Writing Exercises

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Chapter 8: Writing an Exploratory Essay

Writing Exercises

This activity contains 3 questions.

Write an exploratory essay about a problem that might be described as "perennial." In other words, despite the fact that people throughout history have attempted various solutions, the problem persists or recurs in some identifiable form. Your objective is not to come up with a solution to the problem. Rather, your aim is to understand the permanence or ubiquity of the problem in a way that leads not to resignation but renewed effort to address a seemingly unsolvable problem.

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

Weak exploratory essays offer easy answers to complex problems, while in strong ones the authors "wallow in complexity" long enough to understand the problem more fully. In an effort to avoid the natural tendency to assign yourself a problem that is easily solved, imagine you are a professor who is designing an essay assignment with the intention that it be "pat-answer proof." Write an assignment that specifies what an exploratory essay must include so that it guarantees that the students undertaking the assignment don't shortchange the exploratory process.

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

Write an exploratory essay about a problem that is quite new. Emerging technologies regularly confront society with problems that did not previously exist. Your goal is not to come up with a solution to the problem, but to understand how some recent innovation or change in the status quo has created a problem that is new and unfamiliar. Part of your objective is to explore how and why the problem really is different from previous problems that might seem similar.

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

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