What are the writing methods of expository writing?

Explanatory articles are used to explain or illustrate theories, methods, processes or some abstract situations. The expository articles mentioned here are mainly articles written in TOEFL according to specific charts. The article only conveys the information in the chart, does not involve opinions, and does not need to convince people by reasoning.

To write a composition according to the chart, you must first read the chart and understand the information it contains. To this end, we should pay attention to three points: first, look at the title and understand the purpose of the chart; The second is to study the theme of the chart and understand the content and its relationship; Third, pay attention to the explanation or legend of the chart to avoid misunderstanding. In short, we should study the chart carefully, understand and judge accurately, and not make hasty decisions, so as not to lose points in the content of the article.

After reading the chart, you should immediately think about what the article wants to express. There are two constraints to understand here: first, the writing time is only more than 20 minutes, and you can't make a long speech; Secondly, there are many charts, which can't be explained one by one, and can't be written as a boring running account. When considering trade-offs, we should pay attention to megatrends, situations, interrelationships, typical cases or data. Mastering these, other contents are actually included, so I don't need to mention them.

There is no fixed pattern in the writing of articles, but it is impossible to change too much due to the limitation of subject matter. Without this, it is difficult to highlight the theme of the article. The division of natural paragraphs is based on the principle of clarity. For example, the first paragraph talks about the purpose of the chart, the rest of the natural paragraphs should be divided according to the main points, and the last paragraph can talk about its own understanding and views (or not). The key to writing is to give examples after each point is talked about.

In the way of language, we should pay attention to the changes of sentence patterns and try to avoid repeating a certain sentence pattern. When there is a lot of juxtaposition, try to string together the contents of that year to serve the theme of the article. The idea of the full text can be expressed by topic sentences, natural paragraphs and logical words. Let readers feel that the author's thinking is clear and the full text is an organic whole. When they encounter many similar vocabulary phrases, they can change them as much as possible, and the sentence patterns can be changed when they are unable to change them.

First, the meaning and classification of explanatory text

The so-called expository article is an article that gives people knowledge by explaining things and explaining things as the main expression. It makes people understand the shape, structure, nature, types, causes, functions, relationships or concepts, characteristics, sources, evolution, similarities and differences of things through the explanation of physical things or abstract arrangements, so as to obtain relevant knowledge. Giving priority to explanation is a sign that explanatory writing is different from other styles in expression.

Among all kinds of article styles, descriptive style is a relatively independent category. In people's social life, expository text shows its important role and practical value. Real life fully shows that expository writing is not an insignificant article form, but a common style widely used, which is closely related to people's production, work and life, and due to the needs of social life, expository writing is emerging in large numbers.

With regard to the classification of expository texts, people now have different classification methods from different angles according to their own standards. According to the expression of expository texts, we can generally divide them into three categories: one is explanatory expository texts; Second, narrative explanatory text; Third, literature expository.

Explanatory exposition that explains things and things from several different aspects is called explanatory exposition. Texts or teaching materials about history, geography, physics, chemistry, animals and plants, science and health, language and literature, scientific experiment reports, and instructions on the use of utensils all belong to this category.

A descriptive exposition that introduces things through a simple overview or plot is called a narrative exposition. Synopsis of various operas in movies and TV series, abstracts of literary works such as novels, explanations of comic books or some photographic photos, etc. All fall into this category.

An expository article that introduces and explains things in an intuitive way is called a literary expository article. This kind of expository writing is more literary. Knowledge sketch (or scientific sketch), scenic spots and historical sites and descriptions of cultural relics all belong to this category.

Generally speaking, the first two writing methods are relatively plain, focusing on the detailed description of things or things. The latter style is lively and interesting, and mostly adopts literary style.

