An expository essay attempts to explain the subject to the audience. This may be
accomplished by explaining a process, comparing or contrasting two items, identifying a
cause-effect relationship, explaining with examples, dividing and classifying, or defining.
Depending upon the particular type of expository essay being written, the order of
presentation of supporting details may vary. The process essay will employ chronological
(time) order; the essay which compares or contrasts, explains with examples, or divides
and classifies may use an order of importance (most-to-least important or least-to-most
important); the essay which employs causal analysis may identify a cause and then predict
its effect or start with the effect and seek to identify its cause.