Expository Text Structures

          EXPOSITORY TEXT STRUCTURES

The two basic types of texts are narrative and expository.  The main purpose of narrative text is to tell a story.  Narrative text has beginning, middle and end, characters, plot or conflict, and setting.  Usually, narrative texts are written from the authors imagination.   The main purpose of expository text is to inform or describe.  Authors who write expository texts research the topic to gain information.  The information is organized in a logical and interesting manner using various expository text structures.  The most common expository text structures include description, enumerative or listing, sequence, comparison and contrast, cause and effect and problem and solution.

• Descriptive:  This includes main idea and detail such as the following

     "..... in my walk I Killed a Buck Goat of this Countrey, about the hight of the Grown Deer, its body Shorter the Horns which is not very hard and forks 2/3 up one prong Short the other round & Sharp arched, and is imediately above its Eyes the Colour is a light gray with black behind its ears down its neck, and its face white round its neck, its Sides and rump round its tail which is Short & white: Verryactively made, has only a pair of hoofs to each foot, his brains on the back of his head, his Norstrals large, his eyes like a Sheep he is more like the Antilope or Gazella of Africa than any other Species of Goat."  Lewis and Clark As Naturalists

• Enumerative/listing:  This includes listing connected information, outlining a series of steps, or placing ideas in a hierarchy, such as the following:

 By early 1803 Lewis was in Philadelphia. He took crash courses in medicine, botany, zoology, and celestial observation. He studied maps and journals of traders and trappers who had already reached as far up the Missouri River as the Mandan villages in North Dakota. By the time he left Washington he knew as much about the West, and what to do when he got there, as any man in America.  Lewis and Clark:  Preparations

Lewis and Clark, Andrew Santella

As they continued on the Missouri, the explorers came to a part of the river that was flanked by 300 foot (91 - m) high bluffs.  The bluffs were sculpted by wind, rain, and snow into wonderful shapes.  Farther down the river ..... Page 32 - 33

• Sequence: This includes a series of events leading up to a conclusion, or the sequence of occurrences related to a particular happening.  Note that the events can be separated in years as in a historical time line; or in a series of actions taking only a few seconds, hours, days.  Such is the example below.  Both enumerative and sequential text organization is basic to completing a set of directions to perform a task either in a laboratory of work setting.

January 18, 1803 - In secret communication to Congress, Jefferson seeks authorization for expedition – first official exploration of unknown spaces undertaken by United States government. Appropriation of $2,500 requested. (Final cost will be $38,000.)

Spring - Lewis, now picked as commander, is sent to Philadelphia for instruction in botany, zoology, celestial navigation, medicine from nation’s leading scientists. Also begins buying supplies to outfit the expedition. Lewis writes to former army comrade, William Clark, inviting him to share command of expedition. Clark writes to accept. 

July 4 - News of Louisiana Purchase announced. For $15 million, Jefferson more than doubles the size of United States: 820,000 square miles for 3 cents an acre. The next day, Lewis leavesWashington.  Timeline of the Trip

Plants on the Trail with Lewis and Clark, Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

The quality of Lewis's surviving plant specimens is amazing, considering their age and the difficult conditions on the trail.   Preparing and preserving plants is a time-consuming and demanding process.  A specimen has to be spread out properly, then  pressed between two sheets of blotting paper.  The paper soaks up the moisture from the specimen, drying it out.  The specimen  must be removed, aired, and placed between fresh sheets until it is completely dry, so it won't rot.  There were times when   Lewis had to deal with a large number of plants all at once.  While he stayed with the Nez Prece Indians, for example, he had  between thirty and fifty specimens to tend to every day. Page 22-23.

• Comparison/Contrast: This involves describing how two or more events, places, characters, or other ideas are similar and .or different in several ways.  Comparing several habitats or eco-systems is one example of this type.

In temperament Lewis and Clark were opposites. Lewis was introverted, melancholic, and moody; Clark, extroverted, even-tempered and gregarious. The better educated and more refined Lewis, who possessed a philosophical, romantic and speculative mind, was at home with abstract ideas; Clark, of a pragmatic mold, was more of a practical man of action. Each supplied vital qualities which balanced their partnership.  Biography of Lewis and Clark  

Animals on the Train with Lewis and Clark, Dorothy Hinshaw Patent    

Lewis hadn't known that western mountains were so different from those in the East.  Back there, mountains weren't so  steep and rugged, and they consisted of just a single range.  Western mountains went on and on, range after range.  Page 68 

• Cause/Effect:  This may involve several reasons why an event occurred, or several effects from on cause, and of course, as single cause/effects situation.

Captain Clarke and some of our men in a periogue went ashore with them; but the Indians did not seem disposed to permit  their return They said they were poor and wished to keep the periogue with them. Captain Clarke insisted on coming to the boat; but they refused to let him, and said they had soldiers as well as he had. He told them his soldiers were good, and that he  had more medicine on board his boat than would kill twenty such nations in one day. After this they did not threaten any more,  and said they only wanted us to stop at their lodge, that the women and children might see the boat.  The Journals:  September 25, 1804, Patrick Gass

Lewis and Clark, Andrew Santella

Lewis and Clark knew from the Shoshone that their trail would take them over some of the roughest terrain in the Rockies.  By August 26, temperatures had fallen to the freezing mark.  Fallen timber blocked their trail.  The party scrambled up steep slopes and down deep gorges.  When they reached a high vantage point, they could see nothing but more snow-covered mountains in everydirection.  Food supplies dwindled......Page 36 - 38

• Problem and Solution:  Authors use this technique to identify the problem, give possible solutions with possible results and finally, the solution that was chosen. 

On June second they arrived at a major fork in the river, in north-central Montana, an estimated 465 river miles upstream from the mouth of the Yellowstone. It shouldn't have been there. No Indian informant had mentioned it. There was not even a hint of it from anybody. Yet it posed the most significant geographical question of the entire Expedition. Which of these rivers was theMissouri?  The issue was fraught with danger. They needed to reach the Rockies, find the Shoshoni Indians, get some horses, portage to the head of the Columbia, and reach the Pacific before winter closed in.  To choose the wrong route would consume twice the time it would take to correct the mistake, and would, Lewis declared, not only lose them the whole of the present travel season, but "would probably so dishearten the party that it might defeat the expedition altogether."   Decision at the Marias 

The Truth about Sacajawea, Keneth Thomasma

If he is unable to secure horses and a guide, Captain Lewis knows he may have to turn back.  Page 54 - 60

Sources:

http://www.homepages.dsu.edu/venekaml/Lewis%20and%20Clark/EXPOSITORY%20TEXT%20STRUCTURES.htm

http://www.campusschool.dsu.edu/lofti/primary.htm

Follow in the Footsteps of Lewis and Clark http://www.sierraclub.org/lewisandclark/