How to write an explanatory essay？An explanatory essay is essentially the basis of academic communication. It is a vital tool for conveying ideas, and as such, it is held to a high standard for format and structure. This article provides you with relevant writing Explanatory essay tips, steps and examples for your reference.

一．What is an explanatory essay

An explanatory essay is a common writing assignment in which you deliver and explain an idea, point of view, or event in a neutral manner.

As the name suggests, this is not a way to try to persuade or convince. It is merely a vessel through which you deliver the information and present statistics, facts, and examples.

This gives students the chance to acquaint themselves with the topic at hand in a deeper manner. It also gives them a way to convey their views in a neutral and analytical way.

Are you trying to compare two different ideas, explain a cause and effect, deliver instructions, or propose a solution to a problem? Whatever the purpose, choosing the right kind of format will be vital for a clear understanding of your idea. Now let’s get down to the list of explanatory essay types:

你是否試圖比較兩種不同的想法，解釋原因和結(jié)果，傳遞指令，或提出一個問題的解決方案?無論目的是什么，選擇正確的格式對于清晰理解你的想法至關(guān)重要。現(xiàn)在讓我們來看看解釋性文章類型的列表:

1.Definition and classification essay

We purposefully chose this type to explain first, as it is similar to what you are reading right now. In an explanatory essay, you present what something is, and break it down into easily digestible components.

You define a complicated concept, intending to familiarize the reader with the issue at hand. For example, in this explanatory essay about explanatory essays, we outline its definition, its types and structure.

2.Cause and effect essay

This kind of explanatory essay is used when you present an event and explain the consequences of it. You can use it for a multitude of topics,  but it is usually most handy in journalism and history.

The goal is to report on an event, why it happened, and explain in detail the ramifications and impact it had. For example, you might be writing about a war in a country, and how it affected the economy or social well-being of the population.

3.Compare and contrast essay

In this kind of essay, you are usually comparing two different objects or issues. You are also outlining the differences and similarities between the two.

You should be able to explain both sides in detail and how the two relate to each other in an impartial way. This requires a deep understanding of the topics at hand and your ability to draw a relevant connection without an explicit personal preference or bias.

你應(yīng)該能夠詳細(xì)地解釋雙方，并公正地解釋兩者之間的關(guān)系。這需要你對當(dāng)前話題的深刻理解，以及在沒有明確的個人偏好或偏見的情況下建立相關(guān)聯(lián)系的能力。

4. ‘How-to’ essay: In a ’how-to’ or ’process explanatory’ essay

you present a problem and an in-depth guide on how to solve it.

It can be applied to almost any topic, from how to make a good cup of coffee to how to compose a lab report. A good ” how to” explanatory essay will show the depth of your understanding.

5.Problem and solution essay:

 In this type of explanatory essay, you are supposed to explain the issue at hand thoroughly. Explain why it is an issue in the first place and offer one or more solutions to it.

It is very important to explain why each solution is viable and how it connects with the issue at hand.

Remember that this information should not come from a personal opinion.

You should offer solutions based on how appropriate they are, not how much you think they are the best or easiest way to go.

二．How to write an explanatory essay

If you are into writing an excellent explanatory paper, you should find some spare time and organize your process. When deciding on exact amount of time to devote to writing, consider following important stages of writing that should be included:

Stage 1. Pre-Writing or Brainstorming

Often, professors assign specific topics for exploration, but if you should choose topic on your own, do it beforehand. Brainstorm and put down some facts that you know about topic.

Stage 2. Research

Do research and find additional information that explains your chosen topic better. Examine topic from different angles and list down as many facts as possible.

Stage 3. Outline

Fill in outline presented above. To apply sample outline effectively, start with reflecting on collected information and composing a thesis statement. While systematizing facts you have found by uniting them under several major ideas and use ideas and supporting facts to compose each body paragraph. Think of interesting approaches for proper organization of your concluding paragraph.

填寫上述提綱。要有效地運(yùn)用樣本提綱，首先要對收集到的信息進(jìn)行反思，并撰寫一篇論文陳述。當(dāng)你將發(fā)現(xiàn)的事實系統(tǒng)化的時候，你可以將它們結(jié)合在幾個主要觀點下，并使用這些觀點和支持的事實來組成每個主體段落。想出一些有趣的方法來恰當(dāng)?shù)亟M織你的結(jié)束語。

Stage 4. Writing

Write an explanatory essay using the information you have systematized. To complete this stage successfully, consider some useful tips that follow.

