Types of Essays

Essay as a form of literature is highly personal by nature because the author expresses his personal ideas and opinions on some topic. There are not strict rule of writing essays. However, every essay has its introduction, body and end.

Essays are divided into different types such as descriptive, narrative, argumentative, and expository essays.

Narrative essays are also known as personal narratives. Narrative essays have the following characteristics:

1. It tells about true or imagined events that the writer has experienced.
2. It is written from the first person (I, we) point of view.
3. It mentions the time, place and the people involved.
4. It describes the events in order in which they happened.
5. It indicates the writer’s feeling about the experience

Descriptive Essay is an important tool for all writers. It is equally effective in works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. By using well-chosen words, the writer can introduce readers to people places, and things that they have never encountered before a descriptive writing has three characteristics:

1. It describes a particular person, place or thing.
2. It usually includes a description of one or more of the five senses: Sight, sound, taste, touch and smell.

• It presents images through the use of words.

Expository essays inform an audience by presenting information and explaining concepts and ideas. It involves examining a subject by breaking it down its parts, examining these parts, and showing how they relate to one another. The characteristics of such types of essays are as follows:

1. An expository writing explains a sequence of events.
2. It explains how one event or action causes the other things to happen.

• It divides the topic into categories.

1. It explains the meaning or the term of an idea.
2. It explains by pointing out similarities and differences between items.

Persuasive or argumentative essays are written for persuasion – which means convincing the readers of the arguments or logic the writers put forward. One may use humor and satire in such an essay. A persuasive essay:

1. Makes a case for the importance of the particular influence on personal or cultural identity.
2. Supports a clear thesis with appropriate evidence.

• Contains no errors in logic.

1. Uses of anecdote or illustration.
2. Uses humor effectively.
3. Follows current grammar usage, mechanics and spelling.

To conclude, an essay is also a powerful means of language learning. It is a form of literature. Essays can be of different types on the basis of the nature of writing such as narrative descriptive, argumentative and expository.