Expository Writing

Alike or Different? You Be the Judge
Students write an expository paragraph after comparing and contrasting items of texture, taste, odor, and visual appearance.

All Across America: Preparing a Travel Guide for a Cross-Country Journey
"Students share experiences of places they have visited or would like to visit. They then create travel guides for trips to take in the United States based on themes from their studies, incorporating both historical and current data about those destinations."

EssayPunch.com from Merit Audio Visual
This online tutorial takes students through the process of writing a short essay.

Explaining How Things Work
Students watch a demonstration, ask questions, take notes, and write a description of a process.

Formal Outlining
Uses the direct instruction model to teach or review the rules for creating an effective topic outline.

The Graphic Organizer
The Graphic Organizer site. Scroll down to find links for a variety of graphic organizers and for ways to use them effectively.

How to do a Close Reading
This handout offers suggestions for reading carefully as part of the research process.

How Stuff Works
This site is a good resource for students who are doing process analysis papers. It is easy to navigate, and the information is reliable.

Newspaper Editorial Project
Students use newspaper editorials to analyze persuasive writing.

On Being a Successful Learner: Setting Goals
Students use writing to explore goal-setting and other keys to success.

A Pair of Anything
Students use a Venn diagram as a prewriting activity for a compare/contrast essay. This page includes a rubric.

Paradigm Online Writing Assistant
An instructional site for students. Organized both by steps in the process and by types of writing. An excellent site for students -- teachers may get some good ideas, too.

The Personal Touch: A Lesson in Expository Writing
Creative use of a handshake as a writing prompt.

Planning a Trip
Students write a brochure or itinerary for a trip to a destination they have researched.

Purdue Online Writing Lab
Includes links to grammar, modes of writing, and job-related writing.

Survey Says...
In this lesson, students write surveys, gather data, and compile their results into an article. This lesson plan focuses on downloading music from the Internet.

Teaching the compare/contrast essay
A series of resources for helping students learn this type of writing.

Teaching Composition
A variety of teacher-tested ideas.

Tradin' Places from Kodak.com
Designed for grade 8, this project takes pen pals to the next level, involving a slide-tape presentation based on research of the student's community.

Where in the Literary USA is Carmen Sandiego?
Students investigate selected states to find author birthplaces, museums, and literary settings. Then they produce a booklet.

Who Writes These Things?
A suggestion for a process analysis topic.

Writing a Comparative Analysis, a handout from The Writing Center at Harvard
Explanation of both traditional compare/contrast and "lens" papers, suggestions for organization.