The Different Types of Essays

With the increase in the knowledge of essay writing today, it is no longer a surprise to students to find out that there are indeed different types of essays. For some students, they have understood that fact and have used the knowledge to their advantage. Others are simply shocked each time their professors tell them to write a particular type of essay.

Before the main focus is brought on critical essays, it is important that the different types of essays are explained, in order to give insight into what is being spoken about. There are four main essay types which have been grouped according to the manner in which they are written, the words used to write them, the purpose of writing the essay, and finally what sort of preparation is necessary for the essay to be written.

The four main essay types are as follows:

1. Expository essays

An expository Essay is one whose main focus is explaining, clarifying and illustrating an idea using established facts. This type of essay varies based on what is required of the writer. There are many different types of expository essays. They are:

• Critical essays
• Analytical essays
• Cause and effect essays
• Compare and contract essays
• Research essays

A huge chunk of academic essays fall under this broad umbrella. When a writer is giving an exposition on a particular topic, adequate research is necessary in order to end up producing an essay that analyses all the possible points and results in a main outcome.

Expository essays require a neutral tone from the writer, expecting the writer not to be biased towards any main point but promptly deliver information on all the points, leaving the final decision to the reader. A good expository essay requires good research and a superb understanding of the topic given. Only until the writer has gained full understanding can he, in a sense, school the reader on the topic.

Since a lot of time is required to put together essays of such caliber, most students would rather opt fir another one of the essay types so that they would not have to do as much research or take as much time, forgetting that each of the different essay types require their own level of hard work.

1. Narrative essays

These sorts of essays revolve around a pivotal point which all the happenings in the entire essay come together to buttress. It is like a description of certain experiences of the writer which have finally resulted in the writer's current state of mind or way of understanding certain things.

Some people are confused about the differences between a narrative essay and a short story. However, the difference between the two types of writing is clear. A narrative essay has a particular format that it follows, its main idea is introduced from the very beginning of the essay, and the writer caps all of the experiences with main idea at the end of the day.

The short story narrative is actually quite different in the sense that, they contain more characters, plot twists, maybe, and their main idea is to entice and entertain the reader. The readers are always looking for a continuation for the story whereas with regards to a narrative essay, the idea being put across ends the narrative for readers.

There are different types of narrative essays and not all revolve around the writer.

A good example of such an essay is an interview essay. With this kind of essay, whether it is a report on an interview that has occurred before or an essay explaining to an interviewer how the writer is the best person for the job, a person's character is being described, people's experiences are being relived and at the end, a pivotal point is reached. These are the main elements of a narrative essay.

1. Descriptive essays

These essay types are mainly to describe an event, an experience, an idea, a person or an object. The aim of the description is to give the reader all the tools to properly picture that which you are describing. This calls for the use of strong descriptive language which can automatically place a picture in the mind of the reader.

Using language that is exact and vivid is the hallmark of an descriptive essay. These words have the ability to make these ideas more colorful in the mind of the reader, resulting in a good essay and a reader whose imaginative thinking has been sparked. Due to the nature of such essays, creativity, cohesiveness and conciseness is necessary in order to create the picture. You need to choose only the exact same words which are vivid in nature. Use the words which appeal to the five senses. At the end of the day, the writer should be able to picture what you are describing in their mind's eye.

1. Persuasive essays

This type of essay requires the writer to take a stance, and the entire essay would be built in the stance the writer has taken in order to convince the reader of the stance of the writer. This essay could be either a debate or an argumentative essay using points that are logical, as well as factual to prove the point that the writer's stance is better.

The convincing is done using special words which show the obvious bias toward the view point of the writer. Since an argument is being brought to the table, the essay writer can easily use his choice of words to nudge toward his stance.

Writing a Critical Essay: Steps to Take

There are always many questions asked about the correct way to write a critical essay. While the writing is usually standard, there are different tricks and tactics, that the writer should be aware of, that result in a good critical essay being written.

