AN EASY STEP BY STEP RECIPE FOR EXPOSITORY WRITING

Essay Writing:Easy Recipe

How I Passed My College Entrance Writing Proficiency Examination



A STUDY GUIDE

By


Daniel St-Jean
TABLE OF CONTENTS





I. SUBJECT

II. BRAINSTORM:

1. STORMING

2. GATHERING

3. ESTABLISHING FOCUS AND DRAWING UP PLAN



III. WRITE:

1. THE GOOD INTRODUCTION:

A. GENERAL STATEMENT
B. STATEMENT OF INTENT

2. BODY [IDEA DEVELOPMENT]

3. THE GOOD CONCLUSION:

A. SUMMING UP
B. WRAPPING UP



IV. WORK! WORK! WORK!

GO,WRITER,GO!




The following is designed to help you pass any college or university entrance writing proficiency examination. In fact, anyone anywhere following its steps should be able to produce a good piece of writing.

Before embarking upon the first of several steps, it is important to note that there are four major types of prose writing and that each is distinguished by its main purpose. The purpose of EXPOSITORY WRITING is to explain, to discuss, to analyze and clarify. That of ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING is to prove a point. DESCRIPTIVE WRITING aims to describe, whereas NARRATIVE WRITING tells a story.

The type of writing college and university students are required to show some proficiency in upon entrance and master once accepted is the first: EXPOSITORY WRITING. This is so because this is the type of writing that the worlds of business and science require the most. It is unfortunate that even though many high school teachers often ask their students to write essays, compositions, papers, [call them what you will] that they very seldom take them through the painstaking, time consuming[and extremely beneficial!] process this entails.

Below is a step by step recipe, an easy one to boot, to help you produce a good piece of EXPOSITORY WRITING. Noteworthy is that the same process can be used to write an equally successful piece of ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING.

The first thing needed to write a COMPOSITION is a SUBJECT. For the professional writer this is often a task in itself. For the student this is not a job at all for a subject is assigned to him- at least most of the time! The same holds true for the student having to write a writing proficiency entrance examination. Subjects usually given to choose from are those young adults should have some familiarity with in their day and age, such current events as, the upcoming federal or presidential election, the war in Iraq, climate change, etc. Having a look at and giving some thought to what’s been a lot in the news is a good idea before setting off to go write such an exam.

Once you’ve got a SUBJECT to write on, then the real work begins. Job number one is called the BRAINSTORM, and it consists of three steps. The first is the actual STORM. All you are required to do at this point is focus on the SUBJECT real hard, and jot down any idea that comes to mind on it, as quickly as possible. At this stage, pay absolutely no thought to the ideas your mind comes up with, don’t worry about things like spelling, capitalization, etc. Just open up the floodgates of your mind and let the waters [ideas] flow.

Below is a sample STORM on the SUBJECT of Parents. This SUBJECT has been selected because it is something we all know enough to write on. RESEARCH, a necessary step when hardly anything is known about one’s SUBJECT, is not required to write about this one. In fact, we have enough knowledge about it to write volumes….



STORM ON PARENTS

Love
Responsibility
Old fashioned
Birth
Forgiving
Strict
Money
Car
Gay
divorce
Stubborn
Help
Toys
Faults
Worried about what others will think
You can count on
Can’t win
Separation
Generosity
Angry
Critical
Sex
Qualities
Demanding
Work
Death
Overprotective
Tired
Holidays
Brothers and sisters
Friends
Christmas
Cooking
Good eats
Summer vacation
Education
Listening
Old
Adventure
Sick
Focused on appearance
Fun
Problems


This then is your BRAINSTORM. Other questions you can ask of most subjects to help generate even more ideas are: Who? What? Why? Where? When? How? Thinking about the origins of something will also help in the production of ideas.

