Writing a satisfactory and readable essay is something that everyone wants to achieve. It might be challenging at first, but every time we write an essay, we get to know different structures on the different types of essays, thus expanding our knowledge and skills on finally producing a quality essay. You may also see sample essay outlines.
Before everything else, let us first know what an essay is to give you an overall background of the subject. An essay is a piece of writing about a particular subject, usually from the author’s point of view. When we say “from the author’s point of view,” this means that the writing is from the personal perspective of the writer, resulting in the type of essay called personal essay which incorporates both narrative and descriptive writing (two of the main modes of writing). Other types of essays are fully discussed in the next section.
We often got confused with the different types of essays when we search the web as there are really a lot of them. You have the argumentative essay examples, comparative essay examples, informative essay examples, and interview essay examples. However, in general, there are only four broad categories of essays: narrative essay, descriptive essay, expository essay, and persuasive essay. The different purposes of these essays are to tell or narrate a story, paint or describe a picture, state the facts, and convince the audience, respectively. The other types are just sub-types.
It is stated that an essay is the personal point of view of the writer. Everything is based on his perspective, reaction or opinion on a certain matter.
Now, if you are to create your own essay, this does not mean that you can write everything that you want because this depends solely on your perspective. You must write in a smooth manner, such that the reader would get your point and understand your thought. Hence, it is proper that you must first create an outline on the major ideas that you have in mind before you go through the details. You may also see essay writing examples & samples.
Creating an outline before writing anything else is the key for having a well-written essay. Because of the outline, you will know where you are heading and what topic that you are going to tackle next. In this way, you can properly end your current topic and have a smooth shift to the next one. Furthermore, some writers go off the grid when they do not first create an outline. You may also like free essay examples.
This would result in an unorganized thought and, worse, a topic that you do not know how to end. Oftentimes, you may forget other things that you probably want to discuss because you are already overwhelmed by a certain topic/section. Hence, it is recommended to create an outline first before you start creating your essay. You may also check out short essay examples & samples.
In this article, you can find a number of sample essays, in which, also included are the different sample essay outlines. You can even find free essay examples, too, to give you an idea on how to kick-start writing your important/personal essay.
In writing your outline, the first thing you need to do is gather all the necessary information that you need for your topic. Establish the major ideas as these will serve as your major heading. Think of what you can say for each heading and write it as a subtopic. Be sure to determine the different levels of hierarchy of your topic. Research essay examples are among the essays that you can clearly distinguish the levels of hierarchy of the topic.
Lastly, end with a conclusion or a wrap-up of all the things that you have said in your content.
It is said that the purpose of writing an academic essay is to make clear what those rules and norms are as well as how to use them to express your argument clearly. Concisely, when you construct your academic essay, first, you have to make a clear thesis statement. From this, gather the necessary information, and make an outline. Then, present your argument along with examples, evidence, and analysis.
Remember to cite your sources clearly, and end with a clean wrap-up. You may also find short essay examples in this article that is also an example of an academic essay.
In school, we are given essay-writing assignments and exercises and sometimes, we force ourselves to make one even if the topic is not of our interest. We grumble and complain, but we still do it for the sake of grades. It is like the saying, “fake it ’till you make it”. However, on the bright side, our mentors only give us those assignments for our own sake, helping us get used to writing essays so that we can eventually compose quality write-ups. You may also see samples of formal essays.
But, why is an essay important? Firstly, writing an essay enhances our critical thinking. When we write, we scrutinize arguments and positions that may have been taken for granted.
Secondly, writing essays helps us structure our thoughts an ideas. Thirdly, writing essays is a pivotal form of communication in all walks of life. You need to have strong written communication skills especially when conveying information to help keep your audience/readers in the same direction. Lastly, most jobs require essay-writing (for example: a crime reports, business deals, lesson plans, etc.). You may also like essay examples in doc.
We have introduced above the four general types of essays. In this section, we will expound and explain each of them as well as their characteristics. For the purpose of academic writing, we will focus on these four types of essays.
First, what is a narrative essay? A simple narrative essay is writing or telling a story that is often anecdotal, experiential, and personal. These allow the writer to express himself in a creative way, since in general, writers have the freedom to express their personal narration with regards to the story.
Here are some guidelines that will help in writing a narrative essay:
The next type of essay is the descriptive essay. Clearly, the writer is to describe something such as an object, person, emotion, situation, or experience. This encourages the ability of the writer to write an account of a particular experience in his or her perspective, allowing a great artistic freedom where the writer can create a clear and vivid image in the mind of the reader through making specific descriptions.
