WRITING AN EXPOSITORY
PARAGRAPH/ESSAY

What is exposition?
 Exposition
 An
is a detailed description of something
expository essay is a detailed description of a text;
the purpose is to discuss a text’s meaning

What can an expository essay do?
 Explain
 Give
information
 Clarify an idea

What is literary analysis?
A
type of expository writing that offers an
interpretation of a story

Why is it important?
 Stories
are complicated
 They have meanings, but these meanings are arguable
– someone might disagree with what you feel is the
meaning of a story

What makes a “good” literary analysis?
 Offers
a main point that comments on the meaning of a
text.
 Supports
 Uses
its main point with evidence from the story
reasoning to explain how the evidence relates to
the main point; explains all information and connects all
related content

What does a good one-paragraph literary analysis
look like?
 Topic
sentence
 Clarifying sentence(s)
 First point
 Second point
 Third point
 Clarifying sentence(s)
 Clincher
Topic sentence

A topic sentence must include:
 Title
of text (following MLA formatting)
 Book,

Play, “Poem,” or “Short story”
Do not be redundant
 Good:
In “The Most Dangerous Game”…
 Bad:
In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game”…
 Author
 Textual
evidence
 An argumentative verb
 Specific claim or argument
Example

Richard Connell’s portrayal of power in “The Most
Dangerous Game” illustrates that a person’s social
role influences his view of justice.
Fix it

In “The Necklace,” Mme. Loisel is a greedy woman.


Come up with a strong topic sentence for “Harrison
Bergeron”
Come up with a strong topic sentence for “Poison”
Clarifying sentence(s)

Provides background on story, main characters,
main plot events/conflict, etc.
 In
“The Most Dangerous Game,” the main character,
Rainsford, struggles to safety on a Caribbean island
after falling off his yacht on the way to Brazil; however,
he quickly discovers that the owner of the island has
made a sport out of hunting humans after becoming
bored with hunting animals.


Provide a quick clarifying sentence for “Harrison
Bergeron”
Provide a quick clarifying sentence for “Poison”
Each point

Your paragraph will have three points; each point
must accomplish three things
 Lead
in – provides context for your evidence
 Evidence
– anchors your point in specific details and
events from the novel
 Lead
out – analyzes evidence and connects it to main
point of the paragraph

Lead in:
At the beginning of the story, Rainsford’s view of justice is
influenced by his role as a hunter. He is a very
experienced hunter and has written many books on
hunting large animals. In particular, he seems to enjoy the
thrill of hunting and killing dangerous animals.

Evidence:
While on the yacht to Brazil, Rainsford comments to his
companion, Whitney, that hunting is “the best sport in the
world” (14). When Whitney objects by stating that
someone might feel differently if he were the one being
hunted instead of the one doing the hunting, Rainsford
orders, “Don’t talk rot, Whitney…Who cares how a
jaguar feels?” (14).

Lead out:
Rainsford’s attitude toward hunting is clearly influenced by
his social role. Since he is the one doing the hunting, he is
unable to empathize with the animal being hunted. Since
his role affords him the ability to have power and control,
he feels that using this power to get what he wants is fair
and justified.

Richard Connell’s portrayal of power in “The Most Dangerous Game”
illustrates that a person’s social role influence’s his view of justice. In “The
Most Dangerous Game,” the main character, Rainsford, struggles to safety
on a Caribbean island after falling off his yacht on the way to Brazil;
however, he quickly discovers that the owner of the island has made a sport
out of hunting humans after becoming bored with hunting animals. At the
beginning of the story, Rainsford’s view of justice is influenced by his role as
a hunter. He is a very experienced hunter and has written many books on
hunting large animals. In particular, he seems to enjoy the thrill of hunting
and killing dangerous animals. While on the yacht to Brazil, Rainsford
comments to his companion, Whitney, that hunting is “the best sport in the
world” (14). When Whitney objects by stating that someone might feel
differently if he were the one being hunted instead of the one doing the
hunting, Rainsford orders, “Don’t talk rot, Whitney…Who cares how a
jaguar feels” (14). Rainsford’s attitude toward hunting is clearly influenced
by his social role. Since he is the one doing the hunting, he is unable to
empathize with the animal being hunted. Since his role affords him the
ability to have power and control, he feels that using this power to get what
he wants is fair and justified.
What comes next


Make sure you use transitions between each point in
your body paragraph.
Examples:
 Next,
…
 Later in the story, …
 After this, …
Practice

“The Necklace”
 Continue
your topic sentence and clarifying information
to write one strong context/evidence/analysis for “The
Necklace”