Essays

What is an Essay exactly?  An essay is basically a short, non-fiction composition in prose.  Other meanings of the word include attempt, to test the quality of something, to try, effort, exertion of will or of one's strength.  

There are many types of essay.  When writing an essay it is important to follow the writing process, regardless of which type one is composing.  An important element in the writing process is the Outline.  Many writers choose to forego this step thinking that it is not overly useful... however, even the most skeptical authors find that once they try it, an outline can be quite beneficial... it helps to keep one focused and prevents straying onto tangent thoughts. When teaching the essay, I remind students to follow what I call the rule of 3.  Everything about writing a good essay exists in threes.

A good sentence, of which all essays are composed, consists of  1. a subject (who or what the sentence is about -- consists of at least a noun/pronoun); 2. a verb (a word that expresses an action); and 3. the rest of the predicate (objects, prepositions, complements, modifiers, etc.).

A good paragraph must also contain three elements:  1.  a topic sentence (expresses the main idea of the paragraph); 2. the  body -- informational / argumentative sentences that support or elaborate on the topic by offering further information or arguments, which are connected to each other by transitional or connective words and phrases; and 3. the concluding sentence which reviews the ideas of the paragraph and brings them together to show how they support the validity of the topic sentence.

A good essay, like a good sentence and a good paragraph, consists of three elements. When reading, and especially when writing, it is easiest to comprehend these three elements through the use of an outline:

Outline

1.  Introduction:

• Contains at least one paragraph.

• Includes a Thesis Statement (a sentence which explicitly states the main idea of an essay and gives some insight into how it will be explored and developed).

• Catches the reader's attention.

2.  Main Body:

• Contains at least three paragraphs, each of which develops topics that support the thesis of the essay.

3.  Conclusion

• Contains at least one paragraph.

• Succinctly reiterates the topics of the main body without being too redundant (in a longer essay) but does not introduce any new information.

• Often uses the method of closure by return where the ending of the essay resembles the introduction and restates the thesis.

• Includes an author's final thoughts on the thesis.

All essayists strive to achieve unity, coherence, and emphasis in their writing.  That is, they attempt to remain  focused on the thesis and try not to stray into irrelevant topics or any topics that do not fit into what they are trying to say.  They logically structure their essays such that the reader is able to follow their trains of thought from beginning to end, and they attempt to draw particular attention to the most important aspects of their writing.  The key to writing an excellent essay is to always remember that it is meant to clearly and concisely communicate information to a wide audience, no matter which type of essay one is writing.

An excellent resource for novice writers is The Five Paragraph Essay site.  It is comprehensive and details not only the types of essay but methods, tips, and techniques used for writing.

Types of Essays

It is important to note here that while each of the following are indeed separate types of essays, very rarely does it occur that the types do not overlap.  That is, virtually every essay ever written has made some use of description; classification and division essays often make use of comparison, etc.  Keep this in mind as you study these notes and as you write.

NOTE:  Regardless of the type of essay, the perspective from which it is written is always that of the author!

Narrative ~ The relation of a story to illustrate a point.  This kind of essay can be said to have a theme, but it is better to think of it in terms of a thesis because the "theme" of this sort of narrative writing is often stated directly.  Additionally, unlike a short story, a narrative essay describes the events of a story rather than involving the reader in the events themselves -- we are told about the events rather than given the opportunity to watch them unfold.  Beyond that, there is a simple timeline, most of the time in chronological order; there are few characters described and usually the story is related from the author's point of view (thus it is from the first-person perspective).  Details are precise and vivid and all of the elements of story are employed. Events are organized chronologically, emphasizing tone, purpose, dialogue, description and narrative techniques.  The differentiating factor between a short story and a narrative essay is basically that the essay is non-fiction whereas the short story is fictitious, and that a narrative essay clearly follows the outline of an essay and explicates the story for the purpose of giving evidence for the thesis statement which is found (usually) somewhere in the introductory paragraph.  NOTE:  this type of essay transcends the bounds of the writing process.

