Idea generator

18 Expository Writing Prompts Prompts

These prompts create a starting constraint, question, or situation. Use one as written, combine two, or change the audience, setting, objective, or limitation to make a new exercise.

Choose a random prompt from the bank.
Prompt 1

Explain how a recommendation algorithm can influence what a user sees without assuming the algorithm “knows” what the user wants.

Prompt 2

Explain one household or school process that seems simple but depends on several hidden steps.

Prompt 3

Describe how a rumor can change as it moves through a group and identify factors that increase distortion.

Prompt 4

Explain the difference between correlation and causation with two original examples.

Prompt 5

Explain how a public library lends digital books even though there is no physical copy to return.

Prompt 6

Describe how one common product reaches a customer from raw material to sale.

Prompt 7

Explain why some habits are easier to maintain when the environment changes rather than motivation alone.

Prompt 8

Compare two ways of learning vocabulary and explain when each method is useful.

Prompt 9

Explain what makes a source primary or secondary using one topic where the classification changes by research question.

Prompt 10

Describe how a city’s tree canopy can affect heat at street level.

Prompt 11

Explain how a checklist can reduce errors without eliminating the need for judgment.

Prompt 12

Describe the stages of revising a piece of writing and why line editing too early can waste effort.

Prompt 13

Explain how one rule in a sport, game, or system changes participant strategy.

Prompt 14

Describe why averages can hide important differences inside a group.

Prompt 15

Explain how a password manager works at a level useful to a nontechnical reader.

Prompt 16

Describe how a bill, policy, or school rule moves from proposal to implementation in a system you know.

Prompt 17

Explain why a map is always a selective representation rather than a complete copy of a place.

Prompt 18

Describe one feedback loop in everyday life, ecology, economics, learning, or technology.