To sum up: place the thesis statement toward the end of your introduction, state your angle on the topic, and provide your reasoning with evidence. Since you only get 20–50 words to work with, make sure to use them wisely!
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An explanatory essay describes a set of ideas. An explanatory essay focuses on one point of view and supports it with a set of facts.
The purpose of an explanatory essay is to make a topic easier to understand for the reader. An explanatory essay takes the form of a discussion that one might have about this topic. For one point of view to be validated, one must also assess the validity (or non-validity) of opposing points of view. Explanatory essays are distinct because they analyze and explain key concepts and viewpoints to the reader.
An explanatory essay has room for a little bit of creativity as you describe various concepts and ideas. A well-written explanatory essay highlights your ability to help the reader understand particular points of view on a topic. Writing an explanatory essay helps you learn how to communicate ideas, concepts, and opinions clearly and concisely. It also helps in training you to be neutral, and this is especially true if you are explaining a point of view that is not your own.
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Explanatory essays are distinct because they analyze and explain key concepts and viewpoints to the reader. An explanatory essay has room for a little bit of creativity as you describe various concepts and ideas. There may even be a few opportunities to lay out your own personal opinion.
In contrast, an informative essay is purely about educating the reader with facts.
A well-written explanatory essay highlights your ability to help the reader understand a particular point of view on a topic. Writing an explanatory essay helps you learn how to communicate ideas, concepts, and opinions clearly and concisely. These factors are, of course, subject to our interpretation of the event itself, and these interpretations change over the course of history (and depending on who is writing the history books). This is exactly why an explanatory essay is so important.
Writing an explanatory essay also trains you to be neutral, and this is especially true if you’re explaining a point of view that is not your own. When a reader finishes reading an explanatory essay, they should have a clear understanding of that point of view, even if they do not agree with it.
Choose your topic.
Another tip is to choose a topic that you understand. A foundation of background knowledge will help make the research phase easier. In addition, choosing a topic that you’re interested in will also help you stay motivated throughout the writing process.
Next, you’ll need to research your topic. Finding suitable evidence is key when writing an explanatory essay, because you will need to support each opinion with facts. Try to find respected, peer-reviewed sources in online journals and assess the reliability of your sources as you research your topic.
Keep the following in mind as you research:
Once you’ve finished researching your topic, you should have a number of ideas for your essay. Now it’s time to organize these ideas and notes into a clear, structured outline. Organizing your thoughts in this manner gives you a framework to follow when writing your essay, and you’ll find that it makes the entire process much easier.
The general structure of an explanatory essay is as follows:
Write the introduction.
Your first step should be to write a captivating introduction for your explanatory essay. The introduction familiarizes the reader with the topic and helps them understand your thesis. First of all, make sure the reader is interested in what you’re about to discuss with an impactful first sentence.
In the main body of your introduction, spend a few sentences explaining the background of your topic. Don’t assume the reader already has a firm understanding of the topic you’re about to launch into. The last sentence of your introduction should be your thesis statement.
Tips for effective thesis statements:
Finishing the introduction with a clear thesis helps the reader understand exactly what the essay will focus on in the later paragraphs.
Once you have created an introduction that helps the reader understand your topic and the viewpoint you’re about to discuss, you can begin the main body paragraphs. The exact length of your explanatory essay will depend on the format and guidelines laid out by your instructor.
Start each paragraph with an introductory sentence explaining the information you’ll explore. Next, explain why this information supports your thesis with a second sentence.
For example, you could start a paragraph by saying:
In the years leading up to the fall of Rome, there was significant internal corruption.
Then you could explain why this supports your thesis by saying:
This internal corruption made Rome weak and especially vulnerable to invasion.
You would then back up this claim with evidence collected during your research while carefully citing each source. Each time you introduce a new piece of evidence that supports your thesis statement, you must support this evidence with facts.
Conclude each paragraph with a summary of the information and how it relates to your thesis. For example:
The truth is that internal corruption had weakened Rome to the brink of collapse by the time the barbarians arrived, and all it needed was a slight push to come toppling down.
In this sentence, you’re clearly summarizing how your evidence supports the viewpoint you’re discussing.
Follow the exact same formula for each of your body paragraphs. Each body paragraph should present a new reason why your thesis statement is viable, including evidence and facts. Do not repeat the same information.
Before you turn in that paper, don’t forget to cite your sources in APA format , MLA format , or a style of your choice.
When you’ve finished writing your body paragraphs, it’s time to finish your essay with a conclusion. Start by restating your thesis in a new way. Then, summarize the information laid out in your body paragraphs, making sure to highlight the significance and credibility of each claim in relation to your thesis. This helps bring together all of your evidence in a few cohesive statements, solidifying its importance and relevance in the reader’s mind.
Finally, finish off your explanatory essay with a concluding sentence. In this last sentence, explain why the point of view you’ve outlined is important. What kind of relevance does it have today? Leave a strong impression on your reader, and make them feel encouraged to research the topic further.
Additional tips for writing your explanatory essay.
