An exploratory essay does just as its name implies and considers a subject from multiple credible viewpoints. This is a critical step in the development of a persuasive paper . An exploratory essay summarizes key ideas of divergent pieces on the given topic and may offer responses and rebuttals.

Choose one of the chapters taken from the “Readings” section of the current edition of They Say, I Say: With Readings , critically read through the selections, and assess which articles best respond to that chapter’s title question. Starting from the Rhetorical Situation, analyze the articles that most effectively respond to that question. Show where the other articles come up short; where the deficits in their discussions are. You are to engage each of the sources directly, accommodating and acknowledging good ideas (and explaining why they are good), resisting and rejecting bad ideas (and explaining why they are bad), and negotiating and revising ideas (and explaining how they might best be revised), using examples from the texts to support your claims. Contrast the articles with others in the chapter.