Descriptive ~  Descriptive essays have to do with perception -- the way we, as human beings, experience the world through the use of our senses.  The essence of description has to be observation (keeping in mind that when we observe, we can do so by touch, taste, etc.  Eg:  I observed that an alluring scent was radiating from the kitchen).  As such, in an effort to describe one's feelings... his/her perception... one must often make use of adjectival phrases and figurative language to clearly communicate his/her thoughts.  We could be persuaded to believe, therefore, that descriptive essays are purely subjective.  This is, however, not the case.  Clearly, some description could be (and should be) subjective but we needn't go any further than to read the first paragraph of a scientific essay describing meiosis to know that description can also be very, very objective as well.  I doubt one would use many colourful adjectives in the description of this process.  For example, the actual (very objective) description (in the internet's hyperdictionary) for meiosis is as follows:  the nucleus divides into four nuclei, each containing half the chromosome number (leading to gametes in animals and spores in plants.   No one would expect to look up this process and find driven by a history of thousands of years of evolutionary development, the beautiful orb is ripped asunder by its desire to push forward... While it make the reading a little more interesting, subjectivity in a science paper is generally a big no-no.  There is a time for the one and a time for the other.

Akin to subjectivity and objectivity are the use of figurative and literal diction and imagery.  Obviously, a more subjective approach to descriptive writing would include the use of figurative language whereas literal description would be better suited to an objective description.  The connotative value (meaning generated from context) would create unnecessary and unwanted ambiguity for the reader of an objective description whereas it would actually add to the appreciation of a text experienced by an audience of a subjective piece.  Descriptive essays which are written objectively and make use of literal meanings are known as Concrete Descriptions whereas those which draw on subjective description through the use of figurative language are known as Abstract Descriptions.  Despite the dichotomy, descriptive essays all share a common feature -- they rely on perception.  As such, most authors find it useful to focus on a dominant impression (a single perception derived from a single sense) which guides the description through a more coherent and relevant process.  A description of a bakery, therefore, would focus on the sense of smell, whereas a description of an art gallery would focus on sight, a description of a music concert would rely primarily on the sense of hearing, etc.

Definition -- To write an essay for the purpose of defining something is a rather difficult task.  It is important to differentiate here between locating a definition and defining... the difference being between denotative and connotative meaning.  I have already written a little on this topic (which you have presumably read, as it was at the very beginning of this notes page).  To define is to explore, not simply to quote a dictionary.  This type of essay, therefore, should not be undertaken if the matter is trivial... the topic must be complex and important enough to both the writer and the reader to warrant an active interrogation.  Again, it is important to remember that you are in the driver's seat here... the definition must therefore be yours.  Here are a couple of examples of definition essays I have written in the past:  What is English Anyway? ; What are Literature Circles?  Caveat Emptor:  Some definitions cannot be found but only explored... the good is in the attempt, not the result.  

Expository Essays -- An expository essay is a kind of essay which, quite literally, exposes or explains the answer to a question.  The question can be asked or self imposed.  That is, it is a methodical demonstration of your knowledge about a particular topic.  Remember, an essay is always written from the author's perspective, and as such, from his/her body of knowledge.  It is your job, as an essayist, to take charge and offer the answers (or the questions).  There are many ways to go about Expository Essay Composition and therefore, there are many sub-genres of essay which fit under the category of exposition.  Expository essays generally follow the writing process to the letter.  They offer explanations through a logical ordering of arguments and ideas with a strong emphasis on concrete and factual evidence which is used to back up statements.  For the most part, Expository Essays are broken down into the following categories:

