What Are the Main Stages of Writing an Explanatory Essay?
High school, college, and university students often write essays. The basic aim of this written work is to consolidate, deepen, and specialize the knowledge and skills of the student. This is done by independently solving problems relevant to science and practice.
Explanatory Essay Definition
As for an explanatory essay, this is a type of paper in which the author expresses a particular point of view on a certain topic, situation, or event. The author of the work does not have to agree with the expressed point of view. He must conduct analysis, identify key aspects, and make an explanation. As a result, this should confirm or deny the stated position.
Fascinating Themes for Creating a Quality Explanatory Paper
If you are faced with the task of completing an explanatory essay, you should consider the below topics:
- Complex coordination exercises and their impact on the health of young people;
- Restoration of mental capacity using physical recreation;
- Physical exercises for the harmonious development of the future mother;
- The place of physical activity in a healthy lifestyle;
- Correction of physical health and physical fitness of students in the process of engaging in health-improving activities;
- Problems of gender differences in society;
- Problems of violence against women and ways to overcome it;
- The problem of poverty and wealth and the criminogenic situation in terms of sociology;
- Social tensions and conflicts in modern society;
- Social protection of children and health care;
- Marital relations in social and legal legislation;
- Features of practical counseling of orphans, children left without parental care;
- Ecological education of the population;
- The problem of environmental pollution during several historical epochs;
- Creation of nuclear power plants and their threat to humans and the environment;
- The role of natural nutrition, the impact of cooked food on the body;
- Problems of resource supply and resource conservation in the country;
- Socially oriented market and its characteristics;
- Economic growth of the state due to the marketing policy of enterprises;
- The problem of creation of joint-stock organizations in the region;
- Farms and prospects of their activity;
- Ways to achieve an effective balanced development of the national economy;
- Features of economic development in different countries of the world;
- Organization principles of international economic relations;
- International Monetary Fund and its impact on economic development in the world;
- Organizational relations in the management system;
- Purposeful work of the manager on himself;
- The essence of the quantitative theory of money and the reasons for its emergence;
- Monetarism and its modern application;
- Sustainability of money and methods of achieving it;
- The main factors influencing the external circulation of the state.
Algorithm of Work Execution
The main algorithm of preparation and implementation of an explanatory essay is as follows:
- Selection of the topic;
- Writing a preliminary work plan;
- Compilation of a bibliography of sources necessary for the study of the research question;
- Collection and processing of information, analytical materials;
- Conducting research, carrying out analysis;
- Elaboration and presentation of research results;
- Text editing, error correction;
- Arrangement of paper according to requirements.
How to Start Creating an Explanatory Essay: Preparatory Stage
The whole process of work can be divided into three main stages:
- The preparatory stage;
- Stage of work on the content;
- The final stage.
The initial stage begins with a meaningful choice of the topic of work, its justification. From the proposed topic of the essay, the student chooses the one that best suits his research interests. The topic should be consistent with his abilities. Preference is given to a theme in the development of which the student can show a maximum of personal creativity and initiative.
Topic Selection
The student should read the literature sources to select a good topic for an essay. It is important to thoroughly analyze educational literature, as well as periodical publications in popular editions. It is also important to take into account the themes of previous works and own research interests.
The title of the explanatory essay should have clear wording. It should reflect the content and determine the subject of study. When choosing a topic, the student should describe the relevance, purpose, and specific tasks of the work. Thus, it is important to define the relevance of the topic under consideration and the main essence of the idea.
Literature Search
The study of literature on the chosen topic should begin with general works. Then you should search for new material, conduct more narrow research.
Studying scientific literature is a very important assignment. So, the article or monograph should be read with a pencil in hand. This allows in making extracts. It is appropriate to begin acquaintance with the edition from the title page, having found out where, by whom, when it was published. It is necessary to review the content that reveals the structure of the publication, its sections. When reading the publication, it is recommended to carefully follow the course of the author’s thought. You should be able to distinguish the main provisions from the evidence and illustrative material. You need to write all the necessary quotes, numbers, facts, conditions, arguments, etc.
Actuality of Work
First of all, it is recommended to substantiate the actuality of the selected theme in a few sentences to pose the problem itself. The choice of a research problem determines the strategy and methodology of the whole study.
Main Purpose of the Research
The next step is to formulate the aim of a study, as well as to define specific research objectives. The purpose of the work is usually consistent with the name of the paper. It should clearly indicate what the author is trying to decide. The formulation of research tasks should be done as carefully as possible. The description of their solution will be the areas of research, determine the content of the paragraphs of the work.
Research Object and Subject
Next, the object and subject of research are determined. When determining the object, subject, and goal of a study, you should not forget that they must be in direct relation to the topic. There are logical system connections between them. An object is a process, phenomenon, or relationship that creates a problem situation and is chosen for study. The subject of research is only those essential connections and relations which are subjected to direct studying in work.
