How to Write an Exploratory Essay
What is an Exploratory Essay?
An exploratory essay gives the writer the privilege to explore while writing. In this type of essay, you do not have to make your own thesis, raise an argument, or prove it. Writing an exploratory essay is actually one of the most fun things to write among the other types of essays as you are free to explore your subject matter. In an exploratory essay, also called an investigateve essay, you no longer have to gather some evidences to support a thesis statement. In other words, all you have to do is to explore and not prove. Interesting, right? But then again, just like any other forms of writings, there are still specific guidelines to follow. So, check out a few tips below on how to write an exploratory essay.
Exploratory Writing Guidelines
- When working on an exploratory paper, you can write about anything and everything. You can start with one topic and cover another one as you move and end your essay by discussing something different. Thus, you can come up with new ideas as you go through the essay.
- An investigative essay requires you to think as you do the writing. Your intention here is not to stick with a single idea, but rather explore a range of components and aspects of what you are talking about. In other words, an exploratory essay has a wider scope.
- Writing an exploratory essay is somewhat challenging. As you are free to move from one topic to another, a common theme is still necessary. So, it is not just about rambling random topics at once. You should make sure that your essay makes sense and that your readers will not be confused and will get your point.
- Usually, an exploratory paper begins with an unknown fact or a question. In the introduction, focus on explaining the said question. You can then examine the different aspects of the question in the body paragraphs. So, it is important to gather different opinions and explore the different angles of your subject. While in the conclusion, you should present a possible answer or discuss a possible solution to the question.
- In exploratory writing, you don’t need to have a clear thesis statement. Your goal is to make the readers follow the flow of your thoughts and positions based on your subject matter, and come up with the same conclusion.
- Exploratory essays only aim to answer all the possible questions made by the author and not to present any argument.
Exploratory Essay Outline: major details
Like most essays, an exploratory essay outline has three main parts: introduction, body and conclusion. When writing your exploratory essay, you need to ensure all these areas are appropriately covered with the relevant information. Knowing what to put in each section is the first part of writing a good exploratory essay.
Introduction – Here you define the key terms in your subject matter and describe the issues at hand. In so doing, you give your reader a preview of what to expect and a reason to keep on reading. Remember to introduce your topic in a way that grabs your reader’s attention or else they won’t continue to read.
Body – This section should contain the main points for or against your theory or viewpoint of the given exploratory essay topic. Make sure you include examples, facts, figures and any information required to make your points valid and understood.
Conclusion – This is where you summarize the issue, its main points and your final thoughts on the subject matter.
Exploratory Essay Topics
Exploratory essay topics require a writer to look at all viewpoints of the given subject matter and make a logical argument to prove his/her theory or stance. Good topics for exploratory essay usually have at least two arguable viewpoints, require a lot of research and must include facts and figures to help the reader understand each viewpoint and prove the writer’s case.
Here is a list of 50 exploratory essay topics for you to review when writing your next essay.
- What impact does religion have over parenting and family life?
- Why should men and women in the same job be paid equally?
- What are the implications of marrying into a different faith?
- What is the appropriate age for a girl to start wearing makeup?
- How are male self-esteem issues the same or different from female self-esteem issues?
- What impact does divorce or separation have on the children involved?
- Can prisoners be rehabilitated with music, literature or art?
- What is the ideal age to get married?
- Should there be a limit on the use of technology in schools?
- What is the impact of improper plastic disposal on the environment?
- What impact does political affiliation have over parenting and family life?
- What is the impact of obesity on the health of a nation?
- Is there any harm in parents allowing prolonged use of tablets in toddlers?
- Explore and describe where procrastination can result in a positive outcome.
- Does religion play a role in a healthy and long-lasting marriage?
- With the amount of time spent looking at our tablets, mobile phones and computer screens, will our eyesight suffer?
- What are the possible implications of prolonged consumption of GMO foods?
- How can teen pregnancy be eradicated?
- Gun violence can be controlled/reduced with more stringent gun control rules and regulations.
- With the invention of selfies, selfies sticks and the infatuation self-created by social media, are we creating a narcissistic society?
- Does having sex before the marriage hurt or help it?
- Is the traditional cinema going to die a horrible death like the drive-in cinema?
- Is home-schooling better than traditional schooling?
- Who is to be blamed for the high cost of living?
- Do men and women look for the same thing in a relationship?