Not knowing what to write about on a given subject is a problem many students know only too well. All anyone has to do to generate enough ideas to write a whole book on is BRAINSTORM the SUBJECT as has been done above. The problem then becomes having too much to write about, one many students would gladly welcome, one which has a simple enough solution.

The abovementioned solution is step number two of the BRAINSTORM and it is called THE GATHERING. This consists of having a look at the numerous ideas you’ve come up with on your SUBJECT, and “gathering” those that go together under separate headings. Note that the same idea can go under different headings, and that any idea can become a heading.

Below is the sample GATHERING on the SUBJECT of Parents.


THE GATHERING

Problems [with parents]

• don’t understand
• strict
• worried-what others will think
• listening
• old fashioned
• overprotective
• critical
• demanding
• always right
• angry


Fun [with parents]

• holidays
• food
• Christmas
• Toys


Good things [about parents]

• Love
• Forgiving
• Money
• Car
• Generosity
• Count on


Life stages [of parents]

• Birth
• Growing up
• Growing old
• Sickness and death
• Friends
• Love


Good eats [with parents]

• Christmas
• Summer holidays
• Thanksgiving
• Mom’s and Dad’s best recipes


Sexuality [parental]

• Gay
• Divorce
• Separation
• Sex




After your STORM and GATHERING you are probably going to come to the realization that “Boy, do I have lots to write about!” In fact, if you look closely, you have enough ideas to write volumes on your Subject. You could, for example, write a piece on the “good eats” you’ve shared with your parents over the years, or holidays with Mom and Dad, or the good things about parents. You could, if you wanted to, concentrate, on some of your favorite Christmases with your parents or the piles of money they’ve spent on you over the years.

As you can see the possibilities are limitless, especially if you decide to brainstorm specific ideas obtained in your initial BRAINSTORM. What you now have is a big SUBJECT, one you have to put on a diet. Now is the time for step number three of your BRAINSTORM, namely, ESTABLISHING A FOCUS AND BUILDING A PLAN. Now is the time to decide what aspect of this very broad SUBJECT you’re going to write on, and plan accordingly.

The aspect of our very broad SUBJECT I’ve chosen to focus and write a COMPOSITION on for the purpose of illustration is The Qualities of Parents. This will also be the working title of my piece of writing. Below are the PLANS for a six-paragraph composition on The Qualities Of Parents, the aspect of the Subject to be written about, as well as one on Parent’s Faults which you could write about later on for practice.



The Qualities of Parents

I. Introduction

II. 1. loving
2. forgiving
3. generous
4. reliable

III. Conclusion


Parents’ Faults

I. Introduction

II. 1. overprotective
2. critical
3. strict
4. old fashioned

III. Conclusion



Note that if you had a longer COMPOSITION to write, say an eight paragraph one, you could combine the two above PLANS and write one on The Qualities and Faults of Parents. If you had an even longer one, you could add more qualities and faults.



The Good Introduction

The first part of any COMPOSITION is called the INTRODUCTION. An INTRODUCTION, designed to INTRODUCE, always does the same two jobs, no matter what the subject, no matter what the language. The first job is often referred to as the GENERAL STATEMENT because it consists of pointing out to the reader the general subject to be dealt with in the paragraphs to follow, in this case Parents. By the time the reader has finished reading your GENERAL STATEMENT he knows what subject you’re going to be dealing with but still has no clue exactly what aspects or aspects of the subject you’re going to be focusing on.

Below is a sample GENERAL STATEMENT on our COMPOSITION on The Qualities of Parents.


General Statement

Parents have been around forever, in fact, since the beginning of mankind. Every child around the world as a rule has a set of two, a father and a mother, and the many qualities of these two special people in the lives of all children have been the subject of countless discussions as far back as Adam and Eve.


After your reader has read this first part of this INTRODUCTION on The Qualities of Parents, he knows that this piece of writing will be dealing with parents and their qualities. This will confirm what he has probably already deduced from the TITLE, its job being to point out to the reader the SUBJECT and DIRECTION of a piece of writing.