• Cause and Effect  -- Cause and Effect essays are the process through which the relationships and interdependence between seemingly singular events are analyzed. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction (Newton's Third Law of Physics).  What Newton was explicating here was the fact that for everything that happens, something caused it to occur.  There can never be an action without a re-action, just as there can never be a cause without an effect.  This type of exposition explores the reasons behind things... the analysis of cause.  Consider the following: In Brazil, a butterfly flaps its wings, setting off a chain of events that ends with a tornado in Texas. This is known as The Butterfly Effect and was first said by Meteorologist Edward Lorenz 1972.  Basically, this phrase is the foundation of the Chaos theory, which is based on the following two concepts: 1. there is no such thing as disorder... whether we can explain it or not, all systems (natural or technological) have rules which govern them;  and 2. within a system, even the smallest, seemingly most obscure events can have very large and complex repercussions. When writing (or reading) a causal analysis, it is important to remember that the point of view from which the analysis takes place will largely govern the reader's perception.  There are generally three ways to examine the idea of causes and effects:  1.  From the standpoint of the cause (C--e)  -- the boy threw a rock which resulted in a broken window; 2.  From the standpoint of the effect (c--E) -- the window was broken because a boy threw a rock; and 3.  From the standpoint of the effect as cause which results in yet another effect (c--E_c--e)  a window was broken because some boy threw a rock which resulted in the boy's parents having to pay for the replacement. The relationship between causes and effects (and effects as they then become causes) can be represented graphically as follows:

Here, we see that every cause has an effect and that effect then becomes the cause of yet another effect, which then becomes another cause of yet another effect, which becomes a cause... ad infinitum.  You will note, however, that in the diagram, the original cause (called First Cause) is the only cause which is represented by an upper-case letter.  There is, indeed, a reason for this.  A special type of causal analysis, usually taking place in the realm of philosophy, deals with searching not forward but backward to the first cause... for the flapping butterfly, as it were.  Some call the First Cause  God... others call it other things.  I only mention it here for a couple of reasons: 1.  I love philosophy; and 2. it is a very large area of study and as such, a very complex form of this kind of exposition.  After all, as a logical analysis, it is important to think of the facts... all effects have a cause -- yes.  But do all causes occur as a result of some previous action?  Is a cause always an effect or only most of the time???  While you ponder this, let's move on to Classification and Division, shall we? 

• Classification and Division -- This type of essay relies largely on the act of defining.  That is, things -- ideas, topics, objects, people, etc.-- are sorted, arranged, and then subdivided into categories for the purposes of clearly differentiating one type of thing from another.  This allows the relatively clear and precise exploration of very complex ideas.   Whereas for Cause and Effect essays, the question asked was Why?, the question here is most definitely What?.  A useful tool for the essayist in developing this kind of exposition is to graphically represent ideas by creating a circle diagram which is a variation of a Venn Diagram:

Here, we see that we can classify and divide two things, represented by colour.  All yellow is green whereas only some green is yellow.  This allows us to make use of logic to classify and divide the two things.  By representing this visually, an author of this kind of exposition will have a clear idea of the divisions s/he intends to explicate.

When one classifies, s/he is putting things into categories... when one divides, one analyzes the constituent elements of the items in the categories.  Generally, division can be seen as a continuation of the classification process.

• Comparative Analysis -- Traditionally this type of exposition has been referred to as comparison or contrast and sometimes, comparison and contrast.  The logic behind the name had to do with the difference between comparison (where similarities are carefully drawn between --usually-- two ideas, concepts, things, etc.) and contrasts (where differences are explored and emphasized)... this differentiation results in a connotative pre-disposition on the part of both the reader and writer to view comparison as a positive exploration and contrasting as negative.   I classify this form as Comparative Analysis because I do not feel that a dichotomy exists here -- it is impossible to note the differences between two things without noting the similarities as well -- otherwise, why would there be a need to show how they are not alike?  If it is clear to anyone that two things are not the same, for what purpose would an author endeavour to show how they are different?  Additionally, a contrast is a kind of comparison... whenever two things are considered in relation to one another, comparison exists.  An analysis of that comparison (exploring both the similarities and differences) involves close study and does indeed warrant an essay.  Nevertheless, the focus of a given essay may be on either similarities or differences.  In terms of comparative analysis, Venn Diagrams are of extreme use!  Like the circle diagrams in the previous section, Venn Diagrams (proper) help to visually draw similarities and differences between two "things."  They help to provide a very logical map of sorts, which will help guide the discourse of an essay.

