Explore below for information about the Expository Writing Program and its courses. If you still have unanswered questions about the program, please contact the program administrative team or speak with an instructor directly.
Expository writing sets forth ideas: it establishes a context and advances an argument. Writing in an expository mode, your goal is to persuade your reader that what you have to say really matters.
In teaching expository writing, we give students the tools they need to work with the information and ideas they encounter in their classes, to develop their own understanding of how these ideas matter to them, and to communicate that understanding to someone else. Doing so, we help students become active participants in their own educations.
Both Expo 1213 and Engl 1213 will satisfy the Composition II requirement of the General Education Curriculum.
However, Expo courses are different in that they focus on a specific theme or topic that students explore over the entire semester. Expo courses also feature one-on-one revision conferences for every major essay, which means our students receive extensive guidance and feedback on their writing throughout the semester.
Students who are interested in a particular course topic can take an Expo class even if they’ve already met their Composition II requirement. Any section of Expo may be enrolled in for 1223 credit by a student who has already completed Comp II. Expo 1223 will satisfy the Western Civilization requirement.
If you would like to take Expository Writing as Expo 1223 and are unable to find a seat, please email the professor or the Expository Writing Program at expositorywriting@ou.edu.
No. Less than 25% of Expo students are in the Honors College, and many of our students don’t describe themselves as “strong writers” when they enroll in our courses. The only requirement is that you must be willing to become a stronger writer over the course of the term. If you’re interested in improving your writing skills and willing to challenge yourself to do it, then you’re ready to take an Expo class.
Descriptions of our current courses, biographies and contract information for the lecturers who teach them, and an archive of recent syllabuses are available on this site. If you have any questions, feel free to email any of us—we’re always happy to talk to prospective students!
Students from any major can take Expository Writing. Expo courses regularly draw students from majors such as Biology, Professional Writing, Engineering, and Psychology. Expository Writing faculty draw on multiple disciplines to develop their courses, providing an inter- and cross-disciplinary approach to writing instruction suitable for any major.
The Expository Writing office is located in Bizzell Library in room 4. You can find us in the basement of the older section of the library, two floors below the west end of the Great Reading Room.
For details directions, including maps and accessibility infomration, head to the Contact section of our site.
All Expo students are encouraged to submit essays to Brainstorm, the program’s journal of student writing. Expo lecturers also keep an eye out for journals and essay contests that might interest their students. If you’re particularly interested in publishing your work, tell your lecturer, and he or she will help you find opportunities to do it!
Expository Writing courses are individually designed by each Lecturer to meet the program’s goals and objectives and may include a variety of writing projects. Common projects include: argument papers, rhetorical analyses, researched essays, annotated bibliographies, visual/oral presentations, and other multimodal projects (websites, blogs, PSAs, photo essays, etc.).
