Overview of Exploratory Essay as Critical Reflection for Students in USA, UK & Australia

What is exploratory essay?

The exploratory essay is different from other essays in so far as it is a meta-reflective approach to the critical thinking and academic investigative process that a research student takes over time. It factually studies the quantitative or qualitative methodology employed by students in the development and writing of their dissertation, thesis or term paper. Also known as the inquiry essay, it is an exploration of the problems raised in the research project and about the critical and creative thought processes that went into their solution.

Introduction:

The problematic of the research questions raised should be diligently thought about in an exploratory essay. Following specific lines of factual inquiry, the research hypothesis should be reflected upon and how this led to theoretical and empirical problematizations of the initial argument. These problematizations should be dwelt upon and how they led to various sources, archival or otherwise, in the search for solutions should be meticulously delineated.

History and style:

In the process of following an argument, exploration as a classical form of dialectic, resorts to its binary opposite (or counter-argument), in order to follow a logical process of deduction. Until all doubts, anomalies and counter-arguments are eliminated and certitude is reached, this deducing process continues. However, with the Scientific Revolution since the post-Renaissance period, the emphasis shifted to certitude through demonstratives instead of logical deduction through argumentative discourse. Throughout modernity, the emphasis oscillated between ‘hard’ demonstrative certitude and ‘soft’ discursive conceptual forms of research. With the onset of postmodern relativism, noted scholars called for the re-vitalization of the human sciences through a revision of the exploratory form as open-ended and fraught with a quantum of possible and probable views held in suspension in a non-linear form of inquiry. As concepts mutate over time, it is necessary to hold the productivity and possibility of diverse views in equal relevance as lines of inquiry continue and all certitude is held in suspended belief and ambiguity. As the exploratory mode was gradually confined to the human sciences, the natural sciences explored their thinking on the lines of inquiry and investigation through demonstrative experimental methods.

Structure and Conclusion:

However, certitude still found its place and the evolved structure and style of writing the exploratory essay, with its multiple lines of inquiry and careful citation of sources with a postmodern bent, remains confined to the human and social sciences. On the other hand, the hard sciences found the discourses of its history and philosophy now within the interdisciplinary arena of the human sciences. Hence, the structure of the exploratory essay should also go on to elucidate the anomalies and doubts that remain and how to deal with them in later research. Students need essays written in the exploratory mode, only when they are well aware of which direction their research is taking and the problems associated with due process. Thus, it is not surprising to have an open-ended exploratory essay, not just because of multiple points of probable arguments, but also, because lines of inquiry continue even after the deduction of a particular thesis is complete. Thus, certitude and linear narrative do not have the last say. Besides, although it is necessary to have exploratory essays written for you by experts, this should only be done when the expert is aware of your work and lines of thought and you have clarity of ideas about your own research.

Alina Anderson is an essay expert and scholar in Usa for the previous 17 years. Caleb writes articles on topics like help writing essay paper, cheap essay writing, mba essay writing service.