Typically, an essay has five paragraphs: an introduction, a conclusion, and three body paragraphs. However, there is no set rule about the number of paragraphs in an essay.
The number of paragraphs can vary depending on the type and scope of your essay. An expository or argumentative essay may require more body paragraphs to include all the necessary information, whereas a narrative essay may need fewer.
To enhance the coherence and readability of your essay, it’s important to follow certain rules regarding the structure. Take a look:
1. Arrange your information from the most simple to the most complex bits. You can start the body paragraph off with a general statement and then move on to specifics.
2. Provide the necessary background information at the beginning of your essay to give the reader the context behind your thesis statement.
3. Select topic statements that provide value, more information, or evidence for your thesis statement.
There are also various essay structures , such as the compare and contrast structure, chronological structure, problem method solution structure, and signposting structure that you can follow to create an organized and impactful essay.
An impactful, well-structured essay comes down to three important parts: the introduction, body, and conclusion.
1. The introduction sets the stage for your essay and is typically a paragraph long. It should grab the reader’s attention and give them a clear idea of what your essay will be about.
2. The body is where you dive deeper into your topic and present your arguments and evidence. It usually consists of two paragraphs, but this can vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing.
3. The conclusion brings your essay to a close and is typically one paragraph long. It should summarize the main points of the essay and leave the reader with something to think about.
The length of your paragraphs can vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing. So, make sure you take the time to plan out your essay structure so each section flows smoothly into the next.
When it comes to writing an essay, the introduction is a critical component that sets the tone for the entire piece. A well-crafted introduction not only grabs the reader’s attention but also provides them with a clear understanding of what the essay is all about. An essay editor can help you achieve this, but it’s best to know the brief yourself!
Letâs take a look at how to write an attractive and informative introductory paragraph.
1. Construct an attractive hook
To grab the reader’s attention, an opening statement or hook is crucial. This can be achieved by incorporating a surprising statistic, a shocking fact, or an interesting anecdote into the beginning of your piece.
For example, if youâre writing an essay about water conservation you can begin your essay with, âClean drinking water, a fundamental human need, remains out of reach for more than one billion people worldwide. It deprives them of a basic human right and jeopardizes their health and wellbeing.â
2. Provide sufficient context or background information
An effective introduction should begin with a brief description or background of your topic. This will help provide context and set the stage for your discussion.
For example, if you’re writing an essay about climate change, you start by describing the current state of the planet and the impact that human activity is having on it.
3. Construct a well-rounded and comprehensive thesis statement
A good introduction should also include the main message or thesis statement of your essay. This is the central argument that you’ll be making throughout the piece. It should be clear, concise, and ideally placed toward the end of the introduction.
By including these elements in your introduction, you’ll be setting yourself up for success in the rest of your essay.
Letâs take a look at an example.
The Wright Brothers’ invention of the airplane in 1903 revolutionized the way humans travel and explore the world. Prior to this invention, transportation relied on trains, boats, and cars, which limited the distance and speed of travel. However, the airplane made air travel a reality, allowing people to reach far-off destinations in mere hours. This breakthrough paved the way for modern-day air travel, transforming the world into a smaller, more connected place. In this essay, we will explore the impact of the Wright Brothers’ invention on modern-day travel, including the growth of the aviation industry, increased accessibility of air travel to the general public, and the economic and cultural benefits of air travel.
You can persuade your readers and make your thesis statement compelling by providing evidence, examples, and logical reasoning. To write a fool-proof and authoritative essay, you need to provide multiple well-structured, substantial arguments.
Letâs take a look at how this can be done:
1. Write a topic sentence for each paragraph
The beginning of each of your body paragraphs should contain the main arguments that youâd like to address. They should provide ground for your thesis statement and make it well-rounded. You can arrange these arguments in several formats depending on the type of essay youâre writing.
2. Provide the supporting information
The next point of your body paragraph should provide supporting information to back up your main argument. Depending on the type of essay, you can elaborate on your main argument with the help of relevant statistics, key information, examples, or even personal anecdotes.
3. Analyze the supporting information
After providing relevant details and supporting information, it is important to analyze it and link it back to your main argument.
End one body paragraph with a smooth transition to the next. There are many ways in which this can be done, but the most common way is to give a gist of your main argument along with the supporting information with transitory words such as âhoweverâ âin addition toâ âthereforeâ.
Hereâs an example of a body paragraph.
The Wright Brothers’ invention of the airplane revolutionized air travel. They achieved the first-ever successful powered flight with the Wright Flyer in 1903, after years of conducting experiments and studying flight principles. Despite their first flight lasting only 12 seconds, it was a significant milestone that paved the way for modern aviation. The Wright Brothers’ success can be attributed to their systematic approach to problem-solving, which included numerous experiments with gliders, the development of a wind tunnel to test their designs, and meticulous analysis and recording of their results. Their dedication and ingenuity forever changed the way we travel, making modern aviation possible.
A powerful concluding statement separates a good essay from a brilliant one. To create a powerful conclusion, you need to start with a strong foundation.
Letâs take a look at how to construct an impactful concluding statement.
1. Restructure your thesis statement
To conclude your essay effectively, don’t just restate your thesis statement. Instead, use what you’ve learned throughout your essay and modify your thesis statement accordingly. This will help you create a conclusion that ties together all of the arguments you’ve presented.
2. Summarize the main points of your essay
The next point of your conclusion consists of a summary of the main arguments of your essay. It is crucial to effectively summarize the gist of your essay into one, well-structured paragraph.
3. Create a lasting impression with your concluding statement
Conclude your essay by including a key takeaway, or a powerful statement that creates a lasting impression on the reader. This can include the broader implications or consequences of your essay topic.
Hereâs an example of a concluding paragraph.
The Wright Brothers’ invention of the airplane forever changed history by paving the way for modern aviation and countless aerospace advancements. Their persistence, innovation, and dedication to problem-solving led to the first successful powered flight in 1903, sparking a revolution in transportation that transformed the world. Today, air travel remains an integral part of our globalized society, highlighting the undeniable impact of the Wright Brothers’ contribution to human civilization.
Most essays are derived from the combination or variation of these four main types of essays . letâs take a closer look at these types.
1. Narrative essay
A narrative essay is a type of writing that involves telling a story, often based on personal experiences. It is a form of creative nonfiction that allows you to use storytelling techniques to convey a message or a theme.
2. Descriptive essay
A descriptive essay aims to provide an immersive experience for the reader by using sensory descriptors. Unlike a narrative essay, which tells a story, a descriptive essay has a narrower scope and focuses on one particular aspect of a story.
3. Argumentative essays
An argumentative essay is a type of essay that aims to persuade the reader to adopt a particular stance based on factual evidence and is one of the most common forms of college essays.
4. Expository essays
An expository essay is a common format used in school and college exams to assess your understanding of a specific topic. The purpose of an expository essay is to present and explore a topic thoroughly without taking any particular stance or expressing personal opinions.
While this article demonstrates what is an essay and describes its types, you may also have other doubts. As experts who provide essay editing and proofreading services , weâre here to help.
Our team has created a list of resources to clarify any doubts about writing essays. Keep reading to write engaging and well-organized essays!
What is the difference between an argumentative and an expository essay, what is the difference between a narrative and a descriptive essay, what is an essay format, what is the meaning of essay, what is the purpose of writing an essay.
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An essay is a paper that discusses, describes or analyzes one topic. It can discuss a subject directly or indirectly, seriously or humorously. It can describe personal opinions, or just report information. An essay can be written from any perspective, but essays are most commonly written in the first person ( I ), or third person (subjects that can be substituted with the he, she, it, or they pronouns).
There are many different kinds of essays. The following are a some of the most common ones:
Descriptive Cause/Effect Argumentative Definition Narrative Critical Compare/Contrast Process
Descriptive:
Examples: A descriptive essay could describe . . .
The descriptive essay provides details about how something looks, feels, tastes, smells, makes one feel, or sounds. It can also describe what something is, or how something happened. These essays generally use a lot of sensory details. The essay could be a list-like description that provides point by point details. Or, it could function as a story, keeping the reader interested in the plot and theme of the event described.
