In many college writing programs as well as in the K-12 environment, teachers tend to assign fiction to teach expository writing. Yet at the Dartmouth Institute for Writing and Rhetoric, at least one instructor has bucked this trend and encourages other instructors to do the same. Expository literature produces better expository writing, the instructor asserts. "It was for these reasons that I encouraged the core Writing Program faculty to incorporate more expository sources into their syllabi."
One type of expository literature that produces good expository writing is how-to literature often found in magazines and newspapers. Since this kind of writing is informative and explanatory, it can show students important organizational strategies for their own expository essays. The New York Times Education writer Holly Epstein Ojalvo suggests literature to teach expository includes, "articles on how dark energy works, why and how Twitter can be useful, how to make a soufflé and how to avoid heatstroke."
Another expository strategy is to present a problem and then describe its solution. Literature that teaches problem-solution expository writing includes opinion and editorial writing in newspapers and journals. The Stanford Expository Writing Program mentions this as one of many organizational strategies that provides a model for expository writing. Newspaper and magazines offer numerous writing prompts and writing samples for students on issues like apartheid, economics, world democracy, or how to solve the high cost of hosting the Olympics.
Exposition requires skill in describing places, people, or concepts as part of its goal of informing the reader. Both nonfiction and fiction literature can provide helpful models for teaching expository writing. Dr. Grant Lilford, English faculty member at the University of Botswana, points out that providing good description teaches students to "show don't tell," which is an important skill in creative and analytical writing. Travel or food writing provide excellent examples of how to use description in expository writing.