After your reader has had a look at the TITLE and read the GENERAL STATEMENT he still doesn’t know which specific parental virtues are going to be discussed in the BODY of your ESSAY. Job number two of the GOOD INTRODUCTION will address this. It is often referred as the STATEMENT of INTENT because it tells the reader what aspects of the SUBJECT will be specifically dealt with in the paragraphs to come. In our sample COMPOSITION the STATEMENT of INTENT will tell the reader exactly which of the numerous parental qualities will be developed.


Different formulae have been designed to accomplish this “specifying” task. “The purpose of this essay is to…” is one. “The following paragraphs will deal with…” is another one. There are countless other variations of these two formulae. I used to use them in university and both my teachers and I knew where I was going. Later, when I was teaching and I had taught them, my students did likewise and both they and I knew where they were headed in their piece of writing.


Note, however, that even though correct and acceptable, these formulae are quite formal and more the language appropriate to the doctoral dissertation and science lab. The more accomplished writer will find a way around them- if that is his wish.

Statement of Intent [With formula]

The purpose of this essay is to discuss four of the many qualities of parents: they love and forgive, they are generous and reliable.



Statement of Intent [Without formula]

It doesn’t matter where you go or who you talk to, sooner or later you will be forced to come to the recognition that not only are parents loving and forgiving but also generous and reliable.


After you’ve read the above Statements of Intent you now know that the writer is going to be talking about four parental virtues, namely, their loving, forgiving, generous and reliable nature. In a short COMPOSITION only one paragraph probably will be devoted to each quality. In a longer piece, a book, for example, a whole chapter or section could easily be devoted to each.


Entire Introduction [With formula]

Parents have been around forever, in fact, since the beginning of mankind. Every child around the world as a rule has a set of two, a father and a mother, and the many qualities of these two special people in the lives of all children have been the subject of countless discussions as far back as Adam and Eve. The purpose of this essay is to discuss four of the many qualities of parents: they love and forgive, they are generous and reliable.

Entire Introduction [Without formula]

Parents have been around forever, in fact, since the beginning of mankind. Every child around the world as a rule has a set of two, a father and a mother, and the many qualities of these two special people in the lives of all children have been the subject of countless discussions as far back as Adam and Eve. It doesn’t matter where you go or who you talk to you sooner or later you will be forced to come to the recognition that not only are parents loving and forgiving but also generous and reliable.

Now that we’ve told our reader what aspects of our SUBJECT we were going to develop in the BODY of our COMPOSITION it’s time to do it! Here goes!



Paragraph 1 [Loving]

The love of parents for their offspring starts early and lasts forever. As soon as today’s woman finds out that she is pregnant she starts giving up that cigarette with her morning coffee, that glass of wine with her evening meal. Her partner starts taking on jobs that are not necessarily hers but that she often does, shopping for and preparation of meals, running the vacuum, loading and unloading the dishwasher, to name several. These little “extra efforts,” all demonstrations of parental love, continue “until death does them part”.

Paragraph 2 [Forgiving]

When it comes to their children, another virtue that parents have and display daily is a forgiving nature. Children, it seems, can commit the everyday little misdemeanor, they can lie, steal, cheat, or the most heinous of crimes, they can torture, rape, and murder, and at the end of the day, after a severe scolding or not, they will more often than not be forgiven by their parents. It seems that there is no crime that parents will not forgive. With parents, getting yet another chance is indeed par for the course. And everyone has a story or two, or three, about this extraordinary parental quality.

Paragraph 3 [Generous]

If parents are loving and forgiving, they are also extremely generous- with both their time and money. In the early years just caring for their children takes up the better part of their day. Later, time is made to taxi them to games and lessons and meetings. Also, parents rarely refuse to reach into their pockets, and sometimes deep, for such things as gifts and hobbies and clothes; for braces and college education and marriage. It is said that every child costs his parents upwards of $100,000. Parenthood and generosity surely go together.

