Essay Types

There are many essay types that are used in higher education to test the skills of students. These include exposition, description, argumentative, and in some case narrative. The use of the different essay types depends on a lot of different things, such as the topic, intent of the instructor, the degree being pursued and the course being taken.

In case there is a choice available to the student about which of the essay types to go with, he or she should choose the type that they are most comfortable at. This could mean narrative style, if that is possible according to your situation.

Descriptive essay type relies on the writer to describe a situation, object or person. We use description in many different university courses depending on the instructor’s guidelines. For instance someone studying molecular biology may be interested in describing the behavior of DNA or writing an essay describing the results of the research that he or she has just conducted. Exposition is a very important type of essay and the author aims to explain an event, phenomena or thing. In essence it is the next step to description.

Narrative writing is the backbone of creative writing classes together with description. Its utility in natural sciences is fairly limited although it is quite common in humanities and to a lower extent in social sciences.

Argumentative essay is the most common of the essay types and deals with putting forth arguments in a professional, debatable manner. Professors are keen to develop these qualities in students making argumentative essays the most challenging, rewarding, and common.

Comments:

Can you tell me more about exposition writing?? I have been assigned one by my university.

Regards,
Claire