A person could easily go to the ‘write my essay' webpage and pay for an essay to be written by a good, trusted essay writing service on the internet. These essay writing services are all around, yet you need to be especially careful as some of the essay writing services are less than excellent. In case you are thinking ‘I have to write my essay by myself' without any essay help, here are a few options you should take note of.

1. Start immediately

Most essay writers are given enough time before the deadline elapses. The main problem that disturbs them is their timing. As soon as you receive the assignment it is good to begin work immediately. Start looking for ideas immediately and begin your research as soon as possible. That way you are sure to have ample time to write and also proofread your work, take it through all the necessary checks, before handing it in. That way you are sure that your writing will be well crafted and the end result is a favorable one.

2. Plan your work

Most people downplay the importance of planning their work. Planning helps you to place enough emphasis on every part of the process leading to the work itself. In writing a critical essay, you are given a piece of writing or a piece of art. You have to allocate time for the study of the material given, time for putting notes together, and finally, time for writing and editing the work. The important point to note is that good planning makes the writing process go really smoothly.

3. Take notes

When you are critically analyzing a piece of work, it is important to break up the work into sizable chunks and take notes of each of the segments. If the original piece is a piece of writing, getting your ideas together and arranging them nicely is a good place to begin. These notes should come out after a period of constantly studying the piece of material you have been given. Read through several times, check out all the references made, and read them through too. At the end of the day, your aim is to have a solid idea of whatever it is you are writing about.

Write down all the areas you take note of as you read, highlight some of them, and use the notes to form the first framework of your critical essay. This first framework is necessary because you can easily determine the direction of your writing using this first draft. You could even present this draft to someone who can help you to organize your ideas better, resulting in a great chunk of essay help.

4. Start writing: write a little everyday

When you begin the actual writing process, you can be overwhelmed about how much you need to cover in a short time. It feels less overwhelming when you take your time to write a few sentences or a paragraph each day, guided by the notes you have made. In writing, apart from your notes, it is important that the original material you are critiquing is close by so that you can always refer to it incase you missed something important in the notes you made.

Once you have your guidelines and your notes, you should not be worried about losing your train of thought. The best essays are written over a period of time because burnout is usually avoided in such writings.

5. Every essay has a structure

Structuring your work as you write is of the utmost importance. Every essay has a structure that you should follow in order for the essay to be of relevance. The general order for the writing to take is the introduction, body and conclusion order. However, what is written in the introduction, the body and the conclusion is based heavily on what type of essay you are writing.

The introduction should tell of what the writing is about. For essays that are critical, the introduction usually bears the title of the piece being critiqued, the author and then an interesting hook that catches the eye of the reader. The introduction does not need to be very long. It should just capture the necessary information and give way for the body to begin.

The body of the essay is the seat of all the ideas gotten from the critique of the original work. Each of these ideas should be placed into paragraphs and explained further. Preferably, you should leave one paragraph to one point, yet make use of transition words to enable your writing to be coherent.

When it comes to writing your conclusion, you should deduce the main idea gotten from your critique and summarize it. Summarize also each of the points put across. Never introduce a new idea into your conclusion as it may require further explanation, defeating the purpose of a conclusion.

On essay structure and guidelines, the teacher giving you the assignment has a specific outline that they want you to follow. Be careful to read a little bit about the outline and follow it strictly. That way, you are sure to please your professor an have good grades. Always follow the principles and guidelines given and never go off on your own to write without any proper guidelines.

6. Read over your work

A critical essay writing results in several points being brought up. Never hand in your work without reading it through. Sometimes, read out your work loudly so that you can easily spot mistakes that you have made as you write. Take your work through a grammar check for those little mistakes you might have missed, and take the time to check for plagiarism too to avoid any conflicts. If these steps are taken well, your piece of writing should be ready for submission in good time, and you would be confident about a good work done.

Your essay writing should result in your readers being schooled on what material you are studying. Always remember to start writing on time, explain your ideas clearly and coherently, and read over your work. This is the best way to result in a well written essay.