Academic life is all about completing assignments, essays, and coursework. Apart from all, essays are the most frequent ones that students receive. The word ‘essay‘ is derived from a Latin word ‘exagium’ which simply means presenting one’s case. An essay is basically a short piece of writing that presents one’s arguments, ideas, or experiences; an essay’s word count can range from 500 words to 5000+ words; it all depends on the type of essay you are writing. There are different types of essay that you shall know before writing an essay.
Essays are assigned to assess the writing capability of a student; essays can be of any subject ranging from biology essays to law essays, etc. Because of the difficult subject, students can often not complete their essays and therefore look for an essay writing service UK. However, if you are confident that you can write your essay yourself, then you must understand the different types of essays.
There are a dozen types of essay which are almost impossible to remember. However, there are only 4 major types of essays which you can find in this article.
Why Is Essay Writing Important?
Essay writing is important, and the teachers assign essays because of the following reasons:
- Writing an essay improves your writing skills
- It increases understanding of the subject
- It enables your professor to assess your overall progress in the course.
- It helps you gain research skills
- It improves your analytics and thinking skills
- It improves communication skills
Types Of Essay:
There are four major types of essays:
- Narrative Essays
- Descriptive Essays
- Persuasive/ Argumentative Essays
- Expository Essays
1) Narrative Essays:
A narrative essay is a personal piece of writing in which the writer tells about a real-life experience. The narrative essays are usually written in the first person form so that the readers get engaged. Along with other types of essay, narrative essays are among the most important and most written types of essays.
When writing a narrative essay, you shall include emotional details so that the reader gets involved in your story. Example of a narrative essay:
A Ticket To The Fair By David Foster Wallace
“Today is Press Day at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, and I’m supposed to be at the fairgrounds by 9:00 A.M. to get my credentials. I imagine credentials to be a small white card in the band of a fedora. I’ve never been considered press before. My real interest in credentials is getting into rides and shows for free. I’m fresh in from the East Coast, for an East Coast magazine. Why exactly they’re interested in the Illinois State Fair remains unclear to me.
I suspect that every so often editors at East Coast magazines slap their foreheads and remember that about 90 percent of the United States lies between the coasts, and figure they’ll engage somebody to do pith-helmeted anthropological reporting on something rural and heartlandish. I think they asked me to do this because I grew up here, just a couple hours’ drive from downstate Springfield. I never did go to the state fair, though—I pretty much topped out at the county fair level. Actually, I haven’t been back to Illinois for a long time, and I can’t say I’ve missed it.”
2) Descriptive Essays:
As the name suggests, descriptive essays are the ones in which you describe details of a specific individual, object, or event. They are another main type of essay in which you paint a picture with your words. When writing a descriptive essay, you have to use the language very efficiently, i.e. including adjectives, metaphors, and similes.
The main aim of a descriptive essay is to involve the reader so that the reader can experience it the same way you experienced it. The topics of a descriptive essay can be like: A place where you love to spend your time, describe an object that has a special place in your heart, describe what it might be like to live in another country or planet, etc. Example of a descriptive essay:
“I watched a thunderstorm, far out over the sea. It began quietly, and with nothing visible except tall dark clouds and a rolling tide. There was just a soft murmur of thunder as I watched the horizon from my balcony. Over the next few minutes, the clouds closed and reflected lightning set the rippling ocean aglow. The thunderheads had covered up the sun, shadowing the vista. It was peaceful for a long time.
I was looking up when the first clear thunderbolt struck. It blazed against the sky and sea; I could see its shape in perfect reverse colors when I blinked. More followed. The thunder rumbled and stuttered as if it could hardly keep up. There were openings in the cloud now, as if the sky were torn, and spots of brilliant blue shone above the shadowed sea”.
3) Persuasive/ Argumentative Essays:
These types of essay are the most difficult to write since you have to prove your argument based on some facts or evidence. It requires a strong thesis statement; the goal of this essay is to convince the reader about your argument using evidence and facts. This type of essay demands extensive research because you have to support your argument based on that research. Example of an argumentative essay:
“Gun control has been a controversial issue for years. A vast majority of citizens believe that if gun control is strictly enforced, it would quickly reduce the threat of crime. Many innocent people feel they have the right to bear arms for protection, or even for the pleasure of hunting. These people are penalized for protecting their lives, or even for enjoying a common, innocent sport. To enforce gun control throughout the nation means violating a person’s Constitutional rights. Although some people feel that the issue of gun control will limit crime, the issue should not exist due to the fact that guns are necessary for self-defense against crime, and enforcing gun control is violating a citizen’s second amendment right to bear arms.”
4) Expository Essays:
Expository essays are just the facts and provide a detailed explanation of a topic. They are the most common type of essays in which a writer explains a topic using facts, data, and examples. Example of an expository essay:
Explain how the invention of the printing press changed European society in the 15th century
“The invention of the printing press in 1440 changed this situation dramatically. Johannes Gutenberg, who had worked as a goldsmith, used his knowledge of metals in the design of the press. He made his type from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony, whose durability allowed for the reliable production of high-quality books. This new technology allowed texts to be reproduced and disseminated on a much larger scale than was previously possible. The Gutenberg Bible appeared in the 1450s, and a large number of printing presses sprang up across the continent in the following decades. Gutenberg’s invention rapidly transformed cultural production in Europe; among other things, it would lead to the Protestant Reformation.”
What Are The Parts Of An Essay?
Apart from knowing the types of essay, you shall also know the parts of an essay:
- Introduction: This section provides an insight about the essay to the reader. The main purpose of this section is to provide the reader with a brief overview of the essay; this section must be attention-grabbing.
- Body: It explains the topic in detail.
- Conclusion: This section includes the summary and should wrap up all the points and arguments.
How To Know What Type Of Essay To Write?
When the teachers assign you an essay, you don’t know what type of essay it is; however, you can identify it by looking at the keywords. For example, the word “explain” means that you to have write an expository essay, the word “describe” means descriptive essays while the word “assess” or “argue” means argumentative essay.
Essential Tips For Writing An Essay:
After identifying different types of essay you must know the essential tips to craft a perfect essay. Below are some essential tips for writing an essay:
- Finalize an attention-grabbing title so that reader has a curiosity to read your essay.
- Keep the essay length according to the type of essay.
- Don’t use complicated words.
- Proofread your essay multiple times so that there is no grammar error; if you don’t have time to write and proofread your essay, ask someone to do my essay.
- Before starting, keep a rough draft in your mind.
Final Words:
You can see how an essay is an important part of your academic life in the article above. Therefore, you must know the different types of essay since every type of essay has a distinct purpose. Essay writing is something that will always stay in your life, so you should always know how to write an essay.
