How to write an expository article?

What is expository? Explanatory writing is a style with explanation as its main expression. It is a scientific explanation of the nature, characteristics, functions and uses of objective things. It doesn't pay attention to narration, description and lyricism like narrative, nor does it pay attention to clarifying opinions and refuting fallacies like argumentative. Explanatory writing can increase people's knowledge and skills by explaining objective things.

So, how to write a good essay?

First of all, we should grasp the characteristics of things

Whether an expository article is well written mainly depends on whether it captures the characteristics of things and gives readers a concrete and clear understanding. For example, when you visit the zoo, you should introduce giraffes to young readers. What are the main characteristics of giraffes? Fast running speed and beautiful stripes are not unique characteristics of giraffes. The main feature of giraffe is its long neck. It is the tallest animal in the world. The female deer is more than four meters high and the male deer is about five meters high. The highest record is 5.78 meters. It has four thin and long legs and a particularly long neck. Surprisingly, it has only seven cervical vertebrae, the same number as human cervical vertebrae. The giraffe's seven cervical vertebrae are lined up, and this is its long neck. The length of each cervical vertebra can be imagined. Only by writing these clearly can we grasp the main characteristics of giraffes, which is also a better discussion. Otherwise you don't understand.

So, how to grasp the characteristics?

First, observe carefully. The article is a reflection of objective things, and only by in-depth and meticulous observation can we see things clearly. Liu Wei, a student from Zhengzhou No.7 Middle School, Henan Province, wrote an expository article about the butterfly, including its species, shape, living habits, why it can't fly in the morning, and what harm it does to crops. This explanatory article was selected as a teaching material by some schools. Why did Wei write such a good article? This is because he usually has a strong interest in biology, so he can practice it by himself and observe it carefully. In two years, he made more than 400 specimens, including more than 300 specimens of Papilio, and five or six kinds of * * *. When it comes to experience, he wrote:

"The individual of insects is very small, especially the head structure is difficult to observe. I borrowed a magnifying glass from my teacher. I observed a wide range of things, including butterflies, bees, locusts, dragonflies, mosquitoes, flies and so on. There are willow leaves, buttonwood leaves, elm leaves, Sophora leaves and so on. There are also grass leaves, flowers and trees ... I often carry a magnifying glass, pen and notebook with me. When I go to school and go to the park to play, I take time to make some observations and write down the main observations. "

Secondly, we should consult the information. We can't experience everything personally, and the explanatory text requires accurate features and informative materials, which requires consulting relevant materials and verifying them with the experience summarized by predecessors. For example, a middle school student studying in Changsha traveled to Beijing, visited the Forbidden City and wanted to introduce him to his classmates. So, he not only wrote down the impression of his visit, but also bought a "Tourist Map of the Forbidden City" and a "Top Ten Places of Interest in Beijing" to learn about the history, geographical location and architectural features of the Forbidden City. In this way, he knew: "The Forbidden City, also known as the Forbidden City, was the imperial palace of China in the Ming and Qing Dynasties with a history of more than 500 years. The whole Miyagi is rectangular, with an area of 720,000 square meters, more than 70 palaces and more than 9,000 houses. Surrounded by a wall more than ten meters high, outside the wall is a moat more than fifty meters wide. At the four corners of the city wall, there is an exquisite turret. The Forbidden City complex is large in scale and unified in layout. In the early Ming Dynasty, in order to build this Miyagi, we used to' serve hundreds of thousands of craftsmen and millions of laborers'. The Forbidden City is the crystallization of the sweat and wisdom of the ancient working people in China. "These specific figures and architectural features mentioned above are naturally difficult to master without consulting the necessary information.

Finally, learn to compare. Things in the world are very different, different things have different characteristics, and even one thing has its own characteristics. There are no two identical leaves in the world. Twin brothers, no matter how much they look alike, can be distinguished. Grasping the characteristics of things means grasping the different characteristics that distinguish this thing from other things, and finding individuality and particularity from * * * and general. The characteristics of things are often shown in comparison with other things. For example, to show that China is a big country, the word "big" is very learned. You can directly say that China has an area of 9.6 million square kilometers, or you can explain it by comparison. Compared with France, the area of China is seventeen times larger than that of France. Compared with Japan, there are twenty-five Japan; Compared with Britain, there are thirty-nine in Britain; The area of our motherland is equivalent to the whole of Europe. This contrast is concrete, vivid and convincing.