Definition:
Examples: A definition essay may try and define . . .
A definition essay attempts to define a specific term. It could try to pin down the meaning of a specific word, or define an abstract concept. The analysis goes deeper than a simple dictionary definition; it should attempt to explain why the term is defined as such. It could define the term directly, giving no information other than the explanation of the term. Or, it could imply the definition of the term, telling a story that requires the reader to infer the meaning.
Compare/Contrast:
Examples:A compare/contrast essay may discuss . . .
The compare/contrast essay discusses the similarities and differences between two things, people, concepts, places, etc. The essay could be an unbiased discussion, or an attempt to convince the reader of the benefits of one thing, person, or concept. It could also be written simply to entertain the reader, or to arrive at an insight into human nature. The essay could discuss both similarities and differences, or it could just focus on one or the other. A comparison essay usually discusses the similarities between two things, while the contrast essay discusses the differences.
Cause/Effect:
Examples:A cause/effect essay may explain . . .
The cause/effect essay explains why or how some event happened, and what resulted from the event.
This essay is a study of the relationship between two or more events or experiences. The essay could discuss both causes and effects, or it could simply address one or the other. A cause essay usually discusses the reasons why something happened. An effect essay discusses what happens after a specific event or circumstance.
The example below shows a cause essay, one that would explain how and why an event happened.
If this cause essay were about a volcanic eruption, it might go something like this: “Pressure and heat built up beneath the earth’s surface; the effect of this was an enormous volcanic eruption.”
The next example shows an effect essay, one that would explain all the effects that happened after a specific event, like a volcanic eruption.
If this effect essay were about a volcanic eruption again, it might go something like this:
“The eruption caused many terrible things to happen; it destroyed homes, forests, and polluted the atmosphere.”
Examples:A narrative essay could tell of . . .
The narrative essay tells a story. It can also be called a “short story.” Generally, the narrative essay is conversational in style and tells of a personal experience. It is most commonly written in the first person (uses I ). This essay could tell of a single, life-shaping event, or simply a mundane daily experience.
Examples: A process essay may explain . . .
A process essay describes how something is done. It generally explains actions that should be performed in a series. It can explain in detail how to accomplish a specific task, or it can show how an individual came to a certain personal awareness. The essay could be in the form of step-by-step instructions, or in story form, with the instructions/explanations subtly given along the way.
Argumentative:
Examples: An argumentative essay may persuade a reader that . . .
An argumentative essay is one that attempts to persuade the reader to the writer’s point of view. The writer can either be serious or funny, but always tries to convince the reader of the validity of his or her opinion. The essay may argue openly, or it may attempt to subtly persuade the reader by using irony or sarcasm.
Examples: A critical essay may analyze . . .
A critical essay analyzes the strengths, weaknesses, and methods of someone else’s work. Generally, these essays begin with a brief overview of the main points of the text, movie, or piece of art, followed by an analysis of the work’s meaning. It should then discuss how well the author/creator accomplishes his/her goals and makes his/her points. A critical essay can be written about another essay, story, book, poem, movie, or work of art.
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How to write a reflective essay.
(Last updated: 1 April 2021)
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You may have heard of the four essay types before: discursive, persuasive, narrative, and descriptive. Itâs important to know exactly what type of essay your assignment falls into â even before you start the planning and research. The essay type affects how you structure your essay, your writing style, the tone, the techniques you use, and how you use evidence. This is especially important at school or university: a narrative essay just wonât score many marks if it was meant to be persuasive (no, not even if your short story then wins the Nobel Prize for Literatuređ).
As frustrating as it might be to keep remembering genres and styles, you can at least take comfort in the fact that this prepares you for the real world. Yes â thatâs right â real life. So many careers involve some sort of writing, and itâs important that anything you do meets the expectations of the reader or audience. In the business world, a sales pitch is going to be persuasive. This style, however, would be inappropriate in a feasibility study, or cost analysis. Although there are some rules that underpin all types of writing, each of the four main essay types has its own special requirements to impress their audiences: a client, a casual reader, or even your examiner.
An expository essay is less intimidating than it sounds. Essentially, you are presenting a balanced argument. This could be the typical academic essay, testing your understanding of a particular topic on your course, or it could be on a broader issue.
The word âbalancedâ is key here: even if you have strong beliefs on the topic, you should take care you donât appear biased. In fact, itâs best to avoid personal opinion, or using personal pronouns altogether.
Your topic should be defined as precisely as possible. For example, if there is any terminology in your title or topic which could be interpreted in different ways, you should make it clear exactly what you mean. It can also help if you define the scope of your expository essay, if it is based on a subject area â for example, if you are limiting it to a particular historical period or geographical area. This should help to divide your topic up into more manageable areas. This can often help to produce a very clear and manageable plan, with one topic per paragraph or section.
Evidence is essential. And no, we donât mean â8 out of 10 writers make up their statisticsâ. This type of essay probably requires the most reading and research beforehand: the more you know, the more able you are to judge between different pieces of evidence in order to reach your conclusion. You should also take care to use appropriate referencing. Not only will this follow your institutionâs rules about acknowledging sources, it also makes your writing look more professional, and more reliable.
Try to avoid simply summarising your sources. Itâs true that giving a little context is often useful: for example, the writerâs background, or background information. However, summing it up in your own words doesnât actually demonstrate any of your skills. The key words are analyse and evaluate, rather than simply describe.
An expository essay lead to a strong, yet balanced conclusion. This is often the most challenging part, at least to begin with. Whilst you may have had your own views beforehand, ideally your conclusion should only become clear to you once you have completed the body of the essay. This is where you can articulate your personal opinion, based on the evidence you have considered. Try to make this a balanced, yet strong closing statement â and avoid just summing up what you have just written.
Persuasive writing attempts to convince a reader or audience to do something, or to believe something. In the real world, we see this all the time, with adverts trying to make us buy their products, or politicians asking us to vote for them.
In academia, youâre most likely to be persuading your reader to share your belief in something â for example, to take your side in a moral issue.
In a persuasive essay, your message to the audience needs to be clear and consistent. While itâs important to consider counterarguments and alternative points of view, this is only in order to prove that they are incorrect â otherwise, this might undermine your own argument. Imagine that this is a debate, and your opponent is going to be responding straight afterwards. Is there anything they could pick out, and use against you?
In many ways, persuasive writing is one of the simplest styles. A quick internet search will reveal thousands of lists of persuasive techniques that you can use to make your persuasive essay more effective. These are definitely useful, and many of them are so natural to us that we all know them already: rhetorical questions, lists, emotive language, and so on. Varying sentence lengths? Highly effective. However, you need to ensure that your persuasive essay still demonstrates a good sense of academic depth. The main thing to avoid is what people tend to call âempty rhetoricâ, which is essentially what it says on the tin. Deploying all sorts of rhetorical techniques is useless without evidence or details to support your points.
Itâs also worth taking a moment to reflect on your tone:
Reader! Would you like to fail your next assignment? How would you feel if you were cast out from your course all because of that one lacklustre essay, your dreams of a successful career shattered forever?
If weâd started this blog like that, you would probably have closed the tab pretty quickly! Or maybe you would have read on because your curiosity was peaked. Technically, itâs a reasonably successful opening to a persuasive piece. Weâve got direct address, rhetorical questions, varied sentence structures, emotive language, and it certainly grabs attention. The tone, however, is completely wrong. Itâs too strong â borderline aggressive, in fact. The exaggeration â âcast outâ, âdreams shatteredâ â makes it completely unrealistic. Itâs really important, therefore, to judge your tone carefully. Think about your audience beforehand, and consider the kind of style and tone that would engage them most effectively.
Narrative writing is, essentially, telling a story. This may be fiction, or a narrative of a real-life experience. College application essays, for example, might ask you to write about a memorable experience or a time that challenged you.
A good plan is essential to give your narrative essay a sense of structure. There are many resources about narrative plot and structure, and itâs interesting to note how these can be applied to films and plays as well as novels and short stories. You may see lots of technical terms used â climax, tension, resolution, denouement â but these can be interpreted very loosely. A climax, for example, is not always a shocking revelation, or a dramatic escape. The best way to understand them would be to consider how those labels apply to a film you know well, or that latest box set episode.
