Writing to Explain Something

    Writing should make people understand something outside of themselves however the situation involve a different kind of explaining. For example

Clarifying- what is it
Interpreting- what it means
Justifying – what it is
Show process/ method- How it is done

    Each of this kind of explanation can be given independently or in combination with any of the others. For example: we may get a question in our examination to explain why there is a big desert between the Sierra Navada and the Rockies. We can take help of four kind of explaining. We can clarify the question by describing what a desert is then we can interpret that statement by noting some of the implication e.g. only a few very heaver plants that have adapted well to going without water can grow in desert. We can justify by giving reason for our interpretation. And we can show how air collects moisture over the ocean and moves in land as clouds that rises over the coastal mountains and encounter cooler air etc.

Thinking about purpose
    When our purpose is to clarify we should describe what something is and distinguish it form other things that may be similar. When our intention is to interpret, we need to point out what words imply or what a knowledgeable audience can infer from them. For this we can apply paraphrase. If our objective is to justify we must give reasons or evidences that can help people understand why something happened when our purpose is to show how, we need to describe how something happens or teach how something is done.
To compare writing to explain something and writing to inform they are closely related. We can say that writing to explain simply is an extension of writing to inform. But there is different between them as well. In writing to inform we simply present information without offering any exploration, why something is so. But writing to explain can be defined as writing to inform with an element of writing too persuade with it.We provide information that can change a reader behavior and perception but that change is not insisted up on rather it is simply suggested by the explanation.

Finding a Subject
    The subject of interest amongst the writing differs. One may be interested in the history of Nepal to explain. Other may focus on scientific matters and next may enrolled in physics or folk music. What ever the interest, it is sure that explaining involves mind rather than heart through often it is important to explain our emotion to others. The subject for explaining may be from our cause or may be the subject of interest as mentioned above.
After selecting the topic we make a plan what we want to say about it. We can make a list analyzing the subject. Then we can make the list of the subtopic. If it is in sufficient we can do research also. Then we focus the subject to make small part of essay. After this, we must think once more about the subject to know whether we will be making meaningful communication with readers or not. If we feel that our readers don’t understand what we write about, we should look for another topic.

Considering about Audience
    When we are writing to explain we should consider the needs of our audience. We should avoid the errors that may occur in our writing. One of the errors we frequently do is the use of jargon specialized language that can not be easily understood by readers who lack experience in that field. Next error is to omit an important stop. Writing to explain is not simply providing information, so we have to use a conscious effort to help readers make sense of information that calls for clarification, interpretation, justification or demonstration.

    According to H. Paul Grice, the following rules should be observed while writing essay with this motive.

i) The rule of quantity
ii) The rule of quality
iii) The rule of relevance
iv) The rule of manner

i) The rule of Quantity:- To observe the rule of quantity, we need to give the readers enough information so that they can understand what we want them to know
ii) The Rule of Quality: - The rule of quality dictates that we need to give correct, accurate information. Writers occasionally find it necessary to adjust the degree of correctness and accuracy to accommodate the needs of readers.
iii) The Rule of Relevance: - The rule of relevance means that the information should be relevant. We should avoid the irrelevant details. Inclusion of irrelevant information lessens the effectiveness of writing.
The Rule of Manner: - The rule of manner means that accurate information should be offered clearly and accurately.

Writing as an Exploration
    Exploration literally means a travel in to a region previously unknown or little known. The other meaning of exploration is to look in to examine closely. Writing as an exploration is either to write about an area of studies that is unknown or previously little known to the readers. Writing as an exploration emphasizes on writing about new ideas. It is taken with a wish an argument going beyond our personal knowledge .. Read More...