Second, the characteristics of explanatory text

Explanatory text has the following characteristics:

1, descriptive

The so-called expository text means that the expository text mainly adopts explanatory expressions, focusing on truthfully introducing and briefly explaining objective things or events, so that people can know something. As far as the overall style is concerned, the characteristics of expository writing are significantly different from narrative writing and argumentative writing. Narrative describes the activities of characters, the process of events, the state of scenery, and the author's impression of characters, events and scenery, focusing on narration and description, focusing on making people feel something; Argumentative papers analyze the essence, laws and characteristics of things through logical argumentation, put forward opinions and express opinions, mainly in the form of discussion, focusing on making people realize; For example, Gorky described a specific scene of my childhood reading, vividly showing the picture of the characters reading, which is narrative; Mao Zedong wrote a section on "Learning" in "China's Position in the National War", expounding the importance and task of learning and adopting a correct attitude towards learning, expounding his own views and demonstrating the truth, which is argumentative; Reading notes introduce several common methods of taking reading notes in concise words: "The first is to mark the book"; "The second method is to extract, that is, copy the key points, important materials, wonderful sentences or paragraphs in the book in the notebook"; "The third method is to write an abstract of the whole article or book"; "There is also a writing experience (after reading)"; In addition to the above methods, you can also use cards. The full text has neither specific description nor analysis and demonstration, but mainly introduces the specific methods of taking reading notes in detail by explaining things clearly, so that people can gain learning experience after reading. This is illustrative. Due to different writing purposes and different ways of expressing content, the characteristics of the article are naturally different. Just as the narrative is vivid and lyrical and the argumentative is rational and logical, it embodies the descriptive nature of stationery. Of course, it is also common for an explanatory article to use narrative or discussion partly because of the need to express the content, but this can only be said to contain narrative or discussion elements and will not change its explanatory nature.

2. Knowledge

Generally speaking, narrative and argumentative essays contain more or less all kinds of knowledge, which can give people lessons, but they are not as direct, concentrated and intense as expository essays in imparting knowledge. This is because the direct purpose of explanatory writing is to give people knowledge or skills. The content of expository text takes knowledge as the core. No matter what kind of expository text, its content is nothing more than natural science knowledge, social science knowledge, and the knowledge people need in their daily life, work and study, from the macro world to the micro world, from basic disciplines to cutting-edge science, from wonderful microorganisms to human society, from stone tools to computers, from deserts to oceans, from stratigraphic changes to celestial bodies, ......

Since explanatory writing is to impart knowledge to people, it must be highly scientific (including explaining the rationality of things). No matter the explanation of physical things or non-physical things, we should truthfully reflect objective things, so that the content is true and reliable, the reflection is accurate and appropriate, and the explanation is clear and clear. If the explanatory text violates the scientific nature of knowledge, it will become the cause of injury. Explanatory articles mainly explain objective things or things calmly, generally without strong emotional color or expressing the author's tendency, and have the characteristics of objectivity.

"Cihai" introduces ginkgo in this way:

Ginkgo biloba is also called "Ginkgo Tree" and "Gongsun Tree". Deciduous trees of Ginkgo family. The leaves are fan-shaped dioecious Seeds elliptic or obovate. Residual plants, widely cultivated in China; Japan is also slow to grow and has a long life span, which can reach more than 1000 years old. The seed kernel is edible, and if it is poisoned by eating too much, the seed coat can be extracted with tannin extract. The wood is light yellow, thin, light and soft, and is used in architecture, furniture, sculpture and other handicrafts. Garden trees and street trees. Traditional Chinese medicine takes seeds as medicine, which is flat in nature, bitter in taste and slightly toxic. It has the functions of astringing lung and relieving asthma, and is mainly used for treating phlegm and asthma, cough, nocturnal emission, leukorrhagia and frequent urination. Seeds contain hydrocyanic acid, histidine and protein.

This descriptive article about Ginkgo biloba only objectively and truly introduces the name, characteristics, origin and use of Ginkgo biloba. Are all explanatory languages. Compared with Guo Moruo's prose Ginkgo biloba, its objectivity is obvious.

Step 3 be practical

Judging from the social function of expository writing, it has extensive practical value. For example, the writing of legal provisions, the compilation of laws and regulations, the revision of astronomical calendars, the recording of production knowledge, and the introduction of work experience. From the voluminous encyclopedia entries to the instructions of a product, the tentacles of explanatory texts have extended to all fields of social life and production, playing a huge role, becoming a tool for people to exchange ideas and experiences and a bridge for communication between arts and sciences.