Stage 5. Post-Writing or Proofreading

While writing an explanatory essay, you’ve probably re-read each sentence several times. Despite this fact, the text is still likely to contain errors. Indeed, it is so easy to misspell a word or wrong punctuation, when you are in a hurry to write down thoughts that may disappear because of the smallest distraction. It helps you improve your explanatory essay and save some time, as proofreading is quite time-consuming.

At this stage, you should also make sure that your explanatory essay format meets the professor’s requirements. You should properly cite all the information borrowed from sources using requested documentation style (MLA, APA, or other) in order to avoid possible plagiarism accusations.

在這個階段，你還應(yīng)該確保你的解釋性文章的格式符合教授的要求。你應(yīng)該使用要求的文檔風(fēng)格(MLA, APA或其他)恰當(dāng)?shù)匾盟袕膩碓唇鑱淼男畔ⅲ员苊饪赡艿呢飧`指控。

三．explanatory essay example

Prompt:The title of this essay is:Is Playing College Sports A Job.‘Describe and understand how science works within a wide range of sciences.This does not have to include every kind of science. But it had better not be confined to a single branch of a single science, for such an understanding would add little to what scientists working in that area already know’ (Forster, 2004).

science works is concerned with all the assumptions, foundations, methods, implications of science, and with the use and feature of science. This is meant to be a characterization of general philosophy of science. It also includes studies in the foundations of science, which legitimately narrow their focus to particular sciences” (Forster, 2004).

Another way is looking to the science is that the science aims at practical recommendations and problem- solving. This discipline sometimes overlaps metaphysics, ontology and epistemology. Teaching and Learning Ontology and Epistemology in Science. The teaching and learning of ontology and epistemology is an important element of science, as it helps scholar to appraise, differentiate and choose between competing philosophies, theories and analytical traditions.

Theories, concepts and issues must be rendered accessible, while at the same time remaining accurate. Thus, the necessary act of simplification, which enables initial understanding, must maintain the possibility of critical engagement, yet not result in any distortion which would misrepresent positions and confuse subsequent learning processes.

As such, teaching and learning within science should not be about the instruction and regurgitation of knowledge. Instead, teaching should mean alerting students to different ways of thinking. It should provide a non-prescriptive basis from which students can reflexively engage with the material in order to uncover relationships, connections and underlying patterns and, consequently, partake in critical analysis.

Engaging in this ‘critical analysis’ does not constitute an attempt to teach students to be critical theorists, critical realists or a particular kind of critic, in any theoretical sense. Rather, critical analysis refers to the crucial capacity to engage with, interrogate and challenge other perspectives. Teaching and learning ontology and epistemology are important in science for fostering the processes and strategies of inquiry, role taking and benign disruption, which enable this reflexive learning.

Developing a capacity for inquiry – the ability to ask questions – is crucial if students are to interrogate and challenge the differences between, the assumptions made, and the knowledge produced by, particular theoretical and analytical traditions.

In general, role-taking experiences are important for intellectual development because they enable students to critique their own position from the point of view of another and, concurrently, allow them to comprehend another’s position. The vital movement towards reflexive learning can be facilitated through engaging with ontological and epistemological issues, as it enables understanding and adjudication between contending theoretical and analytical traditions. (Bates & Jenkins, 2007).

The Paradigm

A paradigm consists of the following components: ontology, epistemology, methodology, and, methods. Each component is explained, and then the relationships between them are explored.

Epistemological assumptions are concerned with how knowledge can be created, acquired and communicated, in other words what it means to know. Every paradigm is based upon its own ontological and epistemological assumptions. Since all assumptions are conjecture, the philosophical underpinnings of each paradigm can never be empirically proven or disproven. Different paradigms inherently contain differing ontological and epistemological views. Research methods can be traced back, through methodology and epistemology, to an ontological position. It is impossible to engage in any form of research without committing.

The scientific paradigm rose to prominence during the Enlightenment. The ontological position of positivism is one of realism. Realism is the view that objects have an existence independent of the knower. The positivist epistemology is one of objectivism. Positivists go forth into the world impartially, discovering absolute knowledge about an objective reality. Thus, phenomena have an independent existence which can be discovered via research. Positivistic statements are descriptive and factual. The scientific paradigm is foundational as scientific propositions are founded on data and facts.