Keep your plan fairly simple, and try not to aim for too many events. This is particularly important if you are writing to a strict word limit. Itâs impossible to cram the content of a novel into a dozen pages, after all. The worst-case scenario is that your writing becomes essentially a list.
When it comes to writing your narrative essay, try to engage the reader through vocabulary and imagery. Remember, there is always space for some description.
Even if this isnât a lengthy paragraph, just a few descriptive sentences are enough to set the scene. Narrative voice is also important. Even in a straightforward third-person narrative, for example, you could adapt your voice to delve into the thoughts of your characters. Dialogue can also be really effective⌠if used sparingly. Thereâs nothing worse than a narrative essay with long passages of conversation, which rarely advance the plot and may not even be realistic.
Finally, originality is key. Itâs all too easy to reproduce something youâve already read or watched, even by accident. Just make sure that youâre not proofreading your 3000-word masterpiece and get the sinking feeling that youâve accidentally rewritten the plot of what you watched on Netflix last weekend!
This also applies to the phrases you use. Avoid clichĂŠs â phrases that have become so overused that they have lost all meaning â at the end of the day; as white as snow; like a knife through butter. Similarly, if you are writing in a particular genre, try not to use those phrases which weâve all heard before: it was a dark and stormy night⌠If itâs something that you think youâve seen parodied on The Simpsons, it most likely is something best avoided.
A descriptive essay is often the hardest to plan. In a narrative, many people find that they can at least keep going, adding new events to the plan. In descriptive writing, it is all too common to run out of ideas, or produce something that starts well but just seems to tail off. There are several ways you can achieve a sense of structure. This will not only make your work more cohesive overall, but will help you to include more ideas.
Your description could be based on a journey. Even if your description is not first person, you can imagine you are moving around the scene, stopping to capture a particular place each time.
We all know how a place seems to transform at sunset, and some of us might even have dragged ourself out of bed early enough to watch the sunrise. The point is that even places we know very well can look â and feel â totally different depending on the time of day. This isnât just limited to what we can see, but the atmosphere and feelings that are evoked. And, of course, you can use time in so many other ways, in order to create contrasts and give yourself the opportunity to use different types of vocabulary and imagery. Think about contrasting a place in two different seasons, or a tourist hotspot in peak and off-peak times â or even past and present.
Have you ever looked through the website of a professional photographer? Perhaps one reason their pictures earn money is that, generally, they tend to be a bit different from those on my camera roll for example (fingers in front of the lens, everyone standing at an angle, unexpected motion blurs). Whatâs remarkable, however, is their eye for detail. A wedding photographer can capture the instant when the couple share a moment of laughter and preserve it forever; someone recording a street scene will instinctively be able to spot that interesting architectural detail, a childâs reflection in a shop window, an elderly man looking on at some construction work.
A great descriptive essay will, like these photographs, evoke realism through subtle detail. Think about exactly what details you can expand and extend â perhaps these might be insignificant at first glance.
A word of warning, however: donât let it turn into a list, as the reader will quickly get bored.
There are some rules that apply no matter what type of essay you are writing.
Remember, spelling and grammar checks wonât pick up everything.
Even if your work is totally accurate, there are still things that you could notice â for example, phrasing that just sounds awkward when read aloud.
Overview vs detail â a reader will struggle to feel engaged without seeing the bigger picture; equally, if you donât go into sufficient detail, your writing will seem vague and general.
Readability vs showing off â letâs be honest: youâre probably here to find out how to get top marks, and part of that is showing off your skills. However, thereâs nothing worse than an essay thatâs full of advanced vocabulary and complex sentences, but you simply canât follow the argument.
Understanding the essay type is your first step towards getting those top grades. Once you know the requirements of each of the four types of essay, you can make sure that you meet them from the very start of the planning process.
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There are many different types of essays students are asked to write. Some are easy to understand, but most others are either too similar to one another or so complex that even professors’ explanations don’t help much. It becomes a serious hindrance because without knowing what specific essays they’re writing, young people are almost guaranteed to get failing grades.
There are lots of examples of them being assigned an argumentative essay yet writing an analytical paper instead. Their college education largely depends on success in daily academic tasks, so it is vital to learn the difference between assignments. If you feel lost, don’t worry — in our article we will talk about every common type of such assignments in the most detailed way.
The first thing students should do after reading their prompt is understand just what type of paper they’re expected to produce. Sometimes it happens instantly: professors explain what type you’ll be writing as they’re passing assignments, so from then on, all you need is figure out how to organize everything. But there are also times when you only have a topic. For example, your prompt says the following: “Prove which city council candidate has better policies.” The question is clear, but how to determine which type it is? Start by identifying key words. In this instance, we should underline “prove,” “which,” “candidate,” and “better.” The first word points at an argument, the last one points at a comparison, so the majority essay forms are automatically eliminated.
Now, ask yourself questions. What is the goal of this topic? Again, an answer is simple: young writers must prove what candidate offers better policies. Proving something usually falls into an argumentative category, but it could be analytical, too. The next clue lies in additional instructions: study them attentively to understand whether professor expects subjective or objective opinion; should counter-arguments be regarded and addressed? This will help you settle on a specific type.
There are 4 types of essays assigned most frequently. If you learn about them, you’re set by about 60% — other paper kinds are less specific and far easier to write. Take a look at the list below.
It is based on analysis, research, and evaluation of findings. Writers could explore any subject, even controversial, but they must do it from an objective viewpoint, analyzing the existing evidence and making the conclusion on its basis.
It does resemble analytical papers, but there is a big difference: you should convince your reader that your point is valid by using evidence. Detached objectivity isn’t as crucial here as you could be arguing for the most ridiculous side for fun or out of spite — the goal is to be persuasive and use enough evidence. It could be both a serious and fun essay type.
The name says it all: you should identify the cause of something, explore it, and demonstrate what effect it has. The link between these two is that you should show how one thing leads to another. Some students like focusing on causes in particular while others pay more attention to effects — both options are acceptable.
This paper is often exciting for college students because it’s an easy and captivating task. Choose two or more things and start comparing as well as contrasting them. Comparison usually concerns differences while contrasting is related to similarities. You could compare/contrast topics, ways of expression, characters’ features, etc.
Apart from 4 mentioned categories, there are plenty of other forms of essays. We are going to name them, clarify their main purpose, and list their characteristics. After seeing the table we’ve composed, you won’t have any questions left!
|
|
|
Persuasive essay | A writer must convince their audience of the validity of their opinion, encouraging them to accept their viewpoint. |
|
| Similarly, students should get readers to accept the point they’re arguing for by using evidence and strong counter-arguments. |
|
Analytical or Analysis essay | Breaking a subject into parts and studying each of them, explaining links between them as well as evaluating their impact as a whole. | |
types | Explaining a topic in a clear way to an audience who might know nothing about it. | |
| Sharing your story or an experience, usually of non-fictional kind, with readers. | |
| Describing an event, person, item, or process. |
|
Literary analysis type of essay | Analyzing the literary work to make a conclusion about it. | |
Rhetorical analysis | Demonstrating how speech or elements from non-fictional story produce an effect on an audience. | |
Personal statement / Personal essay | Building a picture of yourself as a person and student and showcasing your strongest characteristics along with skills for being accepted into college or uni. | |
Statement of purpose | Informing people about your goal. | |
Research | This type of essays writing explores topic by analyzing evidence, collecting facts, and using credible sources for support. | |
Profile essay | Students should inform readers about a person or item in a scrutinizing manner. | |
Scholarship essay | Proving you deserve financial support based on your personality and accomplishments. | |
College application / Opinion | Such kinds of essay respond to a prompt and providing details for forming a clear image in readers’ mind. |
|
| Letting an audience know about something. | |
| Identifying and explaining an object or a process by breaking it into parts and giving details. |
|
Response essay | In these types of college essays, students explain how they feel about a specific object by describing it and linking it to their reactions. | |
| Drawing parallels between two or more subjects and explaining their differences together with similarities. | |
Cause and effect essay | Explaining why an event happens and what effects it has. | |
Synthesis | Such types of essay combine many different sources to prove a point. | |
SAT essay | Explaining and analyzing a piece of text you were assigned. | |
Biographical essay / Autobiographical | Outlining the story of your or someone else’s life by focusing on crucial events. | |
Classification essay | Relating a subject to specific group or family. | |
Illustration essay | Informing an audience about something and defining as well as explaining this topic. | |
Critical thinking / Critical analysis | These types of academic essays explore a subject by applying analysis, logic, and evidence. | |
Process essay | Guiding an audience so that they could perform or understand certain process. | |
Tok essay (Theory of Knowledge) | This interesting essay requires students to answer questions related to people’s knowledge through reasoning, emotions, perception, etc. | |
Reflective essay | These are different kinds of essays focused on expressing your opinion on something. You could reflect on a movie you watched, case study or book you read, or situation you experienced. | |
Evaluation essay | You have to assess subject and form conclusion about it. |
|
Proposal essay | Suggesting a topic for further research and exploration; making an offer to address some problem. | |
Exemplification essay | Providing detailed and thorough examples to make a point. | |
Photo essay | You should shoot a series of pictures that would reveal a coherent story to viewers. | |
Explanatory essay | Making an issue clear for the audience with the help of definitions and examples. | |
Exploratory essay | Students examine a situation and gather information about it, combining it and presenting it to their readers. |
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Elizabeth provides educational materials, conducts research, explores and solves student challenges. Her posts are always helpful, innovative, and contain interesting insights.
