Exploratory Essay Outlines and Topics

The peculiarity of the exploratory essay is that it isn’t necessary to take a certain position when writing one. When working on the exploratory essay, it is more important to look at the researched problem from different angles and viewpoints. Even though it is a little bit different from other types of essays, an exploratory essay outline is an important part of writing an excellent essay.

How to Write an Exploratory Essay Outline

Start writing your paper with creating an exploratory essay outline. Having an exploratory essay outline will make it easy for you to organize your ideas and not to miss any important details and pieces of information. Your outline should include quotes, statistics, experts’ opinions, paraphrases and summarized ideas. It’s crucial to understand though, that in an exploratory paper, you are required to explain the position in your own words and use quotes only if they’re really striking.

Choosing a Good Topic for an Exploratory Essay

One of the secrets to writing a good paper is choosing a good topic. In case with exploratory essays, the exploratory essay topic needs to be an arguable question. It should be the question which:

• Isn’t solved yet
• Is connected to an enduring problem
• Is contradicting and has many angles
• Isn’t a fact that you can check easily
• Is currently interesting to people

The Structure of an Exploratory Essay

An exploratory essay starts with an introduction, which should grab reader’s attention to the issue that is being discussed. In the introductory paragraph, you should do your best to make the reader understand the issue and its importance. You can do this by using an intriguing quote or asking a series of questions, or giving several examples of the problem, etc.

Next comes the body of the paper and in an exploratory essay, it consists of two parts. The first part consists of one paragraph and explains the issue or problem. The second part is bigger and usually consists of three to six paragraphs, where each paragraph explains a different angle of the discussed issue.

The conclusion paragraph should have your opinion, which gives a fair treatment to each point of view that was discussed in the body paragraphs. You should indicate your own position and explain what made you take it.

Exploratory vs. Argument

What is the difference between an argument essay and an exploratory essay? The main focus of the argument essay is to prove one single point of view and explain why it is right in contrast with the other. An argument essay may consider different views, but most of the paper is focused on proving one point of view, which the author has selected. An exploratory essay rather explores different angles than seeks to select one central point of view among them. Explanatory essays should explore a minimum of three different points of view and try to look beyond the obvious answers.

All in all exploratory essays are very useful and require a more thoughtful approach than typical essay assignments.