The scientific paradigm seeks predictions and generalizations; thus, methods often generate quantitative data. Examples include: standardized tests, closed ended questionnaires and descriptions of phenomena using standardized observation tools. Analysis involves descriptive and inferential statistics. Inferential statistics allow sample results to be generalized to populations. Research is deemed good if its results are due to the independent variable, can be generalized/transferred to other populations or situations, and different researchers can record the same data in the same way and arrive at the same conclusions. Additionally, research needs to be as objective as possible and robust to empirical refutation. (Scotland, 2012).

The Logic

Logic and probability are the standard tools of philosophy of science. Probability can be seen as an extension of logic, so it is important to understand the basics concepts of logic first. Logic has many branches. The best known branch of logic is called deductive logic. Briefly, deduction is what mathematicians do, except when they use simplifying approximations, which happens a lot in science. (Forster, 2004). An argument is a set of claims, one of which is the conclusion and the rest of which are the premises. The conclusion states the point being argued for and the premises state the reasons being advanced in support the conclusion. They may not be good reasons. There are good and bad arguments. An argument is deductively valid if and only if it is impossible that its conclusion is false while its premises are true. According to intuitivism, the problem is to understand how a hypothesis like? All planets move in ellipses? Is supported by, or confirmed by, the fact that all the instances of the generalization observed so far have been true. One inductivity strategy is to ask what missing premise must be added to the argument to make it deductively valid, and then to evaluate the truth of the added premise (Hitchcock, 2004).

Simple ideas tend to be more complicated that they appear at first sight. In the end, it defend the view that science has a logic, albeit one that reaches beyond deductive logic into the murkier realm of statistical inference (Forster, 2004).

Explanation

Although the subject of explanation has been a major concern of philosophy, modern philosophical discussion of this topic, at least as it pertains to science, begins with the so-called deductive-nomological (DN). This model has many advocates but unquestionably the most detailed.

The basic idea of the deductive-nomological (DN) model is that explanations have the structure of sound deductive arguments in which a law of nature occurs as an essential premise. One deduces the explanandum, which describes the phenomenon to be explained, from an explaining, consisting of one or more laws, typically supplemented by true sentences about initial conditions. The model is intended to apply both to the explanation of “general regularities” by other laws and the explanation of particular events, although subsequent developments have largely focused on the latter.

deductive-nomological(DN)模型的基本思想是，解釋具有健全的演繹論證結(jié)構(gòu)，其中自然法則是一個基本前提。人們從一個由一個或多個定律組成的解釋中推導(dǎo)出解釋物，該解釋物描述了被解釋的現(xiàn)象，通常輔以有關(guān)初始條件的真實句子。這個模型的目的是既適用于用其他定律解釋“一般規(guī)律”，也適用于解釋特定事件，盡管后來的發(fā)展主要集中在后者。

The DN model is meant to capture explanation via deduction from deterministic laws and this raises the obvious question of the explanatory status of statistical laws. Much of the appeal of the deductive- nomological (DN) model lies in the undeniable fact that in some areas of science, such as physics, many explanations do seem to involve derivations from laws.It claims that all explanations conform to the requirements of the model, and that everything conforming to those requirements is an explanation.

We need to ask whether these claims are correct and whether the key components of the model such as the notion of a law, are sufficiently clear and well-understood to play the role the model assigns to them. (Machamer & Silberstein, 2002).

Conclusion

Philosophy of Science It’s have a lot of discus on world wild view from different Scientists and Philosopher. It’s a subjective, discover, knowledge.

Understanding the philosophical assumptions that underpin each paradigm and how these assumptions manifest themselves within methodology and methods. Ontological and epistemological consideration can facilitate reflexive learning. For this to flourish further, we must improve the accuracy of definitions, as well as providing a framework which renders concepts accessible. Alerting researchers to this dissension is particularly important because it encourages them to challenge assumptions and premises.

With a bit of dedication and time, anyone can master explanatory essay writing. If you have done your research beforehand and have a clear idea of what the point of your essay is, all that is left to do is write.

只要有一點奉獻(xiàn)和時間，任何人都可以掌握解釋性論文寫作。如果你事先已經(jīng)做了調(diào)查，并且對你的文章的重點有了一個清晰的概念，剩下要做的就是寫了。

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