Work Plan
At the end of the preparatory stage, a working plan of the essay is drawn up. Such a plan only outlines the subject. In the next stages, it should be clarified. The number of basic paragraphs is determined by the chosen topic and usually ranges from 3 to 5. The work plan has an arbitrary form. It usually consists of a list of simple questions that are due to the internal logic of studying the theme.
Structure of the Explanatory Essay: Work on the Text
The main structural components of an explanatory essay are the introduction, the main part, and the conclusion. Below we will consider in detail the features of writing each of them.
In the writing process, it is expedient to use such methodical techniques:
- To be strictly consistent, to represent a material according to the work plan;
- Do not start the next sections until the previous one is completed;
- Adhere to the integrity;
- Resort to selectivity.
Specificity of Introduction Writing
Experts recommend creating an introduction to your essay only after the main body completion. In this part, it is important to write why you chose this topic for analysis. Also, indicate what determines its relevance and practical value. You need to define the purpose and objectives of the study and its subject and object. The methods by which the study was conducted are also determined. The structure of the work, its main content are briefly revealed.
The introduction should mention the names and works of those scientists who provided a methodological basis for the work. The review should not represent bibliographic descriptions of the literature being analyzed. It is enough to name the author and provide a reference to the original source. The review should end with a brief conclusion about the degree of coverage of the main aspects of the topic in the literature.
The introduction should formulate the essence of the problem situation, which will show the actuality of the topic. The student must also formulate the object and subject of analysis in the introduction. At the end of the section, it is important to reveal the structure of the work. That is, to give a list of its structural elements and justify the sequence of their location.
Creation of the Main Part of a Paper
The main part consists of three or five paragraphs. The content of paragraphs, their ratios are determined by the work’s theme, goal, and tasks.
In this part of work, you should:
- Define or clarify the basic concepts of the study;
- Briefly consider the history of the development of an issue;
- Describe the concepts, theoretical positions, conclusions of researchers on the problem;
- Describe the foundations for the selection of research direction;
- Analyze the problem, conduct the research;
- Provide suggestions on how to apply the results.
Writing a Conclusion
The conclusion is the third major section of a paper. It is presented after the main text. Conclusions should highlight the implementation of research objectives. They must correspond to the general structure of your essay. The text of the conclusions can be presented in the form of numbered theses. Their formulation should be as clear, understandable, concise as possible.
In the final part, the positive points that were discovered as a result of studying the topic should be highlighted. The shortcomings and problems that arose during the work are also indicated here.
Text Editing: Final Stage
At the previous stage, attention was focused on the general content of the work. During editing, its literary design is checked and critically evaluated. First, you need to reduce the secondary material, improve the composition of the paper. It is important to check how well-founded the conclusions are, whether the ideas expressed are logically related. It is important to pay special attention, whether there are no repetitions, whether the information is stated consistently. The expediency of using illustrations and diagrams in the text is defined.
After that, the style is improved, grammar, spelling, and punctuation are checked, links are improved. At the end of an essay, the content is finally adjusted, the titles in the content and the main text are agreed upon. A list of sources used is compiled.
Typical Mistakes in Writing and Designing an Explanatory Paper
Among the main mistakes in writing an explanatory essay are the following:
- Non-compliance of work design with the established requirements;
- Lack of references to sources of information;
- Excessive citation;
- Inconsistency of references in the text of the list of used literature;
- Lack of stylistic unity in the text;
- A large number of grammatical, lexical, syntactic errors, etc.;
- Inconsistency of the general content of the theme;
- Unsystematic presentation of material, repetition of the same provisions;
- Logical errors, inability to highlight the main information;
- Unsuccessful combination of theory with factual material;
- Rewriting material from printed publications without any analysis of data;
- Violation of the logical sequence;
- Insufficient or too large volume.
Explanatory Essay Example
Below is an excerpt from the explanatory essay on an environmental topic. Use it as a sample for writing your unique paper:
The global environmental crisis caused by anthropogenic interference in natural processes poses a threat to life on Earth. The question arises: can it be overcome? Most experts today answer this question in the affirmative. They note that solving this problem requires great efforts from humanity.
The main difficulty of the problem is that the development of civilization will usually lead to pollution of the environment. And that’s why. The development of civilization involves the growth of industrial and agricultural production. It also involves the expansion of transport networks and means of transportation and, accordingly, a significant increase in energy consumption.
Moreover, the population of the Earth is constantly growing. Until the middle of the XXI century, it can reach 10 billion people. At the same time, the fact that it is impossible to organize completely waste-free processes should be taken into account. Complete elimination of any waste leads to an increase in the cost of production and so on to infinity. And this pattern is true for all types of industrial products.
Start writing your paper. You have all the knowledge you need to create a unique explanatory essay. Now the main thing is to put them into practice!
