Essay Styles

by Piet van der Laan

Common Essay Styles

Logical division of ideas essays Process essays Cause/effect essays Comparison/contrast essays

Process Essays
Chronological Order is:
A way of organizing ideas in the order of their occurrence in time.

Process Essays
This type of essay is used to:
Explain processes Explain procedures

Process Essays
How to organize this essay
Discuss the steps in your process in the order in which they occur. Divide the steps into separate paragraphs where natural breaks or groups of steps occur.

Process Essays
How to organize this essay
Example: Making a ceramic vase. I Introductory paragraph II Body
A. Shaping the vase B. First firing C. Glazing D. Second firing

III Concluding paragraph

Process Essays
The Thesis Statement:
Needs to indicate the time order
the process of , the procedure for , etc

Sometimes tells the number of steps in the process

Follow these steps to., . involves three steps.

May name the steps

The main steps in the process of heating water by solar radiation are (1) trapping the suns energy, (2) heating and storing the hot water and (3) distributing the water.

Cause/Effect Essays
This type of essay is used to:
Discuss the causes (reasons) for something. Discuss the effects (results) of something. Discuss both causes and effects.
Note: This type of essay is often used for answering test questions. For example: Discuss the effects of global warming on the environment.

Cause/Effect Essays
How to organize this essay:
Block organization Chain organization

Cause/Effect Essays
Block Organization
Discuss all the causes as a block. (one paragraph for each cause) Discuss all the effects as a block. You can also discuss only effects or only causes. Sometimes you need a transition paragraph to conclude a section and introduce another section.

Cause/Effect Essays
Block Organization Example
INTRODUCTION 1st cause 2nd cause 3rd cause TRANSTION PARAGRAPH 1st effect 2nd effect CONCLUSION

Note: There are many different patterns and this is just one of the possibilities. For instance, its also possible to start with the effects instead of the causes.

Cause/Effect Essays
Chain Organization
The causes and effects are linked to each other in a chain. One event causes a second event, which leads to a third event, and so on. Each cause and its effect are links in the chain You can devote either one or more links to one paragraph.

Cause/Effect Essays
Chain Organization Example
ESSAY INTRODUCTION Cause Effect Cause Effect Cause Effect CONCLUSION

Comparison/Contrast Essays
This type of essay is used to:
Explain the similarities and differences between two items.
Note: This type of essay is often used for answering test questions. For example: Compare the forms of government of Great Britain and the United States.

Comparison/Contrast Essays
How to organize this essay:
Point-by-Point organization Block organization

Comparison/Contrast Essays
Point-by-Point Organization
Make a list of what is important to you Each point on your list will be a point of comparison. Each point of comparison becomes a topic of a paragraph. You can put the paragraphs in any order you wish.

Comparison/Contrast Essays
How to organize this essay
Example: Deciding between two jobs I Introductory paragraph
Thesis Statement: One way to decide between job offers is to compare them on important points. II Body A. Salary B. Benefits C. Opportunities for advancement III Concluding paragraph

Comparison/Contrast Essays
Block Organization
Arrange all the similarities together in a block. Arrange all the differences together in a block. You could discuss either the differences or the similarities first You often insert a transition paragraph or a transition sentence between two blocks.

Comparison/Contrast Essays
How to organize this essay
Example: Deciding between two jobs I Introductory paragraph
Thesis Statement: One way to decide between job offers is to compare them on important points. II Body A. Similarities
Benefits

B. Differences
Salary Opportunity for advancement

III Concluding paragraph

Questions?

This presentation was largely based on information taken from Writing Academic English by Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue