What on EARTH is an expository??? (to me)

Well, according to our "favourite" encyclopedia, an expository writing is "a type of writing, the purpose of which is to inform, explain, describe, or define the author's subject to the reader. Expository text is meant to ‘posit’ information and is the most frequently used type of writing by students in colleges and universities. A well-written exposition remains focused on its topic and listing events in chronological order. Examples of this type of writing are cooking instructions, driving directions and instructions on performing a task. Key words such as first, after, next, then and last usually signal sequential writing. Personal pronouns may be used in such writing, if needed."

To me (i.e. according to my limited experience), expository writing is in essence a persuasive essay that is used to convince people or groups of people by providing:

• logical arguments (logos)
• an appeal to authority (ethos) or
• an emotional appeal (pathos)

In my opinion, logos (providing sound, strong, and logical arguments) is the strongest of the lot in terms of its ability to convince people. This is simply because the other two methods of persuasion are both examples of logical fallacies and one appeals only to our human emotions.

Ethos, or using a form of authority to convince someone, is an effective way of persuading. However, it commits the fallacy of "Appeal To Authority". According to the extremely reliable Wikipedia, an appeal to authority or argument by authority "is a type of argument in logic. It bases the truth value of an assertion on the authority, knowledge, expertise, or position of the source asserting it. It is also known as argument from authority, argumentum ad verecundiam (Latin: argument to respect) or ipse dixit (Latin: he himself said it). It is one method of obtaining propositional knowledge, but a fallacy in regard to syllogistic logic, because the validity of a syllogism is independent of the qualities of the source putting it forward. The converse case is an ad hominem attack: to imply that a claim is false because the asserter lacks authority or is otherwise objectionable in some way." Since there is no way that anyone can ascertain whether the source is reliable or not, it follows that ethos is not a very strong method of convincing people.

On the other hand, pathos, or the appeal to the human emotion commits the logical fallacy of Appeal To Emotion, where an argument is made due to the manipulation of emotions, rather than the use of valid reasoning. Examples include Appeal to Fear, Appeal to Spite and Appeal to flattery. You are so really, really handsome/pretty, so maybe you could agree with my point? If not, I'll just have to go to your house tonight and torture you! Therefore, pathos is not a very effective way to persuade people as well.

Logos, the use of strong and sound arguments to persuade a person, is the strongest method. This is simply because there is no logical fallacy associated with it (IF you provided a STRONG AND SOUND argument). Also, if a argument is sound, there would be no way to prove that its premises are false since a sound argument must have true premises. Also, since the conclusion must follow from/be supported by all of the true premises, the conclusion itself is usually true as well. Hence, logos is the strongest method (in an expository writing) of convincing people.

As you can probably see by now, my above 4 paragraphs (if read together) was an example of an expository writing (although it is missing a conclusion). *"Bonus"*: See if you can spot the methods I used!!! :D They should have been extremely obvious.

Anyway, back to my definition of an expository writing. The format for an expository writing piece should usually follow the hamburger model, with two buns (the introduction and conclusion) and the meat patties and lettuce in between (the three arguments).

Each argument should usually follow the following format (used by many students in their Literature/History/Geography essays:

• Point
• Elaboration
• Examples/Evidence
• Link

This format is universal and can be used with all methods of persuasion.

Alright, that's all for now. Thank you for reading through my very long blog post :D. I hope to see you again soon! (in my next blog post)


Dantwz