In short, we should grasp the characteristics of the object of interpretation, on the one hand, by personal practice and careful observation, on the other hand, we should be good at learning from books and experienced people, and at the same time, we should think carefully. Learn to compare and try to be familiar with what you want to explain.

Second, the explanation should be organized.

If you want to write a good exposition, you should not only grasp the characteristics of things, but also grasp the organization of things themselves. Explaining things according to their own organization is to sort out clues from complex situations and clarify the characteristics of things and the relationship between different parts of things. The so-called explanation is organized, that is, the writing clues should be clear and the levels should be clear, and I can't think of where to start. If you write backwards, the clues of the article will be disordered and unclear. Mr. Ye Shengtao wrote an explanatory article about cloisonne making, and paid great attention to the organization of the article. The author grasped five key processes: tire making, silk cutting, painting, firing and polishing, and explained the production and principle of each process in detail. Tight structure and clear organization.

There are two kinds of expository texts, one is to explain specific things, such as introducing a new variety; One is to explain abstract things, such as "What is the world?" . However, both concrete and abstract things have their own characteristics and structures. As long as we follow the laws of things and explain them in a certain order, the order will be clear.

Articles explaining specific things can be written from top to bottom, from front to back, from outside to inside, from main to secondary, so that readers can easily understand the relationship between the parts. For example, you have learned the article "Tbilisi Underground Printing Factory". The author Mao Dun introduced the structure of this ordinary small courtyard like this:

"This yard is no different from many yards nearby, surrounded by half a person.

A tall wooden fence; On the left is an independent hut with a well; On the right is

Two main rooms, each about 10 feet square, with a corridor in front; Below the main room is a

The semi-exposed basement is for the kitchen and goes down from a small ladder.

-This courtyard was the standard sample of ordinary citizens' houses in Tbilisi.

Type.

After reading this article, we have a good understanding of the positioning, structure and samples of this underground printing factory.

The formula is clear at a glance because the author explains it in this order-from outside to inside, from left to right, and from top to bottom.

Some students did not sort out the context in advance when introducing specific things, and classified them according to the relationship between these things. As a result, the relationship is often chaotic and the level is unclear. For example, there is an article about commodities that says:

"Youth food stores sell all kinds of canned goods, dried fruits, cigarettes and famous wines. And canned pineapples and oranges Dried litchi, including Zhonghua cigarettes, Peony cigarettes and Qianmen cigarettes; There are dried longan, raisins, Fenjiu, Zhuyeqing, steamed canned Yuan Yu and world-famous Moutai. , with diverse colors and complete varieties. "

The goods listed in this passage have both a concept and a generic concept, which are both parallel and subordinate. The author did not summarize and explain according to the internal relationship between these commodities, but thought about where to write, and the hierarchy and organization were unclear. This paragraph should read:

"Youth food stores sell all kinds of canned goods, dried fruits, cigarettes and famous wines. Canned products include canned pineapple, canned orange and canned steamed fish. Dried fruits include dried longan, raisins and dried litchi. Cigarettes are Zhonghua brand, Peony brand, Qianmen number and so on. Famous wines include Maotai, Fenjiu and Zhuyeqing. A variety of colors and varieties. "

An article explaining abstract things should not only explain things "this way", but also further explain "why". This should be explained step by step according to the law of people's understanding of things, from shallow to deep, from concrete to abstract, from cause to effect, from phenomenon to essence, from quantity to quality, or from special to general, and so on. For example, why do birds fly? Why do people dream? All fall into this category. If it is to explain the changing and developing process of things, it can be in chronological order. If it belongs to imported production technology, it can be done according to production procedures. Only by determining the order of explanation according to the order of things themselves can the article be written clearly.

When you finish reading this article, please do this exercise:

If you have a friend who goes to school in Beijing, you want to visit Chairman Mao's former residence in Shaoshan during the summer vacation (you live near Shaoshan). I hope you can accompany him to visit. However, he doesn't know the most convenient way and how to find your home smoothly. Then, please write a letter to tell him: your home address, how many times do you have to take a bus from Beijing to Changsha, how to find your home in Changsha, and what recognizable features and signs are around your home. Ask your friends to read your letter, and then you can find your home smoothly on the road without asking it.

