Welcome to our guide on types of essays! In this post, we will be breaking down the different types of essays and explaining each one in detail. Whether you are a student looking to improve your writing skills or a professional looking to brush up on your knowledge, this guide will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the different types of essays and when to use them. From persuasive essays to descriptive essays, we will cover it all. So, let’s get started!
Table of Contents
What are the types of essays?
While there are many types of essays, they can broadly be categorized into five groups, including:
- Narrative Essays: These essays tell a story and are usually written in the first person. They are often used to convey a personal experience or to illustrate a point.
- Descriptive Essays: These essays focus on describing a person, place, or object. They use sensory details and imagery to create a vivid picture in the reader’s mind.
- Expository Essays: These essays provide an explanation or information about a specific topic. They are often used to inform or educate the reader on a particular subject.
- Persuasive Essays: These essays aim to convince the reader to accept the writer’s point of view or to take a specific action. They use logical arguments, evidence, and rhetoric to make their case.
- Argumentative Essays: These essays present a clear thesis or claim and use evidence and reasoning to support it. They often address controversial or debatable subjects and aim to persuade the reader to accept the writer’s point of view. They are similar to persuasive essays but generally require more research and evidence to support the argument.
The main types of essays can be grouped into four categories: Narrative, Descriptive, Expository and Persuasive/Argumentative. Narrative essays are similar to stories, they tell a story and are written in the first person while descriptive essays focus on describing a person, place, or object by using sensory details and imagery.
Expository essays provide information and explanation about a specific topic and are used to inform or educate the reader. Persuasive and Argumentative essays are similar in that they both aim to convince the reader to accept the writer’s point of view or take a specific action, but Argumentative essays tend to be more evidence-based and require more research.
More About The Different Types Of Essays
When it comes to writing essays, many people can find it challenging to determine the appropriate approach to take. To effectively tackle each type of essay, it is crucial to first gain a comprehensive understanding of what each essay type entails. In this guide, we will provide you with a brief overview of the different types of essays and their distinct characteristics.
By familiarizing yourself with the purpose and structure of each type, you will be better equipped to select the appropriate approach for your specific assignment. Whether you are tasked with writing a narrative essay, descriptive essay, expository essay, persuasive essay, or argumentative essay, this guide will provide you with the information you need to succeed.
Argumentative Essays
In an argumentative essay, the writer presents a clear and evidence-based argument to persuade the reader to accept their point of view. The success of the essay heavily relies on the thesis statement, which presents the writer’s stance on the topic. The thesis statement should be clear and concise, providing a roadmap for the rest of the essay. The writer must use research and evidence to support their argument and may present counterarguments and refute them.
Argumentative essays are a type of writing in which the writer presents a clear thesis or claim and uses evidence and reasoning to support it. These essays are often used to address controversial or debatable subjects and aim to persuade the reader to accept the writer’s point of view.
Argumentative essays require a significant amount of research and evidence to support the argument. The writer must present both sides of the argument, but ultimately must provide a clear stance and support it with evidence. The structure of an argumentative essay typically includes an introduction, several body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
In the introduction, the writer presents the topic and thesis statement. In the body paragraphs, the writer presents evidence and reasoning to support the thesis. The conclusion restates the thesis and summarizes the main points.
It is important for argumentative essays to be well-organized and logical, as the writer is trying to persuade the reader, who may have a different point of view.
Considering argumentative essay is among the most common types of essays you will be required to write at college, it’s best to practice it at every available opportunity.
Remember, an argumentative essay is clearly divided into an introduction, body, and conclusion. You have to present a strong thesis statement in your introduction. The body will include your evidence and arguments. And in conclusion, you have to summarize your argument and reinforce your viewpoint.
Expository Essays
In these essays, you are required to present a focused and clear explanation of the given topic. You don’t have to include any argument. Simply write a well-balanced description of the topic.
The purpose of expository essays is to gauge how familiar you are with a given topic. At the same time, the essay will determine your ability to present information in a clear and precise manner. Typically, expository essays are a part of high school academics. You might be expected to write expository essays at the college level too.
In your introduction of the expository essay, you have to define your topic and provide background information briefly. The body will contain all the details, while the conclusion will summarize your presented information.
Narrative Essays
The name explains it all. A narrative essay is one wherein you tell a story. The story could be anything, a personal experience, or even a completely imaginative and fictional piece of writing.
With narrative essays, your ability to present an engaging and well-structured narrative is judged. Naturally, you have to exhibit your creative side with this one, contrary to argumentative and expository essays where it was all about presenting information you find.
Your narrative essay writing skills will come in handy when you have to write a personal statement for applications. Interestingly narrative essays don’t have a well-demarcated introduction, body, or conclusion.
You begin by setting up a narrative and end up summarizing your experience, explaining what you learned from it.
