What exactly are essays? Essays are a written piece that expresses the author’s view. However, the definition of an essay is often unclear and can be confused with other kinds of writing, like a report essay, book, article or book, and even a poem, story or pamphlet. Although essays are generally categorized as academic and formal but there are some work that can be classified in both. For this discussion, we will focus on only writing assignments submitted to and accepted by academic or professional academic institutions.
How then do essays differ from other forms of writing? Essays are more organized than other forms of written communication. They usually include some background information, typically in an essay outline to support the main ideas. The structure of an essay is intended to help the arguments of its author(s). The structure of these essays is determined by the theme of the essay. There are some essays whose structure is based entirely on the writer’s argument or theory. These essays may include an abundance of background information that is not supportive of the argument(s).
The most popular types of essays are : topical argumentative, exegetical, narrative, descriptive expository, critical and interpretive. The most popular topics for essays include: history and social science literature and culture, mathematics and engineering religion and spirituality, psychology, and politics. As mentioned above these are just a few of the major kinds but there are many more such as hybrid types that blend elements from some of these themes, or overlap within specific kinds.
A quick and interesting method to visualize the structure of these different kinds of essays is to think of the form of a diagram of a tree. The apex is at the end of each branch. Each point in the tree is connected to every other point with an extension smaller than the others, until there is only one branch at the base. The essay attempts to back up its main idea by providing an argument or conclusion.
The most common argument in essays is a main idea supported with arguments and evidence supported by facts or examples. The statements that support the thesis are referred to as the thesis statement and the evidence that supports it is referred to as evidence supporting it. Most essays have an introduction to the thesis statement, which summarizes the most important point(s) of the essay.
Another argument that is often used in writing is to make sure that the argument contains a particular piece of evidence that is strong enough to convince the reader(s). A narrative is one type of essay that employs this method of argumentation. Narrative essays are similar to stories in that the writer tells a part of the tale as though it were true. The majority of these essays do not make any real claims , except for the information included in the story (e.g., “The government set up the biggest stimulus package ever seen to boost our economy.”.). When combined with other types of arguments, the narrative style of the essay can be extremely efficient.
A five-paragraph essay can be described as a simple form of narrative essay. Five paragraph essays can be written to illustrate a main argument. The five paragraph essay usually begins with an introduction, where the writer takes up the thesis statement and goes through the major aspects of the essay. In contrast to the narrative essay, the purpose of a five paragraph essay is not to convince the reader(s) that it is a persuasive essay, but to convey the information in an orderly manner and conclude with a strong and appropriate conclusion. A majority of five-paragraph essays follow the same guidelines as an essay of five paragraphs. That means many five-paragraph essay can be composed using the same strategies and formulas.
A descriptive essay is a type of the narrative essay. It is focused more on describing things, rather than making how to start off an argumentative essay assertions. The major difference between the two types of essays is in the focus placed on different sections of the essay. While a narrative essay utilizes mostly or exclusively the voice of the narrator, a descriptive essay often employs images or anecdotes to support its points. It makes use of the past to illustrate the future. Combining these two styles can be very beneficial for students. It lets them develop their own style and gives them the freedom to complete their work without being constrained by the instructor’s viewpoint.