Third, the language of the explanatory text should be accurate, concise and popular.

Accuracy: the content of the text is scientific and professional, and the language is required to be accurate, and it cannot be exaggerated or reduced. For example, a classmate knows that many trees have been planted in their school, and the greening is well done. He wrote in the article "Our Campus": "The green area of our school ranks first among the middle schools in the city." This writing is not accurate enough. If someone asks, "What is the green area of your school? How do you know that other schools are not as good as yours? " I'm afraid this student can't answer, because he only knows that the school greening is very good, and he hasn't had time to investigate it carefully. So this sentence can be changed to: "At present, the greening of our school is one of the best schools in the city." Add the word "now" and exclude "past" and "future"; Adding "one" is not "unique". This is more accurate.

Accurate language, first of all, accurate words. Explanatory writing is the most taboo. What are "probably", "almost" and "maybe" ... are ambiguous, and it is not easy to explain things properly. There is a passage in the article "Stone Arch Bridge in China": "Zhao Zhouqiao spans the Weihe River ... It was built around 605 AD, and it has been 1300 years now, and it still maintains its original majestic posture ... Zhao Zhouqiao is very majestic, with a total length of 50.82 meters, a width of 9.6 meters at both ends, a slightly narrow middle and a width of about 9 meters."

The figures in this article are approximate and accurate. Because Zhao Zhouqiao was built in which year, there is no conclusive record in the history books, so we can only say a rough figure; The length of Zhao Zhouqiao is accurate to two decimal places, which not only shows that there is a bridge, but also shows the wisdom of the ancient working people in China from these specific and accurate figures. When writing expository articles, we must try our best to choose the "most appropriate" and "most accurate" language to express them.

Conciseness: Conciseness means conciseness and neatness. Make things clear in as few words as possible, and don't be repetitive and unresponsive. For example, the words "no trace" and "no trace" in these two sentences are redundant and should be deleted.

In order to make the language of expository writing concise, we should also prevent unnecessary "extension" and "hint". Some students are used to writing narrative, like description and description, and are beginners in writing expository writing, and sometimes they have to "extend" and "hint". For example, there is an exposition about pine trees and willows, which ends like this:

"We should not only learn the unyielding character of pine trees, but also learn the spirit of willow roots."

It is natural to write a lyrical article, and there is no need to explain it. On the contrary, it is "gilding the lily", which is not concise.

Popularity: the popularity of language is to make the original abstract concept concrete and vivid, and to make the profound truth easy to understand. Next, let's take a look at this explanation:

For thousands of years, working people have paid attention to the relationship between natural phenomena such as the rise and fall of vegetation and the coming and going of migratory birds and the climate, and arranged farming accordingly. Apricot blossoms are in full bloom, as if nature is preaching to cultivate the land quickly; When the peach blossoms bloom, it seems to imply that we should plant millet quickly. The cuckoo began to sing, and the working people understood what it was singing: "Grandparents, cut wheat and insert wood." In this way, flowers and birds sing, grass grows and warblers fly, all of which are the languages of nature.

These natural phenomena were called phenology by working people in ancient China.

The above example is about what phenology is. The language used by the author is easy to understand and the explanation is concrete and vivid. It clarifies the relationship between climate change and animal activities, plant growth and agricultural production.

The language of expository writing should be popular, not lively and interesting. Mr. Ye Shengtao said in "Examples of Articles": "Explanatory writing is not necessarily a straight face, but it is indispensable." Some expository articles use rhetorical devices such as personification, metaphor and quotation, which are very interesting and obscure. For example:

(1) With chemical friends, crops are not afraid of the attacks of enemies in the biological world.

(2) Dragonflies are known as the "king of flying" among insects. In the sultry summer, dragonflies often fly in groups in the air at dawn or at the beginning of showers in Shanghai. It's like an airplane, but its flying skills are far better than airplanes.

(3) "The white dew is early, the cold dew is late, and the autumn equinox is the time to plant wheat." This is a popular agricultural proverb in central North China. This agricultural proverb shows that planting crops depends on the solar terms.

Example (1) uses personification, which is quite interesting to read. It is apt and vivid to compare dragonflies to airplanes, which makes the explanation easy to understand. Citing agricultural proverbs, this paper explains the relationship between solar terms and planting crops in a popular way.