Expository Writing

Expository Writing is by Mervin James Curl. The book says the first question to ask is also the last and the intervening question: "What am I trying to accomplish?" The book says that in Exposition, the explaining the relations among things and ideas, we are commonly told to cover the ground, stick to the subject, and include whatever is valuable and reject the rest, but that such directions are insufficient.

The book gives the example that, to make a reader see the relation of the various parts of the tachometer, the writer should discover and present the fact that the machine relies primarily on the principle of centrifugal force. The book says that you will find the greatest help in the device of ascertaining what the root principle is, the fundamental notion or purpose of the subject that you are explaining. The book lists lives from a stated point of view, such as a life of Richard Croker from the point of view of a ward boss and a life of Andrew Carnegie from the point of view of a laborer in the steel mills.