Emily Nelson Blog 7

    When writing an exploratory essay, there are many important elements to consider during the writing process. After reading chapter five in The English Mercury Reader by John C. Bean, June Johnson and John D. Ramage, I noticed a few very key points in composing an exploratory essay. “The essential move for exploratory thinking and writing is to keep a problem alive through consideration of multiple solutions or points of view,” (Bean, Johnson and Ramage 107). I find this important because keeping a problem alive keeps a reader interested at all times. If you stray away from your point a reader may get lost in irrelevant thoughts. Another point I found important was about contrasting views, “the key to effective exploratory writing is to create a tension between alternative views,” (Bean, Johnson and Ramage 108). This to me also goes back to keeping a reader interested. Exploring different views not only lets the reader see different sides to a problem, but it lets the writer open up to alternative solutions to the problem at hand. This statement doesn’t only apply to writing exploratory essays, I feel like it applies to general life situations as well. If you only allow yourself to see one side you miss out on a lot of new experiences. The third key element I found important to an exploratory essay was “instead of a single, focused question, you might start with a whole cluster of related questions swimming in your head,” (Bean, Johnson and Ramage 110). When keeping this statement in mind, a writer won’t have to limit their essay to answering only one question. There is one problem that is being explored in the essay but answering multiple questions about the problem will allow a writer to truly explore all of the different angles to view a solution. All three of my points essentially relate back to keeping a reader interested by viewing a central problems at many different view points. These elements will always keep a reader interested and in my opinion it is very important to do so.