Published September 7, 2020.
By Andrew Block. Andrew received his BA in English from the University of South Carolina and his MA from the University of New Mexico. After more than a decade as a faculty member in a community college, he has worked in client success for an educational technology company since 2018.
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Methodology
Published on December 3, 2021 by Tegan George and Julia Merkus. Revised on November 20, 2023.
Explanatory research is a research method that explores why something occurs when limited information is available. It can help you increase your understanding of a given topic, ascertain how or why a particular phenomenon is occurring, and predict future occurrences.
Explanatory research can also be explained as a “cause and effect” model, investigating patterns and trends in existing data that haven’t been previously investigated. For this reason, it is often considered a type of causal research .
When to use explanatory research, explanatory research questions, explanatory research data collection, explanatory research data analysis, step-by-step example of explanatory research, explanatory vs. exploratory research, advantages and disadvantages of explanatory research, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about explanatory research.
Explanatory research is used to investigate how or why a phenomenon takes place. Therefore, this type of research is often one of the first stages in the research process, serving as a jumping-off point for future research. While there is often data available about your topic, it’s possible the particular causal relationship you are interested in has not been robustly studied.
Explanatory research helps you analyze these patterns, formulating hypotheses that can guide future endeavors. If you are seeking a more complete understanding of a relationship between variables, explanatory research is a great place to start. However, keep in mind that it will likely not yield conclusive results.
You analyzed their final grades and noticed that the students who take your course in the first semester always obtain higher grades than students who take the same course in the second semester.
Explanatory research answers “why” and “how” questions, leading to an improved understanding of a previously unresolved problem or providing clarity for related future research initiatives.
Here are a few examples:
After choosing your research question, there is a variety of options for research and data collection methods to choose from.
A few of the most common research methods include:
The method you choose depends on several factors, including your timeline, budget, and the structure of your question. If there is already a body of research on your topic, a literature review is a great place to start. If you are interested in opinions and behavior, consider an interview or focus group format. If you have more time or funding available, an experiment or pilot study may be a good fit for you.
In order to ensure you are conducting your explanatory research correctly, be sure your analysis is definitively causal in nature, and not just correlated.
Always remember the phrase “correlation doesn’t mean causation.” Correlated variables are merely associated with one another: when one variable changes, so does the other. However, this isn’t necessarily due to a direct or indirect causal link.
Causation means that changes in the independent variable bring about changes in the dependent variable. In other words, there is a direct cause-and-effect relationship between variables.
Causal evidence must meet three criteria:
Correlation doesn’t imply causation, but causation always implies correlation. In order to get conclusive causal results, you’ll need to conduct a full experimental design .
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Your explanatory research design depends on the research method you choose to collect your data . In most cases, you’ll use an experiment to investigate potential causal relationships. We’ll walk you through the steps using an example.
The first step in conducting explanatory research is getting familiar with the topic you’re interested in, so that you can develop a research question .
Let’s say you’re interested in language retention rates in adults.
You are interested in finding out how the duration of exposure to language influences language retention ability later in life.
The next step is to address your expectations. In some cases, there is literature available on your subject or on a closely related topic that you can use as a foundation for your hypothesis . In other cases, the topic isn’t well studied, and you’ll have to develop your hypothesis based on your instincts or on existing literature on more distant topics.
You phrase your expectations in terms of a null (H 0 ) and alternative hypothesis (H 1 ):
Next, decide what data collection and data analysis methods you will use and write them up. After carefully designing your research, you can begin to collect your data.
You compare:
During the study, you test their Spanish language proficiency twice in a research design that has three stages:
You made sure to control for any confounding variables , such as age, gender, proficiency in other languages, etc.
After data collection is complete, proceed to analyze your data and report the results.
You notice that:
To determine whether these differences are significant, you conduct a mixed ANOVA. The ANOVA shows that all differences are not significant for the pre-test, but they are significant for the post-test.
As you interpret the results, try to come up with explanations for the results that you did not expect. In most cases, you want to provide suggestions for future research.
However, this difference is only significant after the intervention (the Spanish class.)
You decide it’s worth it to further research the matter, and propose a few additional research ideas:
It can be easy to confuse explanatory research with exploratory research. If you’re in doubt about the relationship between exploratory and explanatory research, just remember that exploratory research lays the groundwork for later explanatory research.
Exploratory research questions often begin with “what”. They are designed to guide future research and do not usually have conclusive results. Exploratory research is often utilized as a first step in your research process, to help you focus your research question and fine-tune your hypotheses.
Explanatory research questions often start with “why” or “how”. They help you study why and how a previously studied phenomenon takes place.
Like any other research design , explanatory research has its trade-offs: while it provides a unique set of benefits, it also has significant downsides:
If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.
Research bias
Explanatory research is a research method used to investigate how or why something occurs when only a small amount of information is available pertaining to that topic. It can help you increase your understanding of a given topic.
Exploratory research aims to explore the main aspects of an under-researched problem, while explanatory research aims to explain the causes and consequences of a well-defined problem.
