Characteristics of Expository Essays

COM150 Week 2 Assignment: Characteristics of Expository Essays

 Resources: Characteristics of Expository Essays, The Art of Cookery Web site, About Web site, and the Fishing Florida Online Magazine Web site

 Due Date: Day 7 [Individual] forum

 Read two of the following essays:

o http://www.artofcookery.com/settingthetable.htm

o http://womenshistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa062899.htm

o http://deafness.about.com/cs/cochlearfeatures/a/cochlearimplant.htm

o http://capmel.com/how_to-fillet_fish.htm

 Address the following points about the two essays you read:

o What characteristics make these essays expository?

o Identify the type of organization each author used to develop the essay (topic, time order, space order, or informative process).

o Why do you think each author chose that type of organization for his or her essay? In what ways does this organizational choice make the essay effective? What effect could the author have achieved with another type of organization or another type of expository essay?

o In what ways are these expository essays alike? In what ways are they different?

o Explain your answers.

The two articles I choose are “A Soul as Free as the Air” by Jone Johnson Lewis found at About.com.  The other was “How to Clean Fish” by Gary Poyssick at Fishing Florida OnLine Magazine. 

The organization of these two essays seems most logical for the topic.  The choice allows the article to flow in the direction the author wants the reader to go.  If the author was to have used another organizational type the effect may have been flowed as effectively, although I believe, a good author could have made it work, but maybe not completely in the way they author wished.

The two essays are alike in a few ways that also classify them as expository essays.  They have both have an introduction that includes the thesis, or topic, of the article.  Both are supported by facts written in a cohesive structure.  Each uses a different form of expository essay to introduce their facts.  One uses a time order structure in order to explain and show facts which occurred in the life of Lucy Stone. The other has a more informative structure in order to show the process one would take in order to fillet a fish.

Expository Essay Topic

COM150 CheckPoint: Expository Essay Topic

Before you begin the writing process, you must select a topic that is interesting to you and your readers. Inexperienced writers sometimes make the mistake of attempting to write about a topic that is too broad. You may want to start by doing some preliminary reading about your topic and then determining how you want to approach the subject. Ask yourself the following questions: Which aspect of this topic is most interesting to me? What do I want to know more about? Chances are your readers will feel the same way.

 Resources: Appendix A and the Axia College Writing Resources Web Site

 Due Date: Day 3 [post to the Individual forum]

 Select a topic from Appendix A or from http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/hrel/toplinks/ at the Axia College Writing Resources Web Site.

 Explain how you plan to narrow your topic for the expository essay.

 Post both your topic and explanation.

The Topic I chose:

The plight of the honeybee is an interesting topic to me.  There are some that believe the honeybee is becoming endangered and even more to the point is that somehow that the extinction of the honeybee could have drastic consequences on the human race.  I would love to explore the consequences of honeybee endangerment and/or extinction.  It is definitely a topic that interests me and this assignment offers me the opportunity to do the research I have wanted to do but have not found time to do.   I am not sure that researching the consequences is such a broad subject as to require narrowing.  I would like to do my final project on this subject, if you find this topic acceptable.