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Not all students know how to write a definition essay. This type of task is pretty rare as for the most part, professors prefer more complex papers, like argumentative or descriptive ones. But when they finally assign it, students start panicking because they don t understand what it means and...
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There are various opinions on how to categorize essays and how many types of essay there are. The simplest interpretation says that there are only four types of essays:
1. Narrative essays 2. Descriptive essays 3. Expository essays 4. Persuasive essays
I personally think this is a bit of an oversimplification. I also think there are overly complicated classifications of essays, so to keep things relatively simple, we’ll stick to 10 types. Feel free to disagree with me if you like!
In this type of essay, you’re painting a word picture. You can certainly include some facts, but you’ll focus on the experience, what it feels like, looks like, smells or sounds like. Your aim is to draw the reader in so he or she can experience what you are writing about in the same way you experienced it.
A definition tells you what something is. Although a definition is short, a definition essay discusses a complex concept in much greater depth than you would get from a few lines. They’re most often used to discuss philosophical or abstract topics.
You’ll be given two similar-seeming yet different things to compare. To write this essay, I suggest that you prepare carefully. Which elements are the same? Which ones are different? Once you are sure you know what information you want to include, you’re ready to go.
Although the name seems self-explanatory, we need to remember several causes can contribute to a single effect, and conversely, one cause could result in several effects. For example, several factors contributed to the US involvement in the First World War (multiple causes, single effect). However, being in the war had several effects on the US (single cause multiple effects).
If you like creative writing, these will be among your favorite essays. In a narrative essay, you tell a story. Remember, it has a beginning followed by a number of events that lead up to an ending. Plan carefully!
This type of essay involves a step by step explanation of how something happens or is done. Getting your steps in the correct order is important if you don’t want to turn your process into a muddle. Write your process essay in chronological order.
Are you opinionated? Good! The argumentative essay explains your opinions and the reasons why you believe they’re right. You can even look at some possible counter-arguments and why you believe they’re wrong. Ultimately, you’re trying to get your reader to agree with you, so the more facts you can present to support your points, the better.
You don’t have to criticize the thing you’re writing about unless you think there is reason for it, but you’ll be evaluating it critically. You’ll provide reasons why you think something was well done or badly done. If you think it was great, why did you think so? Are there any faults that bothered you? Why did they bother you? What evidence can you present to support your opinion?
You could sum this type of essay up as follows, “Get all the facts, and then interpret them!” You must reach a conclusion , and this has to be supported by your research or personal experience. In higher education, you have to show your ability to research your topic, and you’ll probably be citing experts along the way. In the end, you give your own opinion, but you’ll point out how several sources contribute to it. As long as there is logic in that, your answer can’t be wrong. These essays are exciting because even when you use existing knowledge, you may find yourself obtaining a new perspective or reaching a novel conclusion.
In a way, these are similar to argumentative essays, but they’re not quite the same. An argumentative essay will hit people with the facts, while a persuasive essay has a softer touch and may appeal to moral values or emotions. See it as the difference between winning a debate and winning someone over to support a cause. There are differences, but also similarities.
When looking at an instruction or exam question, study the VERBS your teacher has used. Circle them and think about what they imply. If you’ve just been told to name or list things, give nothing but the facts.
Other words indicating that you should usually give nothing but the facts:
In addition, you want to look for words indicating that you should give your opinion:
If you have any doubt about the type of essay you should be writing, ask. While your teacher likely won’t tell you when assigning, she will explain the correct type of essay to write for the particular situation and how you can figure that out. This should prove beneficial so you can deduct the correct type to write in future situations.
I don’t understand why we even have to write essays. I think it’s just a device teachers have come up with to torture us. Nobody would ever voluntarily write an essay!
So, what would you write? What would improve your writing skills? And why do you see writing as torture?
My husband who is a biochemist has to voluntarily write grants in order to have the government give him money to do his job. Also, learning how to write makes you sound smarter.
Very good blog post. As a student teacher, it’s important for students to understand the wide variety of essays and the appropriate one to use with each assignment. I absolutely love this site. Keep it up!
what about the reflective essay?
Reflective! Excellent point. I have a much longer list than this (I am an English teacher), but reflective is not on it — well, it wasn’t until now!
Such mind numbing article for befuddle mind like me.
How can I detect this essay types in comprehension passage test readings?
I love it but how can I distinguish between them in the exam đ¤§I’m so confused
Are you really love me like the character in the narrative essay?
Same problem here đą
How will I construct or plan an essay when writing an essay, I really want to understand.
An essay that reviews a book is called… what? Please someone help me with this question. Thanks!
It is typically called a book review.
It would be called a critical or analytical essay.
my teacher send me to chose event from the article after that i will write essay and tell me some question like how did this happen like it it ,how could this event happen in 2020,2021? i need to know what kind of essay i will write
Essay writing is a skill, the more you write the better. Thank you! for sharing this content.
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Published on January 28, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on July 23, 2023.
The length of an academic essay varies depending on your level and subject of study, departmental guidelines, and specific course requirements. In general, an essay is a shorter piece of writing than a research paper  or thesis .
In most cases, your assignment will include clear guidelines on the number of words or pages you are expected to write. Often this will be a range rather than an exact number (for example, 2500â3000 words, or 10â12 pages). If youâre not sure, always check with your instructor.
In this article youâll find some general guidelines for the length of different types of essay. But keep in mind that quality is more important than quantity â focus on making a strong argument or analysis, not on hitting a specific word count.
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Essay length guidelines, how long is each part of an essay, using length as a guide to topic and complexity, can i go under the suggested length, can i go over the suggested length, other interesting articles.
Type of essay | Average word count range | Essay content |
---|---|---|
High school essay | 300â1000 words | In high school you are often asked to write a 5-paragraph essay, composed of an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. |
College admission essay | 200â650 words | College applications require a short personal essay to express your interests and motivations. This generally has a strict word limit. |
Undergraduate college essay | 1500â5000 words | The length and content of essay assignments in college varies depending on the institution, department, course level, and syllabus. |
Graduate school admission essay | 500â1000 words | Graduate school applications usually require a longer and/or detailing your academic achievements and motivations. |
Graduate school essay | 2500â6000 words | Graduate-level assignments vary by institution and discipline, but are likely to include longer essays or research papers. |
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In an academic essay, the main body should always take up the most space. This is where you make your arguments, give your evidence, and develop your ideas.
The introduction should be proportional to the essayâs length. In an essay under 3000 words, the introduction is usually just one paragraph. In longer and more complex essays, you might need to lay out the background and introduce your argument over two or three paragraphs.
The conclusion of an essay is often a single paragraph, even in longer essays. It doesnât have to summarize every step of your essay, but should tie together your main points in a concise, convincing way.
