Major Types of Academic Essays

Though essays today have become the most staple diet for every academic work, many of us are still not aware of its myriad variations and types in consideration to its prominent features and characteristics. Well, different types of essays do exist in academics; each of them tends to serve a different purpose depending upon their varied qualities and features. Their goals define their related features and aspects, beginning from the structure of ideas to overall arguments and its presentation.

This blog offers a critical study on some of the most common types of essay formats for writing in global academia. Here’s a list of some that you might have to encounter in your writing-

• Narrative essays
• Descriptive essays
• Persuasive or Argumentative essays
• Reflection essays
• Compare/Contrast essays

Each of the essay types possesses unique qualities and features that necessitate its working as per the academic use and requirement. Let us now delve a bit deeper into this concept, getting to know more about their specific subtleties.

Narrative essays

As the name itself suggests, this type of essay narrates a story or event to its audience. Writers here try to weave a story around their concept, building a suitable experience or tour that is found remarkable in the eyes of storytelling.

• Try to make a point out of your story and consider the purpose of your story as your central theme for better interception.
• Use eye-catchy words and phrases to grab the attention of your readers. You can also make use of attractive literary devices to engage your readers with your content.
• It is always advised that you mention the chronology of your events in a proper sequence. You can use flashbacks in case you want to refer to some past events, or you can foreshadow the probable future to make things sound interesting and attractive.
• Make sure that you choose a specific point of view to narrate your story to the audience, or else you’ll end up creating confusion in the minds of your readers.

Descriptive essays

This is where you appeal to the readers’ senses through in-depth descriptions of an event, entity or environment. Detailed characterizations, vivid descriptions, and meticulous details of the event are the trademark of an excellent essay.

• ‘Don’t just tell but show,’ here you can use appropriate identifiers and adjectives to help readers visualize your content.
• In order to build the right kind of atmosphere for your audience, you must first create a perfectly-built description for them. You can make use of words that help galvanize the theory and imagination of your audience.
• By adding sensory details, you try to reproduce your imagination to the paper. This will also create engagement among the audiences with the sensory aspect.

Persuasive or Argumentative essays

The only purpose of this essay is to convince the readers about the writer’s point of view.

• Begin with an exciting introduction to your essay that goes a long way in impressing your readers about your content.
• A proper thesis statement to your essay will surely help organize your ideas effectively under a single aspect.
• You can use appropriate arguments with ample amount of evidence for your content, as this will help support the idea of your theory.
• You can either end it with a prediction or ask a question or go for the recommendation section to make people think about your content and its theme.

Reflection essays

These type of essays are marked to be a person’s contemplation of a particular thing or object.

• You must deliver a brief analysis of the topic, before moving onto explaining the facts about what you think.
• Try to make your reflections look a bit critical and convincing by providing in-depth studies.
• Retrospection is the only mere key to reflection. So try to relate all those how, when, what and why concepts to your own thoughts and opinions.

Compare/Contrast essays

This type of essay revolves around a central theme or subject. Here, writers are told to analyze different literature pieces in reference to their own content and theme. This will help them bring light to various concepts and perspectives to their own content.

• You must provide a solid thesis statement to your content, as this offers a much-needed direction to your essay, bringing logical connections to the inter-twining notes or overlapping information.
• It is important that you include a topic paragraph to your essay. They help establish the overarching theme of your content.
• Provide enough evidence to your theory or refute arguments that are crucial to your content.
• You must analyze your literature with a neutral perspective. This tends to enhance the credibility of your content and its composition.

So these were some of the essential aspects of different essay formats that are required for academic writing. Students must consider them well before actually initiating it to their projections. Apart from this, if you require any kind of academic help for your university assignments or projects, feel free to contact our online essay writing services for professional help and guidance.