Exposition Essay Outline Instructions
Exposition Essay Outline Instructions
(Due this week, 21FEB)
Assignment:
- Scroll up and read “Writing the University Essay” and “Outline Example” in the Reading folder, above.
- Scroll down and read the Expository Essay Instructions, below.
- Choose one of the three topics for your expository essay.
- Brainstorm. Meditate. Plan. Daydream. Organize. Decide what you want to say and how you want to write your Expository Essay.
- Write a clear, organized outline with as much information as you can.
- Proofread and edit before submitting on Sunday (Turnitin link, below).
Requirements:
The Expository essay must meet the following format guidelines:
- Be in MLA Manuscript Format
- Have 1-inch top, bottom, right and left margins;
- Times New Roman 12 font;
- Running header with last name and page number;
- MLA compliant title block on first page;
- All content double spaced.
The Expository Essay must meet the following content and mechanics guidelines:
- Have a clear thesis statement and three main ideas (mapping statements) to support it;
- Be organized logically so that main ideas connect back to the thesis statement;
- Provide adequate levels of points and subpoints to make clear what your essay will be about;
- Contain a clear introduction, body, and conclusion;
- Be clearly usable by you as a framework for college-level writing;
- Have a complete thesis sentence in the introduction; the rest of the outline does not need to be complete paragraphs (though you should have at least short sentences for each point); and note
- You do not need a Works Cited page for an outline but make sure you note proper citations for quotes, statistics, and paraphrases so you don’t have problems later!
The Assignment:
Your assignment in this expository essay will be to (1) explore and investigate key aspects of your educational experiences and (2) draw conclusions about their significance. To do this, you will complete ONE of the following options:
- Discuss the three people who have had the most influence upon your education up to this point. Describe who each person is, your relation to them, and what impact they had on your education. Examples of questions to explore are
- did they motivate you?
- did they provide assistance or help in a moment of crisis?
- did they challenge you?
- did they present an obstacle for you to overcome?
For this question, I do not want a list of people who helped you in your life. Tell me about three people (1) whose influence led to key aspects of who you are as a university student and (2) draw conclusions about the results of these influences in your life, either now or in the future.
- Discuss the three most significant accomplishments you have had in your education thus far. These can be projects that you completed, obstacles you overcame, honors you attained, or important lessons that you learned.
For this question, I am not interested in your humblebrag stories. Remember your audience. Tell me about three things (1) that taught you something significant that you used to get to this point in your academic life and (2) draw conclusions about their importance, how they put you on a different path, where you might be if you hadn’t learned, or something like that.
- This is a harder option. Choose three words that characterize several of your key educational experiences in high school or college. Connect these words with key events in your education. Use the words that you’ve chosen as controlling ideas for discussing a narrow and specific set of key experiences. If, for example, you choose “confusing,” “exciting,” and “frustrating,” you will then choose three experiences that correspond with those terms to develop your paper.
For this question, I don’t want to hear superficial stereotypes. If you choose “confusing” and “exciting” and “frustrating” then tell me how confusing it was picking classes, that is exciting to join a team, and that you found out it is frustrating working on group projects, you’ve let us both down. If you use this option, get personal. Tell me the word that (1) defines a key aspect of your educational experience up to now using a meaningful example, and (2) draw conclusions on how these words, these experiences, have led to the present moment and the future you’ve laid before you.
An expository essay investigates an idea and develops a coherent perspective for a given audience using a clear thesis and supporting evidence and details.
Your essay must have:
- a well-defined main idea (thesis)
- clearly and directly address a specific audience (this relates to exigence from Week 4 reading in OpenWriting, why should I — your professor and the audience of the essay — care about what you are saying?)
- be coherently developed (main ideas laid out in your introduction and these ideas explored, one at a time, in order, through the essay with relevant supporting details)
- follow the conventions of Academic English writing
The Openwriting assigned readings from this and previous weeks will help guide you.
Basic Requirements
The Expository essay must meet the following format guidelines:
- Be in MLA Manuscript Format
- Have 1 inch top, bottom, right and left margins;
- Times New Roman 12 font;
- Running header with last name and page number;
- MLA compliant title block on first page;
- All content double spaced.
The Expository essay must meet the following content and mechanics guidelines:
- Must be at least 1,000 words long (not including Works Cited page);
- Must be guided by a clearly identified thesis statement that articulates the three primary points of discussion;
- Must be organized logically with clear topic sentences that connect back to the thesis statement;
- Must provide adequate levels of detail and description using the Methods of Development from your reading:
- Narration
- Description
- Exposition
- Exemplification;
- Must contain a clear introduction, body, and conclusion that discuss your ideas and establish their importance to the audience;
- Must contain none of the following major mechanical errors:
- Run-on sentences
- Fragments
- Tense shifts
- Possession errors
- Capitalization errors
- Subject-verb agreement errors
- Must conform to Standard English Grammar requirements for proofreading, usage, and spelling.
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