As a student, you will face the daunting task of writing essay after essay during your educational career. Because of this, you will need to know about the different types of essays that can be written and how to write them. Following are some examples of essays that you may need to know how to compose during your time as a student.
Persuasive Essay
This type of essay is needed when you are taking a stance on a topic and attempting to convince the reader(s) that your position is the right one. A persuasive essay will use facts, not opinions, to support your viewpoint. Since you are arguing a point, you will need to support everything you say and stay as far away from emotion as possible.
Comparison Essay
The point to a comparison essay is to compare, and possibly contrast, different concepts. This form of essay is an analytical one, which will rely on correct and relevant information. A comparison essay will not have opinion nor emotion included.
Narrative Essay
A narrative essay is one that will essentially tell a story. This type of essay is one that is personal in nature. Some ways in which a narrative essay is used is in writing a book report, telling of an event, or describing a situation. Although there are facts that are involved with a narrative essay, they are more personal, opinionated, and can be a personal viewpoint.
Admission Essay
An admission essay will be what you use to obtain admission into the college you are applying for. This essay will tell your story. It is personal and the only facts that are involved are those that you choose to provide. Since there are no true rules to this type of essay it is imperative that you portray the information you want to have known in a well laid out manner. Let the essay flow like a story would, try to have a plot in order to keep your readers interested, and make sure that you convey only the information that is pertinent to the reason for the essay – don’t go off on tangents about topics that are not relevant to the reader.
5 Paragraph Essay
This is not a type of essay, it is a format for writing an essay. Most any essay that you write should follow along the lines of the 5 Paragraph Essay format. The format is that your essay will have an introduction paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph. If you need to have an essay that is longer than five paragraphs, you can build upon this basic, foundational format. Always remember that you will need an introduction and conclusion and body paragraphs in between.
Regardless of where you are in your educational career, you will need to know how to write an essay and will also need to know the different kinds of essays there are to write. Knowing what you are doing with your essays will help to relieve much stress in your time being a student. Not only will it help you during school, it will help you for the rest of your life.
Kelly Prachett is a career counselor and in her spare time she blogs for Superscholar, a site she often recommends to those who are trying to figure out which online colleges are the best online colleges. They have information on everything from the top online early childhood education programs to the best online MBA programs.
