Return to Modes of Writing Descriptive | Narrative | Expository | Persuasive Teaching Tips: (adapted from Oregon State Department of Education publication and McDougal Littell's The Language of Literature and Writer's Craft)

The Expository Mode

Definition:	Expository writing gives information, explains something, clarifies a process or defines a concept. Though objective and not dependent on emotion, expository writing may be lively, engaging, and reflective of the writer's underlying commitment to the topic. Expository writing is characterized by the following: development of a main idea; support of the main idea using examples, details, and/or facts; presentation of logically organized information; commitment to the topic.
Forms:	Expository writing appears in letters, newsletters, definitions, guidebooks, catalogues, newspaper articles, magazine articles, how-to writing, pamphlets, comparison/contrast essays, cause-effect essays, problem-solution essays, reports, research papers, literary analyses, to name just a few. Whatever the form, its purpose is to inform, explain, clarify, define, or instruct.
Guidelines:	No matter how expository writing is used, the following guidelines for good expository writing will help. Students should state the main idea; support main idea using examples, details, and/or facts; present information logically organized; show commitment to the topic.

Vancouver School District - Spring 1999