: Winston Churchill

• How the mayan civilization came to be

Conclusion

I believe you are no longer in doubt about what an explanatory or expository essay is and how to start writing one. Every sentence I have made in this article is there for you to read, understand, and apply when writing an explanatory essay. Apply those tips, and you are well on your way to getting top marks. I remain here, your humble friend and opinion writer.