4 Types of Essays

APRIL 14, 2014 BY NATASHA QUINONEZ

Essays can be a complicated

business even for a seasoned college student. There are rules to follow for
each different type of essay, and it can be difficult to keep them all in
order. If there is an essay in your future, take a look at these four types of
essays and remind yourself of what the rules are for each. It will help you
out when you sit down to write that essay.

Expository Essays
An expository essay is a specific kind of essay that involves investigating
an idea, evaluating the evidence, presenting the idea, and supporting the
presentation with an argument. Expository essays are usually written
through comparison and contrast, definition, example, and the analysis of
cause and effect. There is a specific structure that expository essays
follow.

 First, there should be a clear and expansive thesis statement

somewhere within the first paragraph of the essay. This statement
should be narrowed down to follow the guidelines of the
assignment. It should include something involving the topic of the
essay as that is usually included in the guidelines.
 The transitions between the introduction paragraph, body
paragraphs, and conclusion paragraph should make sense and be
clear. Without these transitions, there is no logical path to follow
throughout the essay, and the reader could end up lost in your
essay. Your argument would then be lost.
 Each paragraph of the body should include evidence that supports
the thesis statement. You should only discuss one sub idea of the
 thesis statement in each paragraph. Discussing a number of ideas in
each paragraph can lead to confusion.
 Don’t forget the evidence! While this was just stated earlier, it’s
important enough to be said again. Your essay will not be an
expository essay if you don’t have some kind of proof to back up
your thesis statement.
 When writing your conclusion, don’t just repeat the thesis. Expand
on it by discussing the evidence you revealed. Don’t present any
new information or ideas into the conclusion.

This is the most common essay written while in elementary school. It is

usually considered the five-paragraph essay – one introductory
paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a single conclusion paragraph.
However, as you enter later grades and college, you will come to realize
that expository essays sometimes run a little longer than that. This format
is usually just a way to begin introducing the idea of expository essays to
students.

Expository essays are best thought of as conversations or debates with

classmates. Just as your conversation will have a beginning, middle, and
end, your essay should also. If it is not complete, you will likely leave
behind questions in your readers. The most important thing to remember
is to state the intent of your essay in the introduction, back it up in the
body, and summarize everything in the conclusion.

Descriptive Essays
A descriptive essay is exactly what it sounds like. In this type of essay, you
will be asked to describe something. Unlike the expository essay, this type
of essay allows for much more artistic freedom as the main idea is to
create an image in the reader’s mind.

While there is no exact format for this essay, there are some guidelines
you should consider following as they will help you write a better
descriptive essay.

 Brainstorm before you put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. If

your topic involves describing your dream last night, you’ll want to
start jotting down specific details about it. For example, if you
dreamed about your family you’ll want to write down who in your
family.
  Write down descriptive words in relation to the details that you will
likely use in your essay. Again, you’re going to want to paint a
picture in your reader’s mind so writing a sentence that says, “My
cousin was in my dream” is not going to give your reader any kind
of image. However, if you describe your cousin in more detail –
using hair color, eye color, or even skin tone – will give your reader
a better image.
 Don’t forget that you have more than just the sense of sight. If you
were describing a day at the beach, you would want to include more
than what you saw. Include things you smelled, what you touched,
sounds you heard, and things you tasted.
 Emotions and feelings play a key role in description too. However,
it’s important that you don’t write a sentence that says, “I was sad.”
Again, this kind of language does not paint pictures in reader’s
minds. Rather, describe it for them – “My shoulders drooped, and
my chin trembled. Tears flooded my eyes.” A sentence like that will
show your reader that you were sad and paint the picture in their
mind. In fact, they will likely connect with you on an emotional level
as they read.
 Keep your essay organized. No matter how descriptive you are, no
one is going to know what you’re describing if everything is out of
order. If you just stuff your essay full of descriptive words,
emotions, and senses, you might leave your reader thinking that you
were describing one thing when in fact you were describing
something completely different.

Descriptive essays are common in elementary school and are usually used
as warm-up journal prompts at the beginning of a language arts lesson.
These kinds of essays are also very common in creative writing classes as
they are used to build your descriptive skills.

Narrative Essays
A narrative essay usually involves the telling of some kind of story. There
are two common types of narrative essays – short stories and book
reports. There are some guidelines that should be followed no matter
what type of narrative essay you’re writing.

 If it will be in story format, include all the parts of story. This

includes characters, plot, setting, etc.
  If you’re going to be writing a book report, it should be an
informative narrative about the book and not a retelling of the
entire book.
 Even narrative essays should have a point, just like the thesis
statement of expository essays.
 Choose a point of view for your essay and stick with it. The common
point of view is first person, from the standpoint of the writer.

Narrative essays are similar to memoirs so many of the topics you might
find regarding narrative essays are in that style.

Persuasive Essays
A persuasive essay is also known as an argumentative essay. This type of
essay will be similar to an expository essay in that you will be exploring a
topic and collecting and evaluating evidence. However, unlike an
expository essay, you will be taking a stand for or against this topic.

The format of the persuasive essay is similar to the expository essay from
the thesis statement to the layout to the concluding paragraph. However,
it’s important to state that your persuasive essay will also include your
opinion regarding the evidence and the topic itself. Like the expository
essay, the persuasive essay can also use the five paragraph format, but
there are also longer persuasive essays.
Filed Under: Humanities, Students