The suggested word count doesnât only tell you how long your essay should be â it also helps you work out how much information and complexity you can fit into the given space. This should guide the development of your thesis statement , which identifies the main topic of your essay and sets the boundaries of your overall argument.
A short essay will need a focused, specific topic and a clear, straightforward line of argument. A longer essay should still be focused, but it might call for a broader approach to the topic or a more complex, ambitious argument.
As you make an outline of your essay , make sure you have a clear idea of how much evidence, detail and argumentation will be needed to support your thesis. If you find that you donât have enough ideas to fill out the word count, or that you need more space to make a convincing case, then consider revising your thesis to be more general or more specific.
The length of the essay also influences how much time you will need to spend on editing and proofreading .
You should always aim to meet the minimum length given in your assignment. If you are struggling to reach the word count:
In some cases, you are allowed to exceed the upper word limit by 10% â so for an assignment of 2500â3000 words, you could write an absolute maximum of 3300 words. However, the rules depend on your course and institution, so always check with your instructor if youâre unsure.
Only exceed the word count if itâs really necessary to complete your argument. Longer essays take longer to grade, so avoid annoying your marker with extra work! If you are struggling to edit down:
If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!
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For high school or college students, essays are unavoidable â worst of all, the essay types and essay writing topics assigned change throughout your academic career. As soon as youâve mastered one of the many types of academic papers , youâre on to the next one.
This article by Custom Writing experts provides the tools you need to attack any essay. It describes the five current major types of essays and five additional types! The article includes some thesis statement examples and numerous useful links to resources with sample essay papers. Keep reading and good luck with your assignment!
đ what are the 5 different types of essays.
The five main essay types are:
An expository essay aims to present opinion-free information on a topic that may be broad or narrow. This essay type is often assigned as an in-class or an exam task. Please find below useful expository writing tips!
âThe oil industry is a very large portion of the energy sector, and it has significant impacts on the climate and economy.â
An argumentative essay requires a profound investigation of a topic leading to the collection and evaluation of evidence. Such an in-depth study shall result in an established position on the topic, written down concisely.
As a rule, this type of writing presupposes extensive literature research . Sometimes, argumentative assignments may require empirical investigation through surveys, interviews, or observations. Detailed research ensures a clear understanding of the issue and the different points of view regarding it. Thanks to the preliminary study, you will be able to make an unbiased decision on which opinion to adhere to, and your argumentation will be more persuasive.
An argumentative essay shall follow the strict structure rules:
Expository and argumentative essays abound in similarities and are often mistaken for one another. The principal difference is the amount of preliminary research . Argumentative essays are often assigned as final projects summing up the corpus of information mastered during a course. Expository essays are shorter and less based on research. They are used for in-class unprepared writing.
Persuasive writing is the polar opposite of expository writing. For this style of essay, your opinion should be the focus . A persuasive essay attempts to persuade its reader to have a specific opinion.
âThough the oil industry is an important part of our economy, it has negatively impacted our environment through climate change, smog, and the building of roads.â
There is no more clearly-named essay than the descriptive one. Here, the goal is to describe something : a person, an object, a place, etc. The oil industry theme used to demonstrate an expository thesis statement would not be typical for a descriptive essay. Instead, descriptive writing would far more likely focus on an object associated with the oil industry, such as an oil drum, an oil tanker, or even the liquid oil itself.
The meaning of narrative writing is very similar to a story. It may be moving, emotional, anecdotal, or insightful. You are allowed to write using first-person pronouns, and creativity is appreciated. A narrative essay is subject to all the story rules and shall comprise an introduction, characters, plot, setting, climax, and conclusion. The only case when a narrative assignment does not have to comply with a story outline is a book report. This informative narration is impersonal and unemotional.
A narrative essay is aimed to tell the reader a complete story of personal experiences . A descriptive essay dwells upon a separate object, place, concept, or phenomenon. It does not have a climax or any development of action.
In a cause and effect essay, the text should focus on the impact of some phenomenon or physical thing âin other words, a cause and its effect.
The simplicity of this essay allows you to explore any topic . All you need to do is consider its consequences and write. Again, the oil industry can be the focus of a cause and effect essay thesis statement :
âThe oil industry has had a tremendous impact on our world, enabling the automotive industry, contributing to climate change, and generating great wealth.â
In this essay, the goal is simply to respond to or reflect upon a species person, place, thing, event, or phenomenon. You may be required to reflect upon a poem, a military battle, or perhaps even another essay. By its definition, reflective essays should be very subjective. You should use personal pronouns like âIâ and âmeâ in these essays! This type of essay should be very personal. Check out some examples of reflective writing to see this yourself.
For example, this would be a great thesis statement for a reflective essay :
âThe oil industry has provided many benefits to society, but I worry deeply about its potential costs to our planet and its species.â
In many ways, analytical writing is the objective cousin of reflective writing. Prior to attempting this style of essay, you should reflect. But you should also conduct research. The reflection is personal, while the analysis is rooted in facts and logic.
Compare the following example thesis statement with the one from the previous type of essay:
âAs the oil industry has grown, the levels of greenhouse gases have increased along with temperatures and concentrations of particulate matter in the atmosphere.â
This statement outlines factors that will be analyzed in the body of the essay. It DOES NOT insert personal feelings, personal pronouns, or subjective language. You can even try and use an informative thesis statement generator and then compare the results to see it more clearly.
By staying objective, an analytical essay is much more like a report. In fact, an outline for an analytical paper should be interchangeable with a section of an outline for a much longer research project. But most importantly, any analytical paper should avoid using personal pronouns .
In a compare and contrast essay , you make a comparison of two or more issues . You may look at their similarities, differences, or both. The focus of your analysis should be reflected in your thesis statement. Consider this example:
âWhile both the oil industry and the solar-power industry will be major sources of energy in the future, oil has more environmental costs than green solar power.â
An exemplification or illustration essay is one of the most flexible essays you might be assigned. In simple terms, this essay is all about picking vivid examples. In other words, you want to make points that exemplify or illustrate your thesis statement.
For an exemplification essay, you should focus on the examples that will make your point without serious effort. In other words, if you are trying too hard, you are missing the point of the essay. Consider the following example thesis statement:
âThe oil industry has had serious effects on the environment as demonstrated by the impact of massive oil spill on wildlife, the uncontrolled fires and explosions caused by oil and oil derivatives, and the melting of the polar ice caps caused by climate change.â
In the body of this exemplification essay, the writer should devote a paragraph to each of these arguments. Descriptions of seagulls or penguins coated in oil would be perfect examples of the effect of the oil industry on wildlife. Similarly, descriptions of major oil refinery explosions will also grab the readerâs attention.
Once again, the conclusion should restate the introduction, providing less background, and reminding the reader of the examples one last time.
These tips and tricks are just the basics of essay writing .
When you are writing any assignment, always pay close attention to the instructions . The standard interpretation of any particular essay style is never as important as your teacherâs definition of the assignment. When in doubt, ask questions! No teacher will be upset with you asking for reasonable clarifications. It is better to write the essay your teacher expected, rather than surprise your teacher with a creative effort. And, subsequently, get a poor grade.
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Beauty lasts only a short time. But in the realm of art, in the field of poetry, beauty lasts forever. Sonnet 73 is addressed to a lover who is younger than the speaker. The poem uses three metaphors to depict the speaker’s age and impending death. First, the speaker says that he is autumn, the time of year when the beauty of summer is gone, and the death of winter is about to set in. Then he says that he is the end of the day when only a faint light lingers on the western horizon, and deathly darkness is about to engulf the world. Then he says that he is an almost burned out fire, nearly reduced to ashes. This sonnet doesn’t look to art for consolation, but to love. It concludes by saying, You love me even though you know you’re soon going to lose me, and that makes your love all the greater.
Awesome post as usual! Your posts make me accumulate knowledge about writing various college papers! Thanks a lot for this assistance!
These are amazing tips for compare and contrast essay writing. Will definitely use them when writing my compare and contrast essay. Thanks for sharing them!
