Various Types of Essays with Examples

Whether you are in high-school, college, doing your masters or applying for a job, one common thing that you will have to do is write an essay. By definition, an essay is a long form text used to communicate or inform readers about a particular topic. Instructors love giving essays as assignments as they help in gauging a learner’s level of understanding and their research skills. Essays are also becoming quite common in job interviews these days.

With this in mind, having good essay writing skills becomes an important skill to have. However, many people often go wrong when choosing the type of essay to write. Knowing the correct choice of essay is as equally important as the essay itself. In this blog, we will be going over the types of essays, when to use them and how to write them. 

Types of essays

1. Narrative essays

A narrative essay is coined from the term narration which means to tell a story. They are common in college applications as well as personal reflections. This type of essay gives you as the writer creative freedom and allows you to play around with your imagination. Because of how “story-like” they are literary devices like metaphors, dialogue and analogies are used. Your aim is to appeal to the emotional side of the reader and in this way, it can tend to read like fiction.

When writing a narrative essay, think of the reader as your best friend and ask yourself; how would I tell them this story? You can use first person, especially when the narration is about you. In most cases, they are often not too long but for this you can refer to the instructions. Narrative essays contain 3-parts;

• Introduction – your introduction needs to be attention grabbing so as to hook the reader in. You can use a line like “I entered the admission journey searching for acceptance, but I discovered much more about myself instead.”
• Body – the body is where you do your storytelling and address the main point of your essay. The story you tell depends on the instructions given. While it might be difficult to explain to you how to write the body as it depends on the instructions which could differ largely, there are a few points to observe when writing the body.

1. Each paragraph should address only 1 idea
2. Aim for a paragraph length of 4 – 6 sentences

• Conclusion – the conclusion is where you bring everything to a wrap. Be concise and don’t try to bring in new ideas that you might have forgotten in the conclusion.

Questions to answer in a narrative essay

Question	Explanation
What is the story I am telling?	Identify the main event or experience clearly so the reader understands the focus.
Who is involved in the story?	Think about the characters (yourself and others) and how they influence what happens.
What happened first, next, and last?	Organize the events in a clear sequence so the story flows logically.
What problem, challenge, or turning point occurred?	Highlight the moment that creates tension or leads to change in the story.
What lesson did I learn or how did I change?	Reflect on the meaning of the experience and what it taught you.

2. Descriptive essays

A descriptive essay is written with the aim of doing an in-depth analysis on a topic. The topic could be a person, event, movie or concept. Just like narrative essays, a descriptive work allows you as the writer to use more creative forms of writing like figurative language. However, when writing, don’t just appeal to the emotional side only, try and introduce bits of logic. Strong descriptive essays need to be engaging and try as much to paint a picture of the event using sensory details.

Questions to answer in a descriptive essay

Question	Explanation
What exactly am I describing?	Identify the main subject clearly — a person, place, object, event, or experience.
What can the reader see, hear, smell, taste, or feel?	Focus on sensory details to make the description vivid and realistic.
What emotions or mood do I want the reader to experience?	Think about whether you want the reader to feel excitement, fear, nostalgia, comfort, nervousness, etc.
Which details are most important or memorable?	Choose specific details that stand out instead of describing everything equally.
Why is this experience or subject meaningful to me?	Explain the significance behind the description so the essay has depth and purpose.

3. Expository essays

An expository essay is used to provide information about a topic in a neutral manner. Your goal is to demonstrate thorough understanding on what you are writing on and you should avoid personal opinions or being overly emotional. They involve a lot of research and mainly appeal to the logic side of the topic. The aim is not to persuade, but to inform so use plenty of examples, statistics and data for this. Some examples of expository essay topics include;

• “The Importance of Time Management for College Students”
• “How the Human Brain Learns New Information”
• “How Social Media Affects Student Performance”

Since you are dealing with research sources, make sure to include a citation page after you are done. This is where you list your academic references. Also include in-text citations in the body paragraphs of your essay.  

4. Compare and contrast essays

A compare and contrast essay typically discusses a topic from two perspectives. One side tries to find similarities in the topic which is comparing while the other side finds differences between the subject. These types of essays are very common in academic writing as they push students to do a lot of research.

The structure of such an essay is:

• Introduction – here, your goal is to introduce the topic to the reader. You should also show why it is relevant discussing the work and include you aim in the thesis statement.
• Body – The body should be done systematically. First collect sources that compare the subject and those that contrast them. Next make sure you have a set of paragraphs dedicated to discussing each similarity in detail and others discussing the differences. The number of paragraphs depend on the length of your paper.
• Conclusion – The conclusion brings everything together and in a concise way shows how the topic compares and contrasts. Circle back to the thesis statement and show how your essay achieved the intended aim.

5. Argumentative Essays

Argumentative essays come from the word argument which is to debate on something. In these essays the writer relies on facts and research to argue about a topic from one side. The aim is to sway the reader to your direction using logic rather than emotions. You should also try and avoid personal statements in first person as they shift the focus from logic. Argumentative essays try and find the “Lawyer” in the writer to see if they can compel someone to abandon their position and join theirs.

Because of the academic nature of such essays, you can use phrases like “According to the World Bank …” or “Research from Wall street journal states that …” to support your argument. Common topics for argumentative essays include;

• Should social media be restricted for teenagers?
• Is school uniform necessary in schools?
• Should college education be free for all students?
• Do smartphones improve or harm academic performance?
• Should governments enforce stricter environmental laws to combat climate change?

Read article on: How to write a college argumentative essay

Questions to answer in a argumentative essay

Question	Explanation
What is your position on the topic?	State your clear stance in the introduction through a strong thesis statement.
What reasons support your position?	Provide logical arguments that explain why your viewpoint is valid in the body of the essay.
What evidence can you use to support your claims?	Include facts, statistics, examples, or expert opinions to strengthen your argument.
What are the opposing viewpoints?	Acknowledge counterarguments to show you understand other perspectives.
How can you refute or respond to opposing views?	Explain why the opposing arguments are weak, incorrect, or less convincing than yours.

6. Persuasive essays

A persuasive essay is similar to an argumentative essay, the huge difference is that you are allowed to sway your reader’s opinion using a combination of facts and emotions rather than just facts. Because of this, personal reflections are allowed but they must be relevant to what is being discussed. For you to write an effective persuasive essay, try and include the following elements;

• Pathos – to persuade readers by appealing to their emotions, making them feel sympathy, anger, excitement, or concern about the issue.

Example: “Imagine a child going to bed hungry every night while food is wasted just a few blocks away.”

• Ethos – to build trust with the reader by showing credibility, knowledge, or ethical character in the argument.

Example: “As a nutritionist with over 10 years of experience studying child health, I can confirm that malnutrition has long-term effects.”

• Logos – It is used to convince the reader through clear reasoning, facts, statistics, and logical evidence.

Example: “Studies show that reducing food waste by 25% could feed over 800 million people globally.”

7. Cause and effect essays

A cause and effect essay shows the relationship between two topics with one of them functioning as the causative agent while the other is the consequence. As the writer your goal is to create a clear connection of the situations using well researched points. At their center, cause and effect essays are like expository essays and so you should state facts and avoid subjective opinions all together.

In my experience, using credible sources like peer reviewed journal or research papers make your essay more appealing. Common cause and effect topics include;

• The effects of social media on teenagers’ mental health
• Causes and effects of global warming
• The impact of sleep deprivation on academic performance
• Causes and effects of unemployment in developing countries
• How poor time management affects student success

Frequently Asked Questions