How to expand your essay

Toni Morrison

So, you’ve written your first draft, but it’s a little sparse and your teacher told you to expand upon your ideas, but you have no idea how you can add any more to the essay. Here is a suggestion to help you find more to write about.

A great way to expand your essay is to add more examples. When you add more examples, you can leave your existing essay as it is, but just insert the new evidence in an appropriate place within the paragraph. Teachers LOVE examples from the text and you have to be sure to explain why the examples you chose help to prove your point. By adding more and more examples, you can both satisfy your teacher AND expand your essay with ease.

For instance, we could say that Romeo was a player and Juliet’s parents were right to object to their marriage, and then we would find examples that showed Romeo’s fickleness. We might say that the first time we observe Romeo’s promiscuous nature is when he pines for Roselyn one moment and woes Juliet the next. Then, we need a quote that illustrates his pining for Roselyn, and explanation of how the quote proves his sleaziness, another quote that shows him wooing Juliet, and another explanation of how that quote proves your point even more. The point is, by providing more examples you are strengthening your thesis’ and proving your point more thoroughly.  Remember, a teacher’s main goal is for you to look beneath the surface of a text and to help you become a critical thinker.

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