Third, the writing of expository text.

Writing expository articles, like writing other articles, must be clear about the writing intention and establish the center of the article; Fully occupy the materials, and strive to make the words meaningful and organized. In addition to these general requirements, the writing of expository texts also has the following requirements:

(A) grasp the characteristics of things, grasp the center of interpretation

Everything has its own qualitative stipulation, and the characteristic of one thing is that it is different from other things. Only by grasping the characteristics of things can we accurately and clearly introduce the things explained to readers and make people have a definite understanding of things. Things often have various characteristics, and it is impossible to cover everything in an explanatory article when introducing things; You can say only one or two characteristics at a time as needed. Therefore, if you want to write a good exposition, you must also grasp the center of the exposition. For example, "Wandering Pi" is an explanatory article that introduces the basis of mathematics. This article, called Random Talk, does not pile up materials about pi at will, but introduces the contributions made by mathematicians at home and abroad to the value of pi around the center of finding a more accurate value of pi.

It is an important requirement to grasp the characteristics of things and the center of explanation. To do this, the author must make a thorough and detailed study of the things to be explained before writing. We must understand that we can do this only if we are familiar with what is explained and understand and master the regularity of what is explained.

(B) according to the specific circumstances, choose a good writing angle.

Writing expository texts also requires targeted methods. What to write and how to write it should be considered from the actual situation of readers, so that the article can be targeted and meet the readers' knowledge level, professional characteristics and age. Usually different readers write from different angles. For example, there are many discussions about the harm of smoking, some are aimed at the elderly, some are aimed at women, and some are aimed at teenagers. From different angles, the content of the explanation is different. The article "Smoking is harmful to teenagers" introduces the harm of smoking to teenagers from the perspective that teenagers are the future and hope of the country, highlights the physiological characteristics of teenagers, shows that teenagers are exposed to toxic substances faster, eliminated more slowly and are more harmful than adults, and points out that "smoking is absolutely harmful to teenagers". This shows that the purpose is clear and targeted.

What angle to choose when writing an explanatory article depends on the actual situation. For example, introducing the knowledge of cattle, if written for breeders, should focus on the life habits and characteristics of cattle; If it is written for users, it should focus on the function and strength of cattle; If it is written for a veterinarian, it mainly introduces its body structure; If it is written for consumers, it can mainly introduce its nutritional value. Of course, as an introduction to popular science knowledge, it is better to be comprehensive.

(three) explain clearly and clearly.

The purpose of writing expositions is to let people acquire knowledge and skills. Only by explaining clearly can this goal be achieved. Explain, as soon as you say it, how to explain it clearly, pay attention to the method of explanation, pay attention to the arrangement of structure, and pay attention to the use of language. About the method of explanation, I won't introduce it in detail here. Here, I will focus on the arrangement of organizational structure.

The organization of the article is the reflection of the characteristics and laws of objective things and events themselves in the structure of the article. Explanatory words should be arranged in their own order, so as to be clear-cut and clear-cut. First of all, pay attention to the order when arranging the structure of the explanatory text. Different types of expositions have different requirements on how to arrange the detailed structure. The description of the product production process is often arranged according to the product production process. For example, Ye Shengtao's "Making Cloisonne" is an exposition that introduces cloisonne as a handicraft. According to the procedure of manufacturing technology, detailed explanations were made in turn, and five key processes were grasped: tire making, silk kneading, painting, firing and polishing. The whole article is orderly and gives a very clear impression. This arrangement focuses on the process of writing in chronological order.

(4) The language is accurate and concise, and the words are popular and simple.

Choosing accurate language and explaining things accurately are the basic requirements of interpreting language. Explanatory text mainly introduces the content of knowledge, and only by truthfully reflecting the objective situation of the explained content can the scientific nature of knowledge be guaranteed. On the contrary, inaccurate language will lose the scientific nature of knowledge.