This is the third and final chapter about Essays . To complete this reader, read each chapter carefully and then unlock and complete our materials to check your understanding. Â
– Discuss why essays may vary in type
– Describe the seven different essay types
– Provide example essay questions for each type
Chapter 1: What is an academic essay?
Chapter 2: What are the six different essay lengths?
Chapter 3: What are the seven different types of academic essay?
There are many different essay types  that you may be required to write throughout your university education, and each type will generally depend upon the task youâve been set – which is often indicated by the essay question . Of course, the type of essay youâre required to write can depend on the level of education you are in (secondary vs. tertiary) and the courses you are studying (skills vs. content, or arts vs. sciences). The following seven essay types are likely the most common types that youâll find in academic writing courses.
1. Cause and Effect Essays
The purpose of a cause and effect essay  is usually to explain to the reader the connection between an event or situation (the cause) and the result that such an event or situation has created (the effect). Such essay types may well include an evaluation of that cause as well as the general implications or wider impact of those effects – such as what would happen to a select group of people or a particular country in those circumstance. Below is one possible essay question :
2. Compare and Contrast Essays
The main purpose of a compare and contrast essay  is to take two or more concepts, events or ideas and compare them for similarities or contrast them for differences. Such essays may cover any kind of topic, although are usually determined by the subject that the student is studying. One such compare and contrast essay question might be:
3. Descriptive Essays
Descriptive essays are often described as being the essay type which brings a topic âaliveâ for the reader by describing that topic in significant detail. The idea is that the writer explains a topic in such a level of detail that the reader will be able to hear, see or feel whatâs being described. Such essays then will clearly draw on the five human senses and may be more poetic or reflective in nature (and perhaps therefore more restrictive in the types of essay question possible):
4. Evaluative Essays
Evaluative essays are intended to help the writer present their opinion through criteria and evidence. Although similar to persuasive essays in that the writer will provide a stance on an argument, the focus of an evaluative essay is instead that the writer provides their overall opinion on a topic, a judgement of that opinion (such as its strengths and weaknesses), criteria for arriving at that conclusion, and evidence to support that particular viewpoint. Such essay questions for this essay type are varied, but might look somewhat similar to the following:
5. Persuasive Essays
Persuasive (or argumentative) essays tend to demonstrate that there are two (or possibly more) opinions to any given topic and provide evidence for both sides of the argument. Commonly, the writer will take a stance in this essay type and provide more evidence for one side of the debate than the other. Despite the writerâs overall opinion, persuasive essays should always include counter arguments  to the writerâs argument so as to remain objective, as would be necessary for the following question:
6. Problem-Solution Essays
The purpose of a problem-solution essay is so that a problem (which may be the writerâs choice or at the discretion of the tutor) may be identified and possible solutions determined for that issue. This essay type usually involves also providing an evaluation of those solutions (such as their strengths, weaknesses and viability) as well as evidence to support them. One such problem-solution essay question might be similar to the following:
7. Process Essays
The final, and perhaps easiest, type of common academic essay is the process essay ,  the purpose of which is to explain to the reader how something happens or how to replicate a process themselves. Also known as a âhow-toâ essay, this essay type involves the writer explaining a particular process either through defining it, by showing the particular processes in a step-by-step manner, or by describing in detail how something works. Such essay questions for this type might be as follows:
Please note that although listed separately here, it is possible that an essay could have aspects of more than one of these seven essay types. Having an understanding of these types will therefore help you to utilise them and hopefully improve your writing. If youâd like to check comprehension of these concepts as explained in Chapters 1 to 3, consider downloading our beginner-, intermediateâ and advanced-level worksheets for this topic.
To reference this reader:
Academic Marker (2022) Essays . Available at: https://academicmarker.com/academic-guidance/assignments/essays/ (Accessed: Date Month Year).
Once you’ve completed all three chapters about essays , you might also wish to download our beginner, intermediate and advanced worksheets to test your progress or print for your students. These professional PDF worksheets can be easily accessed for only a few Academic Marks .
Our essays academic reader (including all four chapters about this topic) can be accessed here at the click of a button.
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To check a confident understanding of this reader’s chapters, click on the button below to download our essays  intermediate worksheet with activities and answer keys.
Our essays advanced worksheet with activities and answer keys has been created to check a sophisticated understanding of this reader’s chapters.Â
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By: Angelina Grin
An academic essay is a piece of writing whose focus is to persuade and inform. It achieves these goals by developing ideas and arguments through analysis, evidence, and interpretation. Several essays fall into four major categories: descriptive , expository , argumentative , and narrative essays .
What are the 10 types of essays, what is the most common type of essay, what is an essay format, how many types of essays are there.
There are also different types of essays for elementary, middle school, high school, and higher learning levels like universities and colleges.
While paper writing is part of academic progress, many students do not differentiate the various types of academic essays. Understanding all the paper types makes it easier for the scholar to create a well-organized paper that is understandable to the reader.
The internet makes it easy for students to research and get relevant information, but that is not enough without knowing essay writing styles. Every topic in academic writing falls under a particular type of essay.
The main types of essays include:
There are 4 main types of essays.
Before settling to write any essay paper , it is critical first to answer the question, âwhat are the different types of essays?â Know their distinguishing features and where to apply each of the essays. Four modes of essay writing are known as the organized, the chronological, the functional, and the cause-effect.
It would also help to understand the different kinds of essay formats since each paper follows a specific format. Check out the main essay types and definitions below.
An argumentative essay focuses on an intensive argument concerning a particular thesis statement . The writer has to take a firm stand on one side of the argument and aim to convince the reader about your thesis by citing pieces of evidence. Your stance on the discussion should be clear near the end of your introduction.
An argumentative essay has three distinguishing features.
Introduction - it captures the reader's attention and prepares them for what to expect. It should present the appropriate topic and clearly outline the writerâs point of view.
The body paragraphs - should present your main ideas in a systematic order. Present your argument and evidence for it to your audience.
Conclusion - construct a summarizing paragraph emphasizing the importance of your argument. You need to create a strong conclusion, and the following tips might help:
Argumentative essays are common in higher learning levels like college and university. It tests your research skills and your ability to defend your position on a given topic.
Academic papers for colleges and universities are more detailed and complicated than the lower levels. It requires you to employ your research techniques in practice. In addition, the knowledge and skills you gain from experience will help you stand by your opinion even after graduation.
Expository refers to the art of describing or explaining something. An expository essay clearly describes a given topic , set of ideas, or process. It provides a balanced view on the topic rather than proving any point. They are more natural than argumentative essays, which rely majorly on research.
It is a type of essay that provides facts and information. It aims to test the scholarâs ability to express themselves or present an explanation on a given topic. You need to consult statistics and find factual examples to write a perfect descriptive essay.
Below are the five main features of an expository essay.
A perfect expository essay structure requires the following components.
Expository writing is the most common kinds of essays for middle and high school levels. These academic essay genres intend to test the studentâs understanding of the subject and composition skills.
Expository essay writing styles are helpful in school and teach the student how to express any issue in their own words.
A descriptive essay vividly describes a general situation, object, or place. It mainly involves a more abstract case, like an emotion. It is the most creative of all types of essays. It tests the writerâs ability to use language to convey a memorable image of the object creatively and originally.
These genres of essays are common assignments for students in high school and also for composition classes. A well-structured descriptive piece of writing has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.
Introduction - should establish the purpose of your writing. Also, set the tone of the impression by clearly showing what you want your audience to focus its attention on.
The body - the body includes factual, sensory, and figurative details. It also involves your feelings and thoughts and should be in local order. Use a transition to connect your ideas.
Conclusion - restate the main idea and briefly summarize the ideas in the body.
A descriptive paper equips the writer with the skills to use language figuratively to describe lifeâs events, both in school and after-school life.
Narration is a story, and therefore a narrative essay involves telling a story . Most of the time, it consists of the narratorâs personal experience. Unlike other essay forms, the narrative gives you room to get creative and unique when telling your story, and you can freely use first-person nouns.
The following are the five distinctive features of a narrative type of essay with examples.
Plot refers to the events and how they follow each other in your story. For instance, you can narrate your first day in college, what happened, and how the events influenced who you are currently.
Setting : it refers to the location and time of the events, for example, at a particular school in the winter of a specific year.
