Essay

