How to Write an Exploratory Essay

As the name suggests, an exploratory essay is all about exploring the various view points and arguments, in relation to the topic at hand, so that some viable explanations or answers for the same can be offered. Thus, it can be said that for writing an essay on any given topic, it has to be looked at from various angles, its advantages as well as drawbacks have to be weighed and then finally conclusions have to be arrived at.

In an exploratory essay, you need to give in a lot of opinions and point of views, to explain and evaluate the subject chosen. The more opinions and point of views are included in an exploratory essay, the more complete and good it is considered. One peculiarity is that you need to only investigate, inquire about and explore the chosen topic.

You do not have to argue for or against the topic you are writing on. Due to this very reason, many people find it difficult to write such an essay.

On the brighter side, writing such an essay gives you full liberty to explore a topic, so if you want to gain an in depth knowledge on something, without getting biased about it, exploratory essays are your answer!

The first thing that you need to do is to find a problem that you want to investigate. Ideally, it should be something that you are familiar with and feel strongly about, as only then you would be able to offer opinions and solutions on the same.

Some of the possible topics for an exploratory essay can be - "Is large-scale immigration good for United States?" "Low voter count", "Racial Discrimination in United States", "Economic Downturn", etc. You need not always take topics of economic and political relevance though. Social topics can be explored with equal elan.

Unlike other types of essays, an exploratory essay does not have a thesis statement. It is written in such a way that the author's thoughts and opinions on the subject at hand are presented throughout the essay to the readers.

The introduction of the essay should be very interesting. It should bring forth the problem that is being investigated in the essay, in a very lucid, appealing manner, so much so that the readers feel compelled to read the entire essay!

During the course of the essay i.e. while writing the body, certain questions are raised with regards to the topic and the same are analyzed and answered, by the writer.

The writer presents various solutions too, for the problem at hand and analyzes each one of them, till the conclusion of the essay, where the most viable ones are presented.

Let's take an example here. If the chosen topic is gender discrimination, the various ideas and solutions to combat the same, that can be explored in the essay are - Where does gender discrimination stem from?...

... How to combat the same? (A) By spreading awareness and educating people on it.(B) By giving women equal opportunities in terms of education, experience and exposure, right from the childhood.

Can gender discrimination ever be overcome? etc. Likewise, all such ideas are explored and looked into. Whatever solutions are suggested, their pros and cons are discussed in the body of the essay. You can even add some real life examples, while discussing each of the solutions.

Creating hypothetical situations, wherein you write about what could possibly happen if a particular solution is opted for, will make the essay even more interesting. You may further go to how to write a good essay.

To conclude an exploratory essay, write in brief about all that you have explored during the course of writing your essay. Conclusion of an exploratory essay is all about highlighting the main points, opinions, questions, answers and solutions, that were discussed in the essay.

Writing an exploratory essay is a great exercise for the mind, as it lets you study and write about a topic from all angles. The very purpose of writing this type of essay is to inquire and investigate. If you keep these things in mind as well as the tips suggested above, you would be able to write an excellent one yourself!