Character : a protagonist drives your story, but you may have some support characters. In this case, you are the protagonist; your support characters could be the people you met on your first day in school.
Conflict is the challenge, problem, or moment of tension the protagonist has to solve or win.
Theme : it is the moral of the narrative or what you learn and want the reader to know. For instance, the challenges you face as a new student and how to counter them.
Narrative essays are common in high school and university composition classes. It places a student in a position to write a personal statement correctly when making applications even after graduation.
Elementary school is the second-lowest level after kindergarten and ranges from grades one to seven.
Learners in these grades are equipped with writing skills in easy essay types and different types of essay formats. The following are some types of academic essays for the elementary school level.
A persuasive essay aims at convincing the reader to take sides or adopt the writerâs opinion. It involves factual pieces of evidence and emotional appeals. A writer can include emotional and moral reasoning to connect with the audience to support a cause or argument.
The basis of a persuasive essay is sound reasoning, relevant facts, and evidence. The following features distinguish a persuasive paper from other types of essay writing styles.
Clear and concise thesis : as a writer, you need to present your thesis in the first paragraph. Clearly define your take on the particular topic.
Introduction : you need to create a strong introduction that captures your readers' attention and presents the ideas of the central issue in question. Clearly communicate the background information of the issue. A strong introduction will persuade the audience to buy the writerâs opinion on the topic.
The body : the body develops the argument in a clear evidential manner. The writer needs to start from known to unknown. Consider the readerâs point of view on the topic before introducing your take as a writer.
Conclusion : a firm conclusion in persuasive writing readdresses the thesis touching on the evidence provided in the essay.
A persuasive paper must meet the following characteristics:
The skills in persuasive writing enable the learner to tackle more complicated different type of essays at higher levels.
It isa type of exposition essay that explains how something works or how to do something. A process essay writer must maintain clarity and organization by following a chronological order. It must have the following elements.
Introduction: it presents the process you will be communicating in your essay.
The body paragraphs should describe the process step-by-step in chronological order. Transitional words will help you to connect one step to the next.
Conclusion: summarize the entire process in your conclusion. For example, learning how to prepare chicken is the best experience anyone can enjoy.
Process essays are common in elementary school, as early as the third grade. They equip the learner with skills and the ability to break down the process of writing and achieve better results in other types of academic essays.
Middle school is like a bridge between elementary and high school. It serves adolescent students in grades five to nine. The higher middle school grades, 7 to 9, are commonly referred to as junior high school grades.
Some types of papers at the elementary level are part of the middle school curriculum, while some high school essays start in middle school. The following are the types of essays in English for middle school.
It is a type of argumentative writing that outlines the relationship between two subjects. In an academic paper for a typical cause and effect essay writing, the writer details how an event, person, or object influences another one directly.
In a school setup, cause and effect essays are meant to teach persuasive writing, logic, and critical thinking. In a professional setting or academic writing, these paper formats are in the form of a research paper, scientific studies, or lab report abstract. In either case, the author explains a phenomenon and attempts to explain its causes.
There are different essay structures for each type of paper. Below are the structure and main features of a cause-and-effect essay.
Introduction: the introduction should give background information about the topic to the context of your essay. To make a solid introduction, avoid clichĂŠ phrases and words.
Body: the body paragraphs include a topic sentence and supportive sentences. A topic sentence introduces the paragraph's main idea and captures the readerâs attention to the supporting sentences. Support sentences give persuasive facts.
Conclusion: summarize the content of your essay in conclusion. Please do not introduce any new information at this point. You can re-state your thesis in the introduction. Listing the causes in your essay body is another alternative way of creating a solid conclusion for the cause-and-effect essay.
It is an essay genre where the student has to investigate and expound on an idea. The scholar then examines the evidence and clearly presents an argument on the same idea. Accomplishing this requires comparison and contrast, definition, or cause and effect analysis.
The features of exposition or expository writing include the following.
Informative: the main point of expository text is to give information.
Clarity: the writer needs to use words that communicate what the text is talking about.
Text organization: an excellent exposition should retain its focus on the topic and outline the events in chronological order.
Impersonal: it does not encourage the use of the first person but instead uses the second-person pronouns âyou.â
Unbiased: an exposition aims at providing information and does not openly disclose the authorâs opinion.
The structure below holds an exposition together.
A statement of the thesis should be clear, concise, and defined.
The Introduction gives a clear link or transition between the introduction and the body. The body paragraphs should concentrate on the main idea of your writing to maintain clarity and direction all through the essay. It should be creative and factual, logical, or statistical evidential support. Create a solid conclusion by readdressing your thesis in light of some of the evidence in the body.
High school teachers introduce more complex essays to students than those in middle school. Some of the papers in high school progress to the college level. Below are some essays for high school students.
A reflective means you have to reflect on your own experiences. A reflective essay requires the writer to communicate their thoughts and feelings about a specific person, situation, or place in their point of view. Many scholars confuse a reflective paper with a narrative essay.
A reflective piece of writing includes an introduction, body, and conclusion.
Introduction: you need to be specific about what you reflect upon in your paper. Make the reader understand your position in the subject you are assessing.
The body: each paragraph in the body must start with a topic sentence. Speak your thoughts and experiences concerning the topic. You may include a thesis and statements if you are writing an academic paper.
Conclusion: it requires a precise articulation of your thoughts and feelings to create a solid conclusion.
It is an essay writing style that incorporates critical thinking, reading, and writing to communicate to the audience. The writer identifies a piece of art or literature and tries to analyze the author or artistâs thoughts. It focuses on the writerâs opinion, thesis, and argument using logical reasoning and citing evidence.
The significant parts of a critical analysis essay include an outline, introduction, body, and conclusion.
The outline: think critically about what you are writing about. Outline the main ideas in bullet form.
Introduction: the introduction should state the aim of the initial author of the work you are writing about. Make the introduction as engaging and captivating as possible to capture your readerâs attention.
Body: focus on the ideas in your outline and introduction. Each body paragraph should tackle a single notion for flow and consistency.
These tips đ will help a writer create a captivating critical analysis essay.
The highest level of essays applies to college and university scholars. The following are some of the paper types for college.
It is an essay style that shows the differences and similarities between two subjects or more. It is a perfect way of showing what unites or separates two subjects or objects, especially if people tend to confuse them.
Compare and contrast essay has some similarities to other paper types, but it has the following distinguishing features:
Thesis: Carefully pick the subjects you want to compare. If it is not given in the question, you have to be keen to select the one you can handle comfortably.
Organization: These essays follow a specific paper structure. The essay format includes an introduction, body, and conclusion.
Introduction: you need to elaborate on your thesis or the subject you will be discussing.
Body: it is the central part of your paper. It would be best to list the differences and similarities between your subjects of discussion here.
Conclusion: summarize and clearly wrap up your points.
There are three ways a writer can approach a compare and contrast essay:
Other essay types for college include research and definition. Reflective papers are also part of the college curriculum.
The four major types of essays include argumentative, descriptive, narrative, and expository. Expository and argumentative aim at giving clear points and information, while narrative and descriptive test the writerâs creativity.
There are more types of essays besides the four major categories. Below are ten of these essays.
An argumentative paper is the most common essay type. It tests the writerâs research skills and ability to present their position on a particular subject. It is common at the college level.
An essay format is a series of guidelines that influence how you arrange your academic paper. It includes:
There are many different types of papers to write, but there are four major ones. The essays are subdivided according to their complexity and studentsâ level of education.
Learning the different types of essays in English language is the first step toward being an excellent writer. You will be able to differentiate each type with its format, writing style, and structure.
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Every section of this article was helpful. It gave me knowledge on the definition essays that can be used with data, to criticize, and how to include sources in my pages. From the popular forms of essays, to what you should include in each section, this was really great.
Angelina Grin, the author, is constantly on point; I follow her articles, and they are usually part of my resources for references when I'm assigned tasks. I like how she summarizes bulky topics and manages to illustrate them using pristine examples. I enjoyed reading every single part of this article.
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My teacher told me to examine the benefits of writing different storytelling essays. I now know which type is best to argue my point on any subject matter. It was really helpful and I now feel confident in my college work.
