Main Types Of Essays In Academic Writing: Key Features

Essay writing is one of the important parts of anyone’s academic journey. Students have to learn and develop their writing skills to draft a good piece that delivers and fulfills their academic requirements.
But with the advancements in the learning process, students have more on their plates, and new ways of learning also change how we write and perceive essays.
Essay writing has evolved and is categorized in different forms and types. These specific types provide an in-depth reflection of the writer’s views and show how the writer explains and expresses the given topic. There are five main essay types; each has its way of writing and explaining the provided topics.
Essay Types:
Essay types help the writers to explain their topics in a more focused and refined way. The writer also benefits from these types as they help them curate a more effective piece of writing.
However, many resources are available if students or writers find it hard to write a specific type of essay. Students can also take help from an Essay Helper who can help you with their essay writing with their expertise. You can also get benefit from their other outstanding services.
Five main essay types are usually assigned to students and are common in their academic careers.
- Expository
- Argumentative
- Persuasive
- Descriptive
- Narrative
Expository Essay:
An expository essay generally focuses on explaining a topic provided to the students. Writing a balanced, organized, and structured topic view requires writing. Expository writing tests the student’s ability to write in an organized way with a good, focused topic explanation.
The structure of expository writing is the same that is introduction, body, and conclusion. The introduction includes the introductory lines, a brief explanation of the topic, and the writer’s view, which is explained later in the essay. The body has all the detailed explanations and transitions between paragraphs, and in the end, the conclusion presents the summarized view with the writer’s findings and final verdict.
Argumentative Essay:
Argumentative writing involves investigating the provided topic and deriving a conclusion from collecting all the evidence and evaluating them. These traits promote in-depth analysis and develop a critical analysis of a certain topic among the students.
Extensive research and investigative approach are a prerequisite of argumentative writing; sometimes, it also requires empirical investigation of different surveys, journals, interviews, or observations; it helps the students or writers understand different viewpoints about a certain topic and help them understand different, the unbiased approach more effective and is the key in argumentative assignments.
Important Note: Sometimes expository and argumentative essays are considered the same, but they are not; argumentative writing involves extensive research and is more of a final year project or thesis, whereas expository assignments are less research-focused and provide a general point of view and are more of regular class assignments.
Persuasive Essay:
Persuasive writing provides a more focused and to-the-point explanation of the topic. It is the opposite of the expository essay, where a generalized view of a topic is presented. Persuasive assignments let the students or writers present their opinion in a more focused environment; the writer attempt to persuade their readers about a certain topic.
The structure remains the same in all essay types, introduction, body, and conclusion. The body is where all the persuasion occurs, followed by the conclusion, which presents the concise view of the whole writing.
Descriptive Essay:
Descriptive genre explains or describes a certain topic; it can be a person, an object, a place, or anything specific. This type of essay doesn’t explain the topic but focuses more on describing something; this descriptive nature makes it different from the expository one. For example, if the topic is High school, then a descriptive Essay will focus on one aspect of high school: high school students, teachers, chairs, or cafeteria.
The introduction pictures the topic in general, whereas the body presents the logical explanation of a certain aspect of the topic. The language and tone of the essay may vary depending upon the target audience. Use a tone or language that appeals to and is liked by the readers.
Narrative Essay:
Narrative writing is quite similar to story writing; it has all the ingredients of a story, and it may include emotional or insightful aspects of the given topic. The writer can narrate or write in the first person; all the rules of this type include all the story writing traits like introduction, characters, plots or body, and climax or conclusion.
If the narrative assignment comprises a book report, it may not follow the story outlines; moreover, it must be impersonal and unemotional if the narrative is informative. Few important things to keep in mind first-person narration is not mandatory but is welcomed; keep your point of same don’t switch between statements. It’s more of fiction because it explains one own view in a story form rather than scientific facts.
Conclusion:
An essay is an important part of academics, especially for high school and college students. They are of multiple types according to the nature and requirement of the topic. All these essay genres have their specific writing criteria. In today’s world, there are a lot of resources that help draft a good essay for you.