Writing essays is quite popular in colleges, and several students are given this assignment often. Assessors, especially the professors, employ essays to gauge how well the students grasp the lessons and how best they can explain them. As in any other academic curriculum, there are various kinds of essays that students may be required to prepare. Here are 8 of the most common types of essays assigned in college courses:
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Argumentative Essay
An argumentative essay is defensive because the writer tries to persuade the readers to accept his or her point of view on a given subject matter. An essay uses a specific tone to convince the reader that a particular viewpoint is correct and then proceeds to back up that viewpoint with facts, research, personal experience, and quotes from other people. Sample topics for an argumentative essay involve guns and the possibility of regulating them, abortions, the death penalty, legalizing marijuana, censorship of media, rights of animals, mercy killings, and many more.
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Analytical Essay
Analyzing means looking at something in detail to see how it is made and put together; an analytical essay is a type of essay where the writer takes a subject and then examines it so that he/she can see how it works and how it is constructed. This will help achieve the general objective of increasing knowledge on the topic under discussion. Material for the topic can be taken from poems, stories, films, articles, experiments, and issues.
This should be followed by an argument section where the writer should present the thesis statement outlining the central conclusion/interpretation of the analysis. To support that interpretation, body paragraphs present evidence in the form of context, comparison, statistic, opinion, or an account of another individual or entity. A conclusion is the final point of the analysis that provides an understanding of what was found in the process.
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Expository Essay
By definition, expository essays give a description or clarification of a particular concept, idea, process, issue, or piece of artwork using facts, figures, illustrations, and opinions from other reliable sources. Through increasing the reader’s knowledge and understanding of the topic, expository essays help demonstrate its definition and characteristics.
Like many other essays, even an expository essay comprises an introduction, a body part, and a conclusion. This form indicates the overall idea of the essay to be explained in the thesis statement. An individual body paragraph addresses one supporting detail of the reasoning. Transitions help to establish links between pieces of information, and the conclusion helps to recap the salient points.
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Descriptive Essay
Descriptive writing, on the other hand, incorporates techniques such as the use of the five senses when describing a place, a person, an event, a memory, or any subject matter. Through the senses, descriptive essays take the reader into the subject and offer enough information to understand it further.
The essay must leave the reader with a particular impression, emotion, or attitude, and the thesis should state this. Body paragraph’s texture uses a lot of sensory details to capture aspects such as looks, sounds, smells, and even the feel of objects regarding that particular subject. It gives the final idea to end the information or concept being discussed and creates an impression in the readers’ minds.
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Narrative Essay
A narrative essay is an essay that aims to explain a story, often from a writer’s personal point of view. Unlike expository writing, narrative essays feature scenes, plots, characters, and a setting that possess a beginning, middle, and end as a way of capturing the reader’s attention. Segment 2 – Good topics to tell are those that revolve around personal struggles and triumphs, traveling experiences, past experiences, and moments of change.
It is also essential to make sure that characters and settings are introduced first, as is done in the essay. The body can be written in the format of division into scenes, like in a novel or a play. It is noteworthy to mention that dialogue, as well as thoughts, make it possible to reveal events and actions.
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Cause and Effect Essay
Cause and effect papers involve identification of causes that resulted in an event, and effects that are as a result of the event. Subjects in the area concerning such areas as impacts of pollution, effects of deforestation, causes of seasonal change, effects of eating disorders, or effects of exercise make interesting subject areas.
These are argumentative essays that have a specific topic that has been formulated in a thesis statement with the leading cause or effect highlighted. They address primary concerns and relate significant effects/consequences of the general subject.
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Compare and Contrast Essay
As suggested by the names, compare and contrast essays are meant to establish the similarities and differences between two objects, including concepts, occurrences, artworks, or individuals. Some topics for comparative analysis writing involve art movements, genres, time periods, books, theories, cultures, and many others.
The essay begins with the writer making a statement about two issues, objects, or phenomena, which form the heads of the comparison, for instance, two works of art or two political strategies. In body paragraphs, the writer indicates how the subject being discussed is similar or different from a particular topic with examples and reasons given in support of the observations. Comparative analysis essays end with a summary of the data, discussion of the main points, and restatement of the thesis.
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Persuasive Essay
Persuasive essays aim to change the mind of the reader or to persuade the reader to act in a particular way. They support a specific view or put forward a policy or plan. Issues such as the banning of plastic bags, providing equal focus to mental health as physical health, voting age reduction, and various other debatable problems form the basis of exciting topics.
These essays are argumentative as they have a clear position presented in the thesis that begins with what should or should not occur in relation to the subject. This will involve the use of principles such as statistics, examples, opinions of authorities, and facts that support that position in body paragraphs.
Conclusion
In the context of college education, different essays are used to evaluate the students and their understanding of the content covered in class. Despite the slight similarities in the general areas of an essay, most of the essays, irrespective of the location of specialization, require at least the following areas of an essay: Thesis statement, introduction, body part, supporting arguments, and conclusion. The eight kinds of essays described above are the general categories of essays that the student meets in his or her college. It is for this reason that mastery of these essay formats aids students in writing papers that conform to their instructor’s expectations. Drawing from their experience, learners develop critical college proficiency in writing an academic essay.
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