Paragraph 4 [Reliable]

By the time they have reached age of seven, what used to be known as “the age of reason,” children know many things, chief among them that they can count on their parents. They were there in the early years when knees were scraped and bones were bruised. They were there at the bus stop those first days of school, when taking the bus was no easy chore. They were there when they found out about that bully at school picking on the younger ones. They were also there when money was needed to go to college. It seems that they are never far behind whenever a helping hand is needed. This is reliability and they are reliable.


And there you have it-the BODY of your COMPOSITION or ESSAY or PAPER… What follows is the last paragraph of your PAPER. It is called the Conclusion.


The Good Conclusion

The Good Conclusion, like the Good Introduction, does two jobs, no matter what the subject, no matter what the language. In fact, it does pretty much the same two jobs as the Good Introduction, but in reverse order.

If you remember, the first job of your introduction was to point out to your reader exactly what aspect or aspects of your SUBJECT you were going to develop in the BODY of your PAPER. Now that you have done that, it is time, before you leave him perhaps forever, to turn around with him, and look back quickly over the ground you’ve covered. A SUMMING UP is therefore the first task of the Good Introduction.

Below is a sample SUMMING UP of our COMPOSITION on THE QUALITIES of PARENTS.

Summing Up

The stories left behind by humans about their journey through life are numerous. Not surprising many deal with and prove time and time again the extent to which parents love their offspring, the extent to which when it comes to these they are loving, forgiving, generous and reliable.


Now that we’ve summarized for our reader the main ideas that have been touched upon in the BODY of our COMPOSITION, it’s time to do job number two, which I used to tell my students was called THE WRAPPER UPPER. It’s important to remember at this point in time that we’re just on the verge of bidding farewell to our reader, and so we want to wrap things up as neatly as possible. Who knows, if we do a good job here what we had to say might stay with him a tad longer…

The WRAPPER UPPER is another kind of General Statement, one that can take on different forms. Sometimes it takes on the form of a question, raising another aspect of the SUBJECT, sending the reader further on. Most of the time, however, it just closes the piece of writing.

Below is a sample WRAPPER UPPER.

Wrapper Upper

These are just a few of the many qualities of parents. That there are countless others, undoubtedly enough to fill books, only the proverbial fool would dare argue with.



Entire Conclusion

The stories left behind by humans about their journey through life are numerous. Not surprising many deal with and prove time and time again the extent to which parents love their offspring, the extent to which when it comes to these they are loving, forgiving, generous and reliable. These are just a few of the many qualities of parents. That there are countless others, undoubtedly enough to fill books, only the proverbial fool would dare argue with.


This, then, is your Good Composition. Select a SUBJECT, follow the recipe, and you’ll be able to write one too. Practice the recipe, follow it when writing, and you will write well enough to pass any college entrance writing proficiency examination- with flying colors! My students had a weekly “THOUGHT OF THE WEEK” to write. So they got to practice the recipe often. Many of them became very good writers. Those with writing talent became excellent writers. Not many failed their college writing proficiency examination.



RECAP




AN EASY STEP BY STEP RECIPE FOR SUCCESSFUL WRITING

Or

How I Passed My College Entrance Writing Proficiency Examination



I. SUBJECT

II. BRAINSTORM:

1. STORMING

2. THE GATHERING

3. ESTABLISHING FOCUS AND DRAWING UP PLAN



III. WRITE:

1. THE GOOD INTRODUCTION:

A. GENERAL STATEMENT
B. STATEMENT OF INTENT

2. BODY [IDEA DEVELOPMENT]

3. THE GOOD CONCLUSION:

A. SUMMING UP
B. WRAPPING UP


IV. SUCCESS! SUCCESS! SUCCESS!




GOOD LUCK!!!
Papa Dan




The hard copy of An Easy Step By Step Recipe For Expository Writing is available at:

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