This Venn Diagram is an excellent example of how one can come to explore very complicated ideas and concepts with relative visual ease.  Consider two things, represented here (for argument's sake) as the colours red and blue.  The Venn Diagram allows us to see that some red is blue and some blue is red.  However, not all blue is red and not all red is blue.  Any number of colours could be compared here, but generally comparative analysis essays stick to comparing two things.

• Example and Illustration -- When making a point in an argument, one will often hear the phrase:  For example... which will be followed by some sort of factual evidence to support a proponent's claims.  It is for this reason that Example and Illustration essays are used to make clear logical arguments and by that merit, the techniques of providing examples and illustrations are included in virtually all essays.  Imagine you are talking with a friend about the virtues of eating fresh fruit... imagine also, that you love fresh pineapple (as I do) but that your friend has never eaten fresh pineapple.  You would then go on to describe the taste --" it's sweet... it's very juicy... has the texture of... well... it's kind of hard to explain unless you've tasted it."  And, if you were to say this, you would be precisely correct.  The next logical step would be to locate some fresh pineapple so that your friend will be able to try it for him/herself.  This would be providing an example in the most blunt way.  However, when writing, it is virtually impossible to provide examples in this way.  Examples are therefore made through discourse...without examples and illustrations to support a thesis, the reader may become quite disinterested.

• Process Analysis -- This kind of essay is often referred to as a how to essay... but this isn't always the case.  That is, it does answer the question of how things happen or how they ought to be done, but not all process analysis can be reduced to a set of directions.  Consider, for example, the scientist who explains the process which she used to develop a new vaccine... undoubtedly, the analysis of this process would be very precise and clear.  It would expound every step that she took along the way, backed up by loads of observations and analysis of those observations, results, etc.  This would in no way, however, be considered to be a set of directions, as would be a set of instructions on how to put together a child's bicycle.  They are very similar, but clearly, not the same kind of process analysis.  Remember, analysis actually means the reduction of a whole into its constituent parts for the purpose of clarification and study.  Nowhere is this made more clear than in this kind of exposition.  Process Analysis essays are very logically constructed, giving detailed descriptions of events in chronological order.  The necessity of being clear is paramount in this kind of essay, if one wishes to have his/her reader understand what s/he is saying.  Essentially, process analysis essays give directions and/or provide information about how to perform a particular task, how the task was performed by someone else, how something works, or how something happens(ed).

Argumentative Essay -- Sometimes referred to as an opinion essay, Argumentative Essays argue for one side of a controversial topic.  It is based on the question:  "What do I think?" and serves to prove a point of view through the provision of supportive evidence.  While this is the case, when writing this sort of essay, one should endeavour to consider rebuttal points which could be raised from the opposing point of view... that is, it is often a good practice to bring up a strong point which actually opposes one's thesis and provide evidence to prove that point to be in err.  

Persuasive Essay -- Akin to Argumentative Essay, the author of a Persuasive Essay tries to win the reader over to his/her point of view.  Where it differs from Argumentative Essay, is that in addition to merely stating an argument, there is a flavour of promotion and propaganda associated with the writing, which culminates in a call to action on the part of the reader.  That is, an author presents a point, tries to convince others to not only think in a similar way but to act on those thoughts... the reader is asked or instructed to do something.

Reflective Essay -- This sort of essay is often written in a similar fashion as a narrative or a monologue might be and makes great use of description.  It is based around an exploration of a thought, idea, concept, insight, or epiphany that an author has about the world or the universe.  Readers of philosophical texts will be very familiar with this sort of essay.

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