- What are the ethical challenges in anonymous sperm and egg donations?
- What are the positive outcomes of a dictatorship?
- What contributes to a child being “troubled” and turning to a life of crime?
- Are fast food restaurants the culprits in the rising incidences of obesity?
- Should food and beverage companies be blamed for childhood obesity?
- How can the traditional taxi companies fight against Uber?
- What are the implications of “an eye for an eye”?
- How helpful and useful are recycling programs?
- Whose responsibility is it to stop increasing crime rates?
- What are the ethical challenges in cloning humans and animals?
- What are the ethical considerations in allowing parents to determine their children’s genetic traits and characteristics?
- How has the educational system evolved positively and what can be done to continue and enhance this?
- Does class ranking affect children negatively?
- Men are mediocre caregivers compared to women.
- Will teachers be replaced by computers in the future?
- What are the pros and cons of an interracial marriage?
- Which sex is more likely to cheat: men or women?
- What are the pros and cons of polygamy?
- Is nanotechnology safe? How can we be sure?
- How can social media be used to positively impact the outcome of classroom learning?
- Whose job is it to tackle cyber bullying?
- Alcohol is a dangerous drug that should be regulated and monitored.
- Genetically modified foods are the future of farming.
- If organic foods are healthier, why not produce only them?
- At what age should you allow your child to drink coffee?
Here is a good exploratory essay example for you to review before writing your next essay.
How can social media be used to positively impact the outcome of classroom learning?
Introduction
Social media statistics and definition
Did you know that 90% of young adults use social media? A study done by Pew Research Centre in 2015 reported this and that as much as 82% of these young adults were on Facebook (Team, 2017). While we know that social media is widely used for socializing and recreation, have you ever stopped thinking how it can be used to enhance the classroom experience?
Social media is defined as online sites where people create, connect and share audio, visual and written content (Ronan, 2017). Imagine the possibilities of what this can do when applied to the classroom setting! Some benefits of using social media to aid education include increased accessibility and communication between students and teachers, ease of sharing relevant materials (especially information researched and discovered while on the go), and improved collaboration on group projects and assignments.
Body
Uses of social media in the classroom
Students are already using social media for several hours of their day so it would be easy to incorporate education into this. Not only will it help them to learn better, but it will also make learning fun! Think about these ways in which social media can enhance learning and make it more enjoyable.
- Students are already on Facebook for several hours daily so it is a guaranteed way to connect with and share relevant classroom information with them. Open a Facebook Group for the class and encourage them to join so that they do not miss important information to be shared throughout the course.
- Blogs are a great way for literature and art students to express themselves. This is also a great medium for classes where a journal is required for the period of the course.
- YouTube, Skype and Facebook Live are all good tools for teleconferences or conducting presentations with speakers who can’t physically be present in the classroom.
- Twitter is one of those platforms that make learning fun. Create hashtags for class discussions and have students use the hashtag when sharing information about that topic. Even better, create a class hashtag and have them use it when posting any content about the class.
- Instagram and Pinterest are great channels for photography students (and I’m sure this goes without saying!) Use these to share great works of art as well as those of the students in the class.
Conclusion
Final words on social media use in the classroom
Cell phone, tablet and laptop use in the classroom can be a source of distraction for students. But when channelled properly and used appropriately, these tools can make education fun, and learning easier. All the popularly used social networks can be exploited as classroom tools to positively impact learning. They make teaching easier by improving the accessibility and communication between teacher and students; and they make learning fun by helping students share information in a light-hearted way, while improving communication and collaboration during group projects and assignments. When considering the use of social media for your classroom, keep these positives in mind and unlock their educational potential for great results.
References
Ronan, A. (2017, July 22). 6 Ways Social Media Can Change Your Classroom. Retrieved from Edudemic - Connecting education and technology: http://www.edudemic.com/twitter-college-lecture/
Team, M. L. (2017, July 22). Modo Labs Blog. Retrieved from Modo Labs: https://www.modolabs.com/blog-post/social-media-use-among-college-students-and-teens-whats-in-whats-out-and-why/
As you can see, an exploratory essay is one of the easiest and most interesting types of essays. It doesn’t even require you to have a special skill before you can write your own. All it takes is just a little research, a broad imagination, and the ability to think. So have fun learning how to write an exploratory essay.
Need help with exploratory writing?
Get your original paper!
