How to construct an expository essay.

How to structure an expository piece based on the context of conflict.
Prompt
‘When conflict arises, it is impossible not to take a side. Everyone has a role.’
Task
Use the prompt as the basis for a piece of writing exploring the idea that when conflict arises, it is impossible not to take a side. Everyone has a role. Your piece is to be published in an anthology of student writing intended for circulation to the wider school community. You must draw on ideas and issues suggested by a text or texts from the list above.
Purpose: Expository
Audience: The wider school community
Form: Essay
• The language employed in the expository essay is formal throughout.
Introduction
One of the great myths of conflict is that it can always be contained. Whether it is encountered in the personal or political sphere, conflict will often spread beyond the main combatants. History demonstrates that wars escalate in world where connections between individuals and states are so complex. An argument between friends will generally force those on the perimeter to choose sides. Conflict by its very nature creates polarities. Even when conflict is internal, it rarely remains so. When a dispute begins, the world is viewed in black and white terms, with no middle ground. Attempts to reconcile differences are often misinterpreted as tacit support for one side or the other.
The introduction identifies various forms of conflict and the likelihood of polarised responses.
Paragraph Two
Topic Sentence – Conflict is defined by incompatible positions that force individuals to take sides. The topic sentence defines conflict and refers to the factionalism that is often a consequence. The topic sentence defines conflict and refers to the factionalism that is often a consequence.
You should develop the topic sentence and textual evidence into a complete paragraph.
Textual Evidence
• Secret River
Thornhill does not necessarily seek to destroy the local indigenous people, but he is drawn in to the centre of the conflict by Saggity’s death. When he finds the dying man, he wishes “like a physical need, for it to be yesterday, or even an hour ago, a time in which this thing did not have to be dealt with”.



• Omagh
It is clear that the members of the Gallagher family are in no way active participants in the dispute in Northern Ireland, yet when Aiden is killed, Michael and, initially, Patty are drawn in by the death of their son.
• Social Parallel
Consider the ways in which neighbouring countries are destabilised when a war breaks out. Similarly, think about how quickly individuals are forced to take sides when two members of a friendship group argue.
• Use of social parallels – Social parallels can be drawn from your general knowledge and wider reading.

Paragraph Three
Topic Sentence – Conflict can rarely be contained and it inevitably spreads beyond the original dispute. The topic sentence suggests that conflict, once encountered, escalates beyond the original dispute.
Textual Evidence
• Secret River
The class conflict that divides England and makes crime a matter of survival creates a situation that makes transportation necessary because of overcrowded and expensive prisons. The transportation of men like Thornhill to Australia means that conflict with the Indigenous population is inevitable. The link between Thronhill’s experiences in London and the conflict that develops on the Hawkesbury suggests that conflict often has social causes.
• Omagh
The protracted Troubles in Northern Ireland form the backdrop to the more immediate conflict of the Omagh bombing. As the group tries to find those responsible, their search creates a conflict that threatens to destabilise peace negotiations.
• Social Parallel
While the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies (including Australia) was initially successful and deposed the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, it has led to further conflict between factions within the country, as well as social division in the participating countries.








Paragraph Four
Topic Sentence – The middle ground can be the most dangerous place in a conflict because both sides may regard this position with suspicion. This topic sentence identifies the danger posed to those who avoid taking sides when they encounter conflict.
Textual Evidence
• Secret River
One of Thornhill’s first encounters with the local Indigenous people begins with an offer of food but ends with an argument over a spade. Later, the old man offers Thronhill a “finger of root” to eat, which Thornhill rejects. In this way, Grenville shows how overtures of peace are regarded with suspicion.
• Omagh
A he seeks justice for the death of his son, Michael becomes a thorn in the side a various authorities in Northern Ireland, both IRA and RUC. At the same time, his relationship with his wife begins to disintegrate. The conflict that he encounters is thus both personal and political.
• Social Parallels
The experiences of UN peacekeepers in countries like Rwanda and Bosnia throughout the 1990s suggest the dangers of such a role. In both cases, the peacekeepers found themselves unable to retaliate against the aggressor and equally unable to protect the victims of the conflicts that they encountered. They were thus regarded with suspicion by both sides. The film Hotel Rwanda illustrates this process very clearly.

Conclusion – The conclusion sums up and restates the main ideas of the essay.
Sometimes conflict is like a bushfire: it spreads and spreads until everyone is forced to take some kind of action. It does not respect those who wish to stay out of its way, anymore than it does those who try to encounter it head-on. Arguments, disputes and battles of all sorts are an undeniable part of the fabric of human existence. The goal is always to look for a way to end the fighting and heal the wounds. It is thus crucial not to underestimate the momentum that develops so quickly when conflict arises.