Descriptive Essays
In descriptive essays, you have to present a detailed description of something. You can be creative in this one, as it’s up to you to decide how to describe the event. But you have to keep it focused and to the point.
The purpose of descriptive essays is to judge your ability to use language creatively. A well-crafted descriptive essay contains striking words. You have to ensure the readers get a memorable picture of the event, place, or object you are describing.
You don’t really have to follow a standard structure for descriptive essays. Of course, you have to start by introducing the topic of your description and conclude by drawing a general picture of it. But ultimately, descriptive essays are all about using words to describe something perfectly and elaborately.
Textual Analysis Essays
Now that we are done with the standard essay types, let’s go to something more advanced. Textual analysis essays are meant to determine your ability to read the given material carefully and critically.
You don’t have to merely write about the topic but analyze the text to shed light on its purpose and effects.
Rhetorical Analysis
This one’s another complicated essay type. In this case, you have to analyze a persuasive text using the rhetoric devices it contains. And you have to decide their effectiveness too.
You don’t have to share your views about the author’s argument. Instead, you have to discuss how the argument is constructed.
Understanding The Requirements Of All Types Of Essays
We are just getting started. You will come across many types of essays, including literary analysis and so much more. It can be tricky to determine how to begin your essay if you don’t understand its purpose. Keep in mind that every essay type has particular criteria. Some are meant to judge your critical skills, while others merely determine how well you can play with words.
Once you grasp what’s expected of you, it will become a whole lot easier to create a well-defined essay. Typically, during your academic years, you will be required to write argumentative and descriptive essays.
Analytical essays are more common at university levels. Usually, you will be given clear instructions about the type of essay you are expected to write. However, don’t be surprised if you are merely given prompts. The prompts will contain clues that will enable you to determine how to approach the given topic.
Whatever the type of essay is, the purpose is to use words to present your ideas, arguments, facts, or stories. Once you polish your writing skills, writing every type of essay will be a breeze for you.
The Deadline
Naturally, your academic papers have to be submitted on time if you don’t want your grades to suffer. Sometimes, professors give months to complete an essay, while others have to be submitted within hours.
If you want a paper to be written within hours, you have to be prepared to pay accordingly as well. Keep in mind that the writer will have to put other duties on the backburner to complete your paper within the deadline. Writing an essay within a short time frame is definitely challenging. Therefore, he deserves good compensation for his hard work.
Additionally, with short time frames, the risk of making mistakes and errors increases. Hence, you should only get an expert for such deadlines, which inadvertently will increase the cost.
Similarly, if you give a writer a few weeks to complete the paper, they have the time to research and provide you with content devoid of errors. Hence, you can pay the average rate for this one. And if you are giving them a month, the cost reduces even more.
The Complexity Of The Paper
The pricing of essay writing services also depends on your level of study. For instance, writing essays for undergraduate degrees and college-level diploma costs less compared to master’s level projects.
It all comes down to the amount of research the writer will have to do to write your paper. Master-level projects are pretty time-consuming, not to mention tedious. And, of course, you would want the paper to appear well-written and professional. Hence, you will have to pay the writer accordingly for his time and effort.
There’s more. While some essays are pretty easy to write, others are challenging to construct. If you have someone write an essay for topics easily researchable with plenty of accessible material available, you can get their services at a lower rate.
However, if the essays are complex and require extensive research, requiring the writer to provide accurate facts with no errors, the cost will definitely increase.
Editing Or Writing
You don’t always have to hire someone to write the essay for you. Perhaps you have written the whole thing and just want to make it more crisp and clear. In this case, you can pay someone to edit your existing work, which will cost you less.
In the case of editing, the writer does not have to do any research. He will remove the grammatical and spelling errors and make your sentences more well-written and proper.
Since editing requires less effort, you are expected to pay a lesser amount. Writing from scratch is always time-consuming. There’s research involved. And the writer has to align the details properly. Hence, the cost of writing is always more.
Remember, the cost you have to pay depends on the effort the other person is putting in for your paper.
Spacing And Word Count
As you must have noticed, we mentioned the average cost of writing the essay per page. But what if you want the essay to be in a single-spacing format? In this case, the cost per page will increase. This is because the single-spaced page will use the same amount of words as two double-spaced pages. The total word count you expect the writers to write influences how much you will have to pay them.
Quality Matters Over Cost
It’s pretty easy to find cheap essay writing services. But they do more harm than good. Places that offer less than average rates for their services almost always produce subpar work. Surely, you wouldn’t want to submit papers with grammatical errors or factually incorrect information.
Therefore, while we don’t expect you to pay through the nose for essay writing services, we definitely advise you to be realistic while deciding on the budget. Don’t compromise on quality to save a bit of money. This will backfire and land you in more trouble.
Quality essay writing services might cost you a little more, but in the end, they prove to be worth your money.
