MEETING THREE

ESSAY GENRES
Genres and Writing

Learning writing in the majority of cases is learning genres, that is developing knowledge of the rules of organization

and the structure of integral texts. You must have already met this word, which originally came from French and has the

meaning of "a kind of.“ Genre is an event of communication, insofar as it is aimed at achieving certain communicative

purposes (e.g., the purpose of a birthday card is to congratulate an addressee) and serves as a means of accomplishing

such purposes. At the same time, genre may also be defined as a type of a written or oral text with a recognizable set of

relatively stable features. Genres may also be treated as textual realizations of discourse.
Genres and Writing
A writing genre is simply a type of narrative that can be read or written. It tells the story in an interesting way and has

one main purpose—to share ideas, news, or emotions with other people. There are many different genres, including

short stories, personal narratives, sequels to stories, and retellings of stories.

Writing within each genre shares certain features, such as rhymes, stylistic devices, or images. Using words specific for

poetry, writing emotional appeals on morality, or having characters explain logic can persuade readers into thinking the

writer is right.

The focus of each writing genre is to describe events, a theory, or other ideas in a certain way. This includes stories,

which have a central plot and characters. The core of each writing genre is how the elements are conveyed and

described.
What are the different types of writing genres?

There are many different types of writing genres. A piece of fiction may have some facts, but it is mainly a work of

imagination and creativity. Pieces that fit within a specific genre have similarities in the subject matter, style, and form.

We have separated professional writing genres from literary and academic writing genres. But first, here are the most

common writing genres that you should know!

different from each other. One of the genre is essay.

Essays are considered some of the most important genres of academic writing. This is because they are considered effective assessment

tools in university and college. Markedly, there are different types of essays that vary in rationale and length.

Note that writing an essay is a common requirement in college. That said, respective essays usually demand that you to exhibit

proficiency in different essay academic writing styles. You also need to demonstrate knowledge of course content in corresponding

academic fields.

The key essay categories are:

1. Essay questions: These are usually part of examinations. When answering the questions, you should ensure that you clearly

understand the informative part, the directive paper, and the instructional part.

2. Response papers: These are short essays that seek your reaction to one or numerous texts. They require you to read an article or a

book.
ESSAY GENRES (Types of Essay)
Types of Essay
 Process Essays

This category of an essay explicates the process entailed in making or breaking something. Such essays usually entail a step-
by-step process and are therefore written in a numerical or chronological order. Further, they are written in prescriptive or
descriptive modes. The descriptive mode is the main difference between process essays and technical documents. Particularly
in sciences, process essays are among the most critical types of essays for college. Essay examples in this genre include lab
reports. These essays are usually written around the objective of providing particular guidance or direction.

 Compare and Contrast Essays

Compare and contrast essays seek to establish the similarities and differences between two or more objects. As revealed in the
words ‘compare’ and ‘contrast’, such types of essays for college intend to evaluate your understanding of different objects in
respect to each other. College essay topics in this genre may revolve around different methods, theories, or historical periods.

Note that compare and contrast essays may assume two main structures, that is, block structure or point-by-point structure. In
the block structure, you should exhaustively provide information about one particular object before proceeding to the next.
Differently, each contrast or similarity for one object should be directly followed by that of the other object in the point-by-
point structure.
Types of Essay
 Cause and Effect Essays

Cause and effect essays examine the reasons (causes) for the existence or occurrence of something, and sequentially go ahead
to discuss the results (effects). The cause and effect could be part of the essay or be the entire essay. Sometimes, only the
causes or effects are discussed.
You can opt for either the block or the chain structure when writing a cause and effect essay. For the chain structure, all the
causes are noted down and then followed by all the effects. Differently, each cause is followed by its respective effect in the
chain structure.

 Opinion Essays

Sometimes regarded as argumentative essays, this genre is one of the most common types of essays for college. It differs from
the argumentative essay in that it seeks to urge readers to opt for or against specific acts. Differently, argumentative essays
only intend to reflect the both sides of a coin.
Essay examples in this genre should clearly state their position, effectively understand the current position of their target
audience, support their position and arguments with evidence, and present their evidence in a structured manner.
Types of Essay
 Descriptive Essays

This is one of the major types of writing in college. It requires the writer to describe something, whether a place, person,
situation, object emotion, or experience. Usually, it seeks an account of a certain experience. It is an interesting essay genre
because it gives you the artistic freedom to create a vivid and moving image in the reader’s mind. Good essays in this genre
must be able to form a solid impression in the mind of the reader. As such, the key to writing this type of an essay is to use
vivid language as well as your senses during the actual writing process.

 Argumentative Essays

An argumentative essay is one of the most common types of essays for college across the globe. As a genre, it requires you to
explore a topic, collect and evaluate information as evidence, and develop your position on the topic concisely. Doing this
requires you to conduct an extensive literature research.
Such types of writings demand the collection of empirical data through various approaches, including observations,
interviews, and experiments. The literature review is meant to give you a solid insight about the topic you seek to explore. This
is intended to accord give you different viewpoints about the topic. You should use the collected evidence to support a
particular position.
Types of Essay
 Expository Essays

This genre is similar to argumentative essays. It requires you to explore an idea, collect and evaluate information as evidence,
and develop your position on the topic concisely. It encompasses a key category of types of essays for college. Sometimes,
other types of writing such as definition essays, compare and contrast essays, and cause and effect essays fall under this
category. Goods essays under this genre should exhibit the below features.

A thesis statement: The thesis statement should be clear and concise and appear in the first paragraph.
Evidence: Each body paragraph should contain evidence supporting the main argument. The evidence could be statistical,
logical, factual, or anecdotal.
Effective transition: There should be logical transition between the respective essay parts (introduction, body, and
conclusion).
Creativity: It should be interesting to read. You should exercise your imagination and different literary skills.

 Definition Essays

Definition essays entail writings that express personal understanding of meanings of concepts, terms, or ideas. In most cases,
definition essays focus on abstract terms that require personal interpretation. For instance, essay topics for definition essays
could revolve around terms such as love, honesty, justice, etc.
The definition can start with the basic dictionary definition and then extend to your personal understanding supported by
gathered evidence. Being among the key types of essays for college, this category of essays is quite diverse in scope. In this,
the entailed definition could be part of the essay or encompass the entire essay.
Types of Essay
 Narrative Essays

Being among the most common types of essays for college, narrative essays require you to express yourself in a creative and
moving way. They could be personal, experiential, or anecdotal. Narrative essays should encompass the below features:

Should be inclusive: This is when they encompass a story (they should include an introduction, setting, characters, plot,
climax, and conclusion).

Should have a purpose: This pertains to the essay thesis.

Should use appropriate language: Should use language that evokes particular emotions and creates certain images.

Should have a proper organization: This is important in the flow of ideas. It looks at both the paragraphs and sentences.