How to Write an Expository Essay for Kids
The skills on how to write an expository essay for kids are critical for enhancing your oral and written communication capabilities. In fact, there is so much that you can achieve with good essay writing skills both in and outside school. In the following section, we will offer you well-illustrated and clear guidelines, along with professionally crafted sample essays to enlighten you on how to write an expository essay for kids.
The aim of an expository essay is to explain or discuss a topic in a logical and straightforward manner that readers can understand. In this case, you should note that the readers or audience are kids. Therefore, the essay must be written in a simple manner that can be easily read and understood by minors.
A good expository essay should always present a balanced analysis of the particular subject under discussion, based on facts, without reference to your opinions as the writer. Considering that essays are written in almost the same formats, knowledge on how to write an expository essay for kids can as well be used in crafting other academic papers or assignments.
Guidelines on how to write an expository essay for kids
Writing an expository essay is a test of your analytical and writing skills. Besides, writing one for kids even requires you to filter your statements further since they are some things or phrases that may offend them.
The following tips will assist you in knowing how to write an expository essay for kids
Read and understand the question of the paper
Do not rush into outlining or even writing an essay paper without first understanding what is required of you. Take time to carefully read and digest the question in order to know the direction to pursue in crafting the essay.
While reading, do take notes or highlight the key phrases depicting the requirements for the paper. Most expository essay paper will use such words like, explain, describe among others.
By understanding the question, you will be able to clearly define the purpose of the expository essay.
Consider your audience
Knowing your specific readers can be helpful in choosing the best words, tone and even mood in order to make the essay appealing to them.
In the case of an expository essay for children, you should always remember to make your points simpler and detailed enough that they can digest the message.
Generate ideas
Writing for kids requires you to first keenly select an interesting topic that can be important to them. This means that you should also take note of some of the things that scare kids, so they can be avoided in the essay.
There are several topic ideas for kids’ expository essays, however, you should always choose something that is not complicated or may require a lot of research. You can pick a general topic that is related to children or go for a specific angle.
When collecting ideas for the paper, it is also important to note that an expository essay can play various roles including, informing an audience, enhancing a story, persuasion, showing significance among others.
Try out activities like listing, clustering, free writing and questioning to generate points for the paper. Listing is whereby you simply list all the ideas that you can think of about the essay then come back later to analyze them and choose the best points.
Clustering is whereby you write a short description of your essay at the center of a paper. After that, you can start writing any corresponding ideas to it until you have enough points to use in writing the expository essay.
Questioning entails the five Ws and H; Who? What? When? Where? Why? And How? Answering these questions with regards to your topic can be a great way of obtaining ideas.
Develop a thesis
A thesis is the key argument or claim that you discussion will be proving in the paper. It shows the focus of the essay and should be something that is arguable.
A good thesis should be specific and provide enough detail so your readers can know exactly what to expect in the paper. Avoid just stating that something is bad or good but go ahead to tell why it is so or what makes it to be the way it is.
Refine your ideas
With reference to the thesis, keenly analyze your points in order to choose the most appropriate ones to use in this particular essay. Identify the strongest points that will be used as topic sentences to support the thesis.
The topic sentences should match the number of paragraphs that you intend to have in the paper.
It is also important that you identify examples or evidences that will be mentioned in the essay to make the argument more compelling and logical. For every topic sentence, try to identify about two examples to use.
Create an outline
Using the ideas that you have identified for the essay, you should develop an outline showing how they will be presented.
The outline should clearly indicate your topic, thesis, ideas for the introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion as they will be discussed in the paper. An outline should only be a guide and source of reference when writing, so avoid too much explanations therein. Instead, simply state your key points.
Procedures on how to write an expository essay for kids
Follow the steps outlined below to easily master the art of how to write an expository essay for kids.
Introduction
Open the essay with an engaging sentence that drives straight into the subject. Keep in mind the essay is for children so you may need to start with something interesting to kids while also revealing the main idea of the essay.
Give a brief background information to put the topic into context and guide your readers on what they should know about the paper.
Towards the end of the introduction paragraph, you should write a strong thesis that vividly expresses your key argument.
Body paragraphs
Although you can always choose the number of paragraphs to include in a paper, most expository essays are written in five paragraphs. The length may vary based on the topic of your paper. In case you are directed to stick a particular length, go with that.
A five paragraph essay should have three body paragraphs, implying three topic sentences. In every paragraph, clearly give the topic sentence or main argument to back up the thesis. This should be further discussed using examples and evidence listed in the outline.
Every topic should present a new idea that is related to and supportive of the thesis statement. Try to always write short paragraphs with well-defined information that children can easily get. Elaborate your evidence or examples comprehensively to give a clearer message.
At the end of every paragraph, make an analysis of the ideas expressed therein. Try to show the connections between your thesis and the pieces of evidence given. Besides, you should also remember to make proper transitions between the paragraphs for smooth flow.
Conclusion
In the final part of the essay, you should re-state the thesis statement and also tell readers about the importance of the ideas discussed therein. Summarize and review the main points without introducing new information. Finally, you should give a final thought on the topic and call to action.
Remember kids are not always good at reading and easily lose concentration, so try to make your essay short and clear to the point. Besides, also take time to read through the essay and make the necessary corrections.
Sample Expository Essays for kids
For more insights and motivation on how to write an expository essay for kids, read the following sample papers.
Example 1
Expository Essay; ‘’Why Children Should Be Encouraged to Play Outside’’
‘’About twenty years ago, when the Internet was not easily accessible, and daily life was not spammed with all kinds of gadgets and electronic toys, children used to spend much more time outdoors. Today, however, children prefer to spend free time at home, as this way they can watch more TV, play xBox or Playstation, play games on their parent’s tablets, and so on…’’Read the rest of this sample essay here.
Example 2
Sample Expository Essay; ‘’No Escape for Malnourished Children’’
‘’Hunger and malnutrition are tremendous problems in our world today. According to the magazine, Population Reports, about 18 million people, mostly children, die each year from starvation, malnutrition, and related causes. The magazine also states that almost 200 million children under five years- 40 percent of all children this age, lack sufficient nutrition for full development…’’Simply click here to read the whole sample.
Example 3
Expository Essay; ‘’The Great Paw Paw’’
‘’Memory. The dictionary defines it as the mental ability to recall past experiences. We think of it as a picture we saw, the words we said. Who in your life is so vivid in your memory that you could describe him or her without a second thought? For me, it’s my grandpa…’’Read the whole sample here.
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References
http://www.time4writing.com/writing-resources/expository-essay/
http://www.wikihow.com/Write-an-Expository-Essay
http://wayne.fwcs.k12.in.us/files/expository_essays.pdf