Explanatory research is used to investigate how or why a phenomenon occurs. Therefore, this type of research is often one of the first stages in the research process , serving as a jumping-off point for future research.
Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.
Quantitative methods allow you to systematically measure variables and test hypotheses . Qualitative methods allow you to explore concepts and experiences in more detail.
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The first step to writing an effective explanatory statement is to summarize the main objective of the topic into one detailed statement. Secondly, the statement should follow the thesis subject clearly to be further broken down for explanation. Thirdly, the explanatory thesis statement must contain the main ideas of the topic, and finally, all ...
A thesis statement is needed in an essay or dissertation. There are multiple types of thesis statements - but generally we can divide them into expository and argumentative. An expository statement is a statement of fact (common in expository essays and process essays) while an argumentative statement is a statement of opinion (common in argumentative essays and dissertations). Below are ...
A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your essay. It usually comes at the end of the introduction.
Learn how to craft a clear and effective thesis statement for your academic writing with tips and examples from the Purdue OWL.
Writing explanatory essays is hard, even for experienced scholars. In this post, I want to try to tackle the major challenges students face when writing this type of essay, using examples of successful essays. These challenges include: Struggling to come up with the right idea. (solution: brainstorming techniques) Difficulty in organizing the ...
Explanatory essays need to present facts, not opinions. They use evidence and logic to explain things. For example, if you're writing about climate change, your explanatory thesis might say: "Climate change is influenced by both natural events and human activities, and it affects the planet's ecosystems in many ways."
A strong thesis statement is the backbone of a well-organized paper. Learn how to write an explanatory, argumentative, or analytical thesis statement.
A thesis statement provides the foundation for your research paper. This statement is the central assertion that you want to express in your essay.
A thesis statement gives your reader a preview of your paper's content by laying out your central idea and expressing an informed, reasoned answer to your research question. Thesis statements will vary depending on the type of paper you are writing, such as an expository essay, argument paper, or analytical essay. Expository Essay Thesis ...
Explanatory Thesis Statement. Cats are known to be exceptional predators because of their ability to see in the dark, remain silent in quiet environments, and control their body movements to adapt to speed and height. This is an example of an explanatory thesis statement. We can infer that the topic of this paper would be something along the ...
Wonder how to write an explanatory essay? Click for the full guide that contains an explanatory essay example for your help.
An expository essay's thesis statement should be objective rather than argumentative. Write me five broad expository thesis statement ideas on the topic " [TOPIC]".
Understanding what makes a good thesis statement is one of the major keys to writing a great research paper or argumentative essay. The thesis statement is where you make a claim that will guide you through your entire paper. If you find yourself struggling to make sense of your paper or your topic, then it's likely due to a weak thesis statement. Let's take a minute to first understand what ...
A thesis statement summarizes the main idea or objective of a paper or an essay. Learn how to write a thesis statement for your academic work.
Writing a Strong Thesis Statement A thesis statement is one or a few sentences that express the main ideas of your paper and answer the questions posed by your paper. Some thesis statements offer readers a quick and easy-to-follow summary of what the paper will be discussing and what you as a writer are setting out to tell them. This handout will include strategies for writing thesis ...
Use our guide on how to write an explanatory essay with examples. Follow the right structure, format, outline & writing steps to create an A+ explanation paper.
How to write a thesis statement. When writing a thesis, the following guidelines apply: Step 1: Determine the type of paper (explanatory, argumentative, or analytical). Step 2: Identify the topic, position/claim, and supports of the essay. Step 3: Determine if the supports should be included within the thesis.
In this article, we'll answer this and other questions related to a thesis statement for essays, papers, or longer documents. We will discuss all aspects of a thesis, its importance, and its types. We'll also provide a few thesis statement examples so you understand how to write a strong thesis.
Master the art of creating a thesis statement! Compare good and poor thesis statement examples to find out just what a strong thesis statement should be.
On the other hand, in an explanatory essay, a thesis is an overarching concept or main idea that you will inform readers of throughout your essay. In both types of essays, your thesis statement—a sentence or two in which you express your thesis—is typically included near the end of the introductory paragraph; however, sometimes thesis ...
Thesis Statements A thesis statement is a sentence (or sentences) that expresses the main ideas of your paper and answers the question or questions posed by your paper. It offers a quick and easy-to-follow summary of what the paper will be discussing and what you as a writer are setting out to tell them. The kind of thesis that your paper will have will depend on the purpose of your writing.
Why is an explanatory essay important? A well-written explanatory essay highlights your ability to help the reader understand a particular point of view on a topic. Writing an explanatory essay helps you learn how to communicate ideas, concepts, and opinions clearly and concisely.
The structure of your expository essay will vary according to the scope of your assignment and the demands of your topic. It's worthwhile to plan out your structure before you start, using an essay outline. A common structure for a short expository essay consists of five paragraphs: An introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
Explanatory research helps you analyze these patterns, formulating hypotheses that can guide future endeavors. If you are seeking a more complete understanding of a relationship between variables, explanatory research is a great place to start.