The concept behind a literary analysis essay is for writers to detail everything from the storyline and the idioms to every literary tool used in a piece of literature. It gives readers full experience even if they've yet to read the work.
I was struggling with writing a narrative essay. This article helped to explain how to write different essays and improve the quality of my written work.
While reading this article, I learned the need for the inclusion of sensory details in essays. With literary analysis of any specific topic, you can easily spot the author's writing process.
I was looking for help to explore what an analytical essay and critical essay are to improve my grade band.
Descriptive essays are very critical essays because you need to use words to give your readers an insight into your mind. Thank you for the awesome guidelines.
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Guest Essay
By Jonathan Haidt and Will Johnson
Dr. Haidt is a social psychologist at New York Universityâs Stern School of Business; Mr. Johnson is the chief executive of the Harris Poll.
This article has been updated to reflect news developments.
Was social media a good invention? One way to quantify the value of a product is to find out how many of the people who use it wish it had never been invented. Feelings of regret or resentment are common with addictive products (cigarettes, for example) and addictive activities like gambling, even if most users say they enjoy them.
For nonaddictive products â hairbrushes, say, or bicycles, walkie-talkies or ketchup â itâs rare to find people who use the product every day yet wish it could be banished from the world. For most products, those who donât like the product can simply ⌠not use it.
What about social media platforms? They achieved global market penetration faster than almost any product in history. The category took hold in the early aughts with Friendster, MySpace and the one that rose to dominance: Facebook. By 2020 , more than half of all humans were using some form of social media. So if this were any normal product weâd assume that people love it and are grateful to the companies that provide it to them â without charge, no less.
But it turns out that it can be hard for people who donât like social media to avoid it, because when everyone else is on it, the abstainers begin to miss out on information, trends and gossip. This is especially painful for adolescents, whose social networks have migrated, since the early 2010s, onto a few giant platforms. Nearly all American teenagers use social media regularly, and they spend an average of nearly five hours a day just on these platforms.
So what does Gen Z really think about social media? Is it more like walkie-talkies, where hardly anyone wished they had never been invented? Or is it more like cigarettes, where smokers often say they enjoy smoking, but more than 71 percent of smokers (in one 2014 survey ) regret ever starting?
We recently collaborated on a nationally representative survey of 1,006 Gen Z adults (ages 18-27). We asked them online about their own social media use, about their views on the effects of social media on themselves and on society and about what kinds of reforms theyâd support. Hereâs what we found.
For 18- to 27-year-olds who use social media
4 to 6 hours
3 hours or less
7 hours or more
Source: Harris Poll/Zach Rausch
Note: Figures may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding.
For 18- to 27-year-olds
Non-L.G.B.T.Q.
Percentage of Gen Z respondents who agree with the statement âI wish ___ had never been inventedâ
Smartphones
Messaging apps
The internet
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Learn about argumentative, expository, narrative, and descriptive essays, and how to write them. See example prompts and paragraphs for each type of essay.
The four main types of writing. In many of the online resources you'll find about the types of essays, you'll find references to the four main types of writing: Persuasive. Descriptive. Narrative. Expository. These aren't four specific types of essays, but four distinct methods of communicating an essay's theme.
Though you're likely not to encounter every single type of essay that exists, sometimes it's necessary to know about them. Learn about 15 different types here.
Writing 101: The 8 Common Types of Essays. Whether you're a first-time high school essay writer or a professional writer about to tackle another research paper, you'll need to understand the fundamentals of essay writing before you put pen to paper and write your first sentence.
With that in mind let's take a look at 17 types of essays you could write. 17 Types of Essays. Here are 17 types of essays that you might need to write: Narrative Essay. Purpose: To tell a story or recount a personal experience; Features: Use of vivid details, chronological structure, and a first-person point of view.
The length of the body depends on the type of essay. On average, the body comprises 60-80% of your essay. For a high school essay, this could be just three paragraphs, but for a graduate school essay of 6,000 words, the body could take up 8-10 pages. Paragraph structure.
AI Tools to enhance your academic writing. SciSpace Copilot - AI research assistant. Literature Review. Paraphraser. AI Detector. Citation Generator. Academic writing includes different types of essays for students. This article gives a short summary of the 7 types of essays you often find in academic writing.
There are four main types of essays: argumentative, expository, narrative, and descriptive. Each type of essay has its own unique characteristics and is written for a different purpose. Understanding the different types of essays is essential for writing a successful essay.
There are many more types of essay that are a combination or derivation of these four essay types. Here are the four main types of essays. To help you better understand these essay types, we've also constructed relevant example essays. Also read: How to Write an Essay. 1. Narrative essay
The world of essays is rich and varied, with each type serving a distinct purpose and requiring a unique approach. There are many types of essays.Here, we explore the four main types: descriptive, narrative, expository, and persuasive.
The essay may also include examples, comparison and contrast and analysis of cause and effect. Many academic and workplace writing assignments are expository. These topics, for example, often require expository type of writing: A medical or biological condition. A social or technological process. A marketing strategy.
Types of essays . Most essays are derived from the combination or variation of these four main types of essays. let's take a closer look at these types. 1. Narrative essay . A narrative essay is a type of writing that involves telling a story, often based on personal experiences. It is a form of creative nonfiction that allows you to use ...
Here are 10 types of essays you may use in your writing: 1. Narrative essays Narrative essays tell a story and often are the most personal type of essay you may write. They allow you to exercise creativity and imagination, and you can base them on a particular prompt, such as the first time you drove a car by yourself, or a more open-ended ...
The basic structure of an essay always consists of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. But for many students, the most difficult part of structuring an essay is deciding how to organize information within the body. This article provides useful templates and tips to help you outline your essay, make decisions about your structure, and ...
There are many different kinds of essays. The following are a some of the most common ones: Descriptive Cause/Effect Argumentative Definition Narrative Critical Compare/Contrast Process. Descriptive: Examples: A descriptive essay could describe . . . * a tree in my backyard; * a visit to the children's ward of a hospital; * a hot fudge sundae;
The essay type affects how you structure your essay, your writing style, the tone, the techniques you use, and how you use evidence. This is especially important at school or university: a narrative essay just won't score many marks if it was meant to be persuasive (no, not even if your short story then wins the Nobel Prize for Literatuređ
Basic essay structure: the 3 main parts of an essay. Almost every single essay that's ever been written follows the same basic structure: Introduction. Body paragraphs. Conclusion. This structure has stood the test of time for one simple reason: It works. It clearly presents the writer's position, supports that position with relevant ...
There are 4 types of essays assigned most frequently. If you learn about them, you're set by about 60% â other paper kinds are less specific and far easier to write. Take a look at the list below. Analytical Essay. It is based on analysis, research, and evaluation of findings.
There are various opinions on how to categorize essays and how many types of essay there are. The simplest interpretation says that there are only four types of essays: 1. Narrative essays 2. Descriptive essays 3. Expository essays 4. Persuasive essays. I personally think this is a bit of an oversimplification.
Essay length guidelines. Type of essay. Average word count range. Essay content. High school essay. 300-1000 words. In high school you are often asked to write a 5-paragraph essay, composed of an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. College admission essay. 200-650 words.
An expository essay introduction should clarify the topic and briefly lay out its elements.; The first paragraph is to contain a well-defined thesis statement.For example, the following might be a great expository thesis statement: "The oil industry is a very large portion of the energy sector, and it has significant impacts on the climate and economy."
Of course, the type of essay you're required to write can depend on the level of education you are in (secondary vs. tertiary) and the courses you are studying (skills vs. content, or arts vs. sciences). The following seven essay types are likely the most common types that you'll find in academic writing courses. 1. Cause and Effect Essays.
Several essays fall into four major categories: descriptive, expository, argumentative, and narrative essays. Table Of Contents. 16 Types of Essays. 4 Major Types of Essays. 1) Argumentative Essay. There are also different types of essays for elementary, middle school, high school, and higher learning levels like universities and colleges.
Many more respondents wished these products had never been invented: Instagram (34 percent), Facebook (37 percent), Snapchat (43 percent), and the most regretted platforms of all: TikTok (47 ...