Richard Nordquist is a rhetoric and English professor at Georgia Southern University. He has written multiple books on grammar and composition, as well as taught classes on English composition, rhetoric, business communication, creative nonfiction, and literature. Aside from teaching, Nordquist has dabbled in freelance writing, professional editing, and writing consulting.
In “What Is Expository Writing?” Nordquist goes into detail about what expository writing is, how to construct an expository writing, and what it is used for. When explaining how to draft an expository writing, Nordquist claims that “It’s often easier to write the body of your article first, before composing the introduction or conclusion” (What Is Expository Writing). While it is sometimes more beneficial to cut straight to the body of the article and let the ideas flow, I believe that it can be helpful to come up with an outline first. If you brainstorm different approaches to the writing and write a strong introduction, there will be a strong foundation to write upon when writing the body of the article. Coming up with a good plan at the beginning will help to guide the body and conclusion of the writing. Nordquist also writes that it is crucial to be clear and stick to the facts when writing an expository writing. Expository writings are solely intended to convey information. It can sometimes be hard to exclude opinions and emotions from writing, but it is necessary in expository writing. Nordquist writes, “Examine your thesis: Is it clear? Does it contain opinion? If so, revise that out” (What is Expository Writing). For me, this is a very helpful reminder because it is very easy to accidentally slip in opinions in writing when they are not supposed to be there. This is a nice reminder and tip because it is not a jarring order, rather it is more of a gentle reminder.
Nordquist does an exceptional job at organizing the information within his article. He starts off with an introduction to expository writing, stating what it is and how it is used. He follows this up with some common examples of expository writing. After this, he includes the important steps in creating an expository writing, tips for writing one, and key takeaways from the article. Overall, this layout is very reader-friendly and allows the reader to fully understand the information that is presented.
Questions and Conclusions:
In his “What Is Expository Writing?” Richard Nordquist effectively summarizes what expository writing is and how to create it. However, I still have some questions regarding expository writing. Could including some opinions in expository writing make the writing more effective at conveying information. Are all informative writings classified as expository writing?
Works Cited:
Nordquist, Richard. “Richard Nordquist.” ThoughtCo. Dotdash Meredith. https://www.thoughtco.com/richard-nordquist-1688331. Accessed 9 November 2023.
Nordquist, Richard. “What Is Expository Writing?” ThoughtCo. Dotdash Meredith, 20 January 2019. https://www.thoughtco.com/expository-writing-composition-1690624. Accessed 9 November 2023.