Xu Guangqi, a scholar in the Ming Dynasty, translated Euclid's Principles of Geometry, one of which is:

All theories must start with one. From point to line, from line to surface, from surface to body, there are three contours. It is a line with a long heart but not wide, a long face but not thick, and a long and wide body. Only points are not long, wide and thick, which can't be accommodated and can't be counted. However, the two ends of the line are points, and both lines and faces come from this life. Although the point doesn't count, it is actually the basis of calculation.

This section explains the basic concepts of mathematics, and gives an exact explanation of what is a point, what is a line, what is a surface, what is a body, the relationship and difference between a point and several degrees, and the language is also very accurate.

In addition, there are often some contents with specialized scientific knowledge, involving some specialized terms and technical terms, which are particularly required to be used accurately in the interpretation to facilitate readers' understanding. For example, "aviation" and "aerospace" are two different concepts. There is an article that explains this: "An airplane flying in the atmosphere is called aviation; Satellites and spaceships flying outside the atmosphere are called space flight. They use different aircraft in different spaces to complete their tasks. " This explanation is very accurate, which gives people a scientific understanding of what is "aviation" and what is "aerospace".

The language of explanatory writing must be concise and accurate. Look at the following passage:

"The peeling of cicada larvae starts from the back. The first layer of old skin split from the back, revealing a light green cicada. The head comes out first, then the straw and front legs, and finally the hind legs and folded wings, leaving only the tip of the tail still in the old skin. At this time, it got up, turned back, hung its head upside down, spread its folded wings and tried to straighten it. Then with an almost invisible movement, try to turn your body up and hook the old skin with your front paws. This action makes its tail tip completely stick out of the old skin. That old skin is just an empty shell and has become a cicada. It takes about half an hour from start to complete removal.

This passage is less than 200 words, specifically explaining the whole process of cicada larvae peeling. In concise language, the complex movements of larva desquamation are written carefully and truly. The words are unbranched, and the language is expressive, giving a clear impression. 、

Explanatory articles should introduce some scientific knowledge and some contents, which are often unfamiliar to ordinary people. To explain professional scientific knowledge clearly and make it easy for people to understand, it is necessary to be simple, easy to understand, vivid and interesting. For example, "Intercontinental Missile Readme" is a scientific essay introducing the knowledge of intercontinental missiles. This paper explains the appearance, classification, structure, characteristics, power and weakness of intercontinental missiles by anthropomorphic method, and gives them a hypothetical human behavior, which is lively and interesting to read and easy to understand. In order to make expository articles vivid and easy to understand, people often use various rhetorical devices to enhance the vividness and interest of articles.

In the writing of expository articles, we should pay attention to overcoming several common problems. This is:

First, prevent intellectual errors. For example, an article about "cattle" wrote: "There are two kinds of cattle: buffalo and yellow cattle. Cattle are ruminants. They only eat grass and don't feed it. Cows have two horns, which are strong and powerful, and are widely used as farming tools in all countries of the world. " Because the writers don't know enough about cows, some of them are only half-baked. Therefore, writing causes intellectual errors. There are not only buffaloes and yellow cattle in the world, but also hybrid cattle have no horns. Besides grass, cows must be fed other feeds; Cattle are not widely used as farming tools in the world. Cattle are also used as food, milk or transportation, and even worshipped as gods.

Second, avoid stylistic mistakes. For example, there is an explanatory article entitled Earthworms, which reads as follows: "... Although this small animal is unremarkable, it can loosen the soil and work every day. It doesn't pay attention to food and clothing, rest, residence or remuneration. It works hard all day to cultivate land for people and make crops thrive. I can't help thinking of our teachers, who also have earthworm spirit.

I want to be an industrious earthworm. "

Obviously, this exercise has turned an expository essay into a lyrical essay that conveys the story by borrowing things.

Third, overcome one-sided discussion. For example, there is a knowledge sketch called Frog, which wrote: "Frog is an amphibious, warm-blooded animal with high nutritional value ..." This is definitely one-sided. Frogs can catch pests and are beneficial to the growth of crops. It only says high nutritional value. If we don't publicize and protect it and raise it, it will inevitably cause bad social impact. One-sided is not conducive to the popularization of scientific knowledge.