Epistolary
vs. Expository Writing Style
There
are two dominant patterns of writing style in asynchronous threaded
discussion, epistolary and expository. Expository writing is like an
essay or research paper. Epistolary writing is like a letter or bulletin.
Expository writing has solid arguments. It uses logic to support statements
and claims of the authors. Empiricism (use of measurable data) and rationalism
(use of inductive and deductive reasoning) are dominant philosophies
behind expository writing. The two writing styles are quite complimentary.
The purpose of expository writing is to persuade. The purpose for epistolary
writing is to build connections, community.
Recognizing
the presence of the other is more common in letters even though the
context may not always be positively reinforcing. A letter to the editor
acknowledging the Provincial Minister of Education and what he said
followed by a stinging admonishment (with emoticons and phatics) that
ends with a request for a reply is still epistolary writing. If the
writing seems to be focused more on encouraging community and connections
than on proving its thesis statement, then it is epistolary.
There has
been significant research in which CMC transcripts have been studied
using “Transactional Analysis”. These correlation's studies
show a tendency for men to be significantly expository and women to
be epistolary when they write in CMC. (Fahy, 2002).
Reference:
Fahy,
P.J. (2001). Epistolary and expository interaction patterns in a
computer conference transcript. (As of March 8, 2002 unavailable
on the Internet but Dr. Pat Fahy’s homepage is located at http://cde.athabascau.ca/faculty/fahy.htm
).
