Expository Essay Writing

A brief definition of “expository” reveals the focal intention “to expose, elucidate, disclose or portray a certain subject matter.” It is difficult to find a student who has not heard of an expository essay, but have you managed to accomplish it successfully? To cope with this kind of assignment, you have to generate a distinct, sometimes even an in-depth explanation of the required topic or a variety of merging concepts. Unlike research papers of persuasive types, you do not have to convince your audience or collect evidence, as your focus must be placed on a balanced view of the subject.

Despite the briefness of such expository compositions, they remain favored by professors, as by dint of such tasks it becomes easier to determine the scope of each student’s academic eloquence, comprehension, and writing creativity. Such essays can polish your writing skills immensely, developing your unique authorly manner.  

Do students of all academic levels write expository essays?

Usually, expository essays are common assignments in schools, colleges, and universities. Only a specific academic level, from the lowest to the highest one, determines the complexity of such an assignment. It can appear both in an in-class exercise and an exam writing section. 

The following prompts specify that your task is expository:

• Reveal/explain/elucidate how the Victorian Era influenced fashion in the 19th century.

In this instance, the word “elucidate” refers to the specific clue: such an essay is intended to explain a set of historical processes linked to the personality of Queen Victoria. 

• Disclose the definition of “surrealism” and explore its connections with contemporary art.

Some assignments might be focused on defining a certain concept. It implies delving into the roots of the term along with the importance of the subject matter in a specific context, such as arts and culture. 

Approaches to Take when Crafting an Expository Essay

Despite its non-investigatory value, an expository essay should not be subjective. The objective approach should be implemented to provide an edifying, well-adjusted, and sensible elucidation of the subject. Your personal opinion should not be expressed.  

There is no common expository essay structure, as it depends on your instructions and the work’s lengthiness. A typical structure of brief expository essays encompasses five parts: an introduction, three main paragraphs, and conclusion. 

Indeed, some essays, even based on description, should be exhaustive, and may take more than three pages or five paragraphs. Outlining the structure in advance saves time and systematizes your ideas. 

Eye-Catching Introduction 

An expository essay is not an exception when it comes to its beginning. Similarly to other academic papers, you cannot omit introduction here. When your topic is properly introduced, being satiated with enticing concepts and a strong thesis statement, a target audience instantly wants to read more. 

Creating the Essay’s Body 

Although the introduction hooks your readers, it should not unravel the most fundamental aspects of the paper at once. Therefore, body paragraphs are aimed to elucidate the matter profoundly. Every significant detail should be thoroughly explained. 

Remember that every new paragraph must reveal independent ideas on the topic, merging them logically with transition sentences of the next section. 

Suggestive Conclusion 

An expository paper conclusion recapitulates previously discussed ideas in an innovative manner. Even if your goal is to define and explain the topic, an effective conclusion must show its relevance that sparks interest in modern society. 

Expository Essay Writing Sample

Time an Art Expository Discussion

Time and art have always been inseparable notions. One can speak about the concept of art in the time discourse, as well as about the concept of time in the art discourse. The first case predicts the linear or cyclic chronological model, where art falls into epochs, periods, its evolution, or degradation moments, according to the historical timeline, events, representatives, and classifications. In the other case, art introduces a dynamic process, which reflects different displays of time concept, regarding them to one point of the contemporary tendencies. This paper explores the convergence of the mentioned notions and analyzes issues and problems relating to contemporary art. The reproductions of paintings of Nicolas Poussin, Salvador Dali, Remus Brailoiu, and a Greek amphora illustrate the diverse concepts of time in the art of different periods.

Understanding of time was changing simultaneously with the development of philosophical, physical, and mathematical thought. Art often reflects the theories of the particular time via different masterpieces. For instance, Greek amphora reflects Aristotle’s theory of discrete or linear time, as Bradley Dowden explores in Chapter 3 of his article Time. It often involves the motives of changes and metamorphoses, as Aristotle claimed that time was the measure of change. 

Nicolas Poussin’s oil canvas A Dance to the Music of Time, 1634-1636, introduces ideas of the Renaissance period. This painting contains Newton’s theory of time as a container for events, which is independent of any events. Therefore, here is a metaphor: people in the circle and Gods in the sky act in different dimensions, while a child is playing with a sand clock.

Salvador Dali was a surrealist. Surrealism is the movement, which dates back to the times of World War I and continues today, as well. Therefore, one may consider The Persistence of Memory, 1931, the pattern of Modern Art. Dali’s art often reflected the ideas of time and space as a continuum, developed by Einstein at the beginning of the 20th century. Dali’s time is the time of dreams and thoughts, so clocks do not measure anything because everything defers the time inside each human mind. Thus, these clocks on the paintings have “liquid” form.

From there, the contemporary art reflects contemporary thoughts of time concept. Cecil G. Helman in his article Cultural aspects of time and ageing mentions some aspects of cultural time. One of them is the Clock Time, which introduces the interest for this paper. This issue is the one represented in the work of contemporary digital artist Remus Brailoiu Time, 2010. It is the reinvented Dali’s Persistence of Memory. Helman’s clock time is the one connected to the 24-hour cycle, regulated by the clock, but Brailoiu’s picture reflects the idea of the constellation of time (“The Problematic of Time in Contemporary Art / Nicolas Bourriaud”). It means that time is something that can be folded into a paper sheet, where elements of the past touch elements of the future and the present. Dali’s “liquid” clocks became a kind of connection between Modern Art and contemporary hyper-technologized world. Clocks symbolize the idea of wasted time and regrets for it.

The problem arising from here is that contemporary art is the one going through the crisis of the original root idea. Furthermore, it sometimes seems to be a complex of copies, allusions, and reminiscences of earlier art mixed up with the technologies and science. Art today is a dynamic process reflecting the transit of Modern traditions to those not existing yet. 

To sum up, time is the notion that will always be a point of discussions in different fields of human actions. It has been changing essentially in art according to its transformation in history and science. Nowadays, art reflects the concept of time through the ideas of the constellation while the clock time plays a secondary role of wasted time and absurd following daily routine symbols in contemporary tendencies.