Types of Essays

There are four main types of Essays:

1- Narrative Essay
2- Descriptive Essay
3- Expository Essay
4- Persuasive (Argumentative ) Essay
 1- Narrative Essay

A narrative essay is a way of testing your

ability to tell a story in a clear and
interesting way.
 2- Descriptive Essay

A descriptive essay puts a picture in your

head.

In descriptive essay, the writer must describe

the place, object, or feeling so well that the
reader can picture it in his or her mind.
 3- Expository Essay
Expository Essay explains or describes something.
It provides a clear, focused explanation of a
particular topic, process, or set of ideas.
Expository essay is usually short assignments
intended to test your composition skills or your
understanding of a subject. 
4- Persuasive (Argumentative)Essay

An argumentative essay is a piece of writing

that attempts to convince the readers that the
author’s idea is true.   A writer should do a
thorough research; gather accurate facts and
figures before writing an argumentative essay. 
 While in persuasive essay,

It is an attempts to convince the readers to agree with

author’s ideas. In this type of essay, the writer can use his
own ideas, opinions in order to convince them to agree to
his opinion. A writer of a persuasive essay needs to do
research, gather evidence, but a clever writer can create a
successful essay without knowing much. This is because; a
persuasive writing appeals more to reader’s emotions rather
than minds. 
 Other Types of Essays
Whilst there are four main types of
Essays, there are some more, less
common types. Despite not being within
the main four, these types of essays are
still important and each serve their own
purpose.
 We are going to take a look at each of these
essays and pay attention to the underlined

1- Definition Essays 6- Cause and Effect

2- Simple Essays
3- Rhetoric Analysis Essays
4- Analytical Essays
5- Compare and Contrast
Essays
Essays
7- Process Essays
8- Synthesis Essays
9- Review Essays
10- Research Essays
11- Critical Essays
 The Structure of an Essay
Today, you will learn about
■The Definition of an Essay
■Three Parts of an Essay
■The Introductory Paragraph
■The Main Body
■The Conclusion
■Transitions between paragraphs
 What is an Essay?

An Essay is a group of paragraphs about a

single topic and a central main idea. It must
have at least three paragraphs, but a five-
paragraph essay is a common length for
academic writing.
 The Structure of an Essay

1- The Introduction
This is the first paragraph of an essay. It
explains the topic with general ideas. It also
has a thesis statement.
 What is a thesis statement?

The thesis statement is the sentence that tells

the main idea of the whole essay. It can be
compared to a topic sentence, which gives the
main idea of a paragraph. It usually comes at or
near the end of the introductory paragraph.
The Introductory paragraph has
two Functions

1- It attracts the readers’ interest.

2- It introduces the topic of the essay.
 The Main Body

These are the paragraphs that explain and

support the thesis statement and come
between the introduction and the conclusion.
There must be one or more paragraphs in the
main body of an essay.
 The Conclusion

This is the last paragraph of an essay. It

summarizes or restates the thesis and
supporting ideas of the essay
 Comparison and Contrast
Essays

WHAT IS A COMPARISON AND

CONTRAST ESSAY?

A comparison and contrast essay focuses on how two

items or texts are similar, different, or similar in some
ways and different in others. You can compare and
contrast any number of items including theories, events,
books, or people.
 How do you organize a comparison
and contrast essay?

There are two ways to organize a comparison

and contrast essay.

The first (and often the clearest) method is the

Point-by-Point method.
 POINT-BY-POINT METHOD
The Point-by-Point method alternates arguments about the two
items (A and B) that you are comparing and/or contrasting. The
pattern is as follows:
● Point 1 - discuss A
● Point 1 - discuss B
● Discussion about overall links between A and B
● Point 2 – discuss A
● Point 2 - discuss B
● Discussion about overall links between A and B
● Etc.
This method is often easier for a reader to follow
because similarities and differences are more
obvious when placed next to each other. For this
reason, writers generally use this method for
longer essays.
 POINT-BY-POINT METHOD
OUTLINE EXAMPLE:

Thesis: John Stewart Mill and Michael

Bakunin both support three of the basic
principles of democracy (government by the
people, tolerance, and equality); however,
they support them to different degrees and
for different reasons.
POINT 1 Paragraph 1: Mill believes that the majority makes moral decisions.
Paragraph 2: Bakunin believes that public opinion should be the basis of
society’s decisions, which is slightly different than Mill’s understanding of a
moral majority.
POINT 2 Paragraph 3: Mill argues that complete open-mindedness always
benefits society.
Paragraph 4: Unlike Mill, Bakunin allows freedom of expression to be
limited by public opinion.
POINT 3 Paragraph 5: Mill claims that we are all equal because mere accident
determines what worldview we are born into.
Paragraph 6: As with Mill, Bakunin extends equality to all and embraces
diversity.
 BLOCK METHOD
The Block Method presents all arguments related to A,
and then compares and/or contrasts them to all arguments
related to B. This style is a little bit more difficult to use
because there is so much space between points about A
and points about B; however, it can be useful for shorter
assignments. The pattern is as follows:
● Point 1 about A
● Point 2 about A
● Etc

● Point 1 about B (with discussion about

connections to A)
● Point 2 about B (with discussion about
connections to A)
● Etc.
 Pointer: Make sure to present your points in the
same order for A and B!

There are a couple of common problems that students run into using this
method:
● A lot of students end up simply listing everything about A and then
everything about B without actually making connections between them.

● Students may include the connections in one paragraph towards the end of
the essay. Since your whole essay is supposed to make these connections, you
won’t be completing the assignment if you don’t include the comparisons
throughout.

To avoid these problems with this structure, make sure to include lots of
transitional statements when discussing B, such as “In the same way” or “In
contrast to”. This will help your reader to remember information about A, and
to understand how A and B are related to each other.
 BLOCK METHOD OUTLINE EXAMPLE:
Thesis: Same as in Point-by-Point Method Outline

PART 1 Point 1: Mill believes that the majority makes moral decisions.
Point 2: Mill argues that complete open-mindedness always benefits
society.
Point 3: Mill claims that we are all equal because mere accident determines
what worldview we are born into.
PART 2 Point 1: Bakunin believes that public opinion should be the basis of
society’s decisions, which is slightly different than Mill’s understanding of a
moral majority.
Point 2: Unlike Mill, Bakunin allows freedom of expression to be limited by
public opinion.
Point 3: As with Mill, Bakunin extends equality to all and embraces
diversity.
In task 1 in IELTS Writing modules, you may be asked to interpret
and describe data presented in graph form.

There are three basic types of graphs:

1- Pie Chart
Pie Chart
2- Bar Chart
3- Line Graphs
 Finally
Thank you for
your attention