Below are some guidelines that will help you create a descriptive essay:
The third essay that we are going to discuss is the expository essay. This essay requires the writer to evaluate a certain idea, expound it, and set an argument related to the idea in a clear and concise manner. Although many would find this type of essay difficult to construct, it can be accomplished through proper studying of the subject, comparison and contrast, definition, and giving examples.
Here are the essentials for writing an expository essay that you must take note:
Last but not the least is the persuasive essay. This is also known as the argument essay since it utilizes logic and reason to show that one idea is more legitimate than the other idea, and it persuades the reader to adopt the certain idea by the writer or a certain point of view. There must be good and sound reasoning as well as solid evidence. There must also be supporting facts and logical reasons through the use of examples or through quoting experts.
When you create your persuasive essay, here are the things that you must do:
Here are other types of essays and a brief description for each of them:
These are essays which are written in applying for a certain course in a an institution or university. You are to write your essay regarding the insights about you and how you differ from the other applicants. You may also see concept essay examples & samples.
This essay helps you show that your assertions on a certain topic is correct or more truthful than others. You have to form reasons and draw conclusions, and apply them in the discussion.
This essay is a common method in organizing and discussing ideas, and is concerned with why certain events/situations happen as well as its corresponding effects.
The writer in this type of essay organizes things into categories, making sure that the categories follow a single organizing principle, and gives examples for each category. You may also like college essay examples & samples.
In writing a comparison essay, the writer decides on the similarities as well as the differences by listing them on a scrap. The topic may be about similarities, differences, or even both similarities and differences.
In critical essays, the word “critical” pertains to attitude of the reader when they read the essay. It is considered “detached evaluation” meaning the reader weighs the coherence of the reading and completeness of data before accepting or rejecting it. You may also check out how to outline an essay.
This type of essay is based on deductive reasoning with the concept that when given a set of premises, one can draw a reasonable assumption. It takes individual factors, weighs them against the current knowledge, and adds them to come up with a conclusion.
The role of the writer in a definition essay is to tell the readers what term is being defined, and must also present clear information and anecdotes regarding the topic to help the readers understand.
This is a rare type of essay because you will start this essay without an end in mind. You do not necessarily know how you feel regarding a certain subject or topic and you allow research as well as your own direction to determine the outline. Usually, this essay help you to learn something rather than proving that you already know. You might be interested in photo essay examples & samples.
The purpose of this essay is to provide a relaxed expression of opinion and yet still be informative. You can have an informal essay but it still needs to have a strong structure. In this essay, the writer presents himself as speaking conventionally to the reader, maintaining a sense of his or her own personality but not sounding too academic or too sloppy. Usually, the paragraphs are short. Just take note that you must punctuate your essays correctly. You may also see examples on writing an analytical essay.
In writing a literature essay, you have to be clear and concise, and you should indicate the aspects of the book that you intend to deal with. Your paragraphs must have distinct points and specific parts. Make every transition of your paragraph smooth, but avoid re-telling the story. In your conclusion, you have to draw the strands of your previous points together. Also, avoid being too chatty and set the right tone for your essay. Do not be afraid if your opinions are different from the others as long as you develop them clearly and use evidence intelligently.
This essay will represent who you are to the people who will most likely not know you personally. For example, if you are an job applicant, the expression of your qualities will be a very important method for the committee to get to know you and why you deserve to be accepted in their program.
In this type of essay, the usual structure is as follows: thesis, body, and conclusion. You must carefully select your thesis by coming up with an original aspect or take the aspect of another person and develop it as your own. In your body, you must present facts and examples to present your argument. Lastly, summarize your argumennts or end with an quote that sums up your entire argument. You may also like how to write definition essay and examples.
In a response thesis, the thesis may be about some trends written through the use of images or parallels about the author’s own life. And similar to the previous types of essays, you must present in your body the facts and examples to support your simple statement.
Usually, scholarship essays are used to recount personal experiences. It has been said that the most important aspect of a scholarship essay is the subject matter which must be devoted for at least 1 to 2 weeks as they are very useful especially when applying for a scholarship.
Overall, these are the basics of essay-writing that one must know in order to write a good and well-constructed essay. And a well-constructed essay starts with a well-constructed outline. Hopefully, the discussions as well as the essay examples presented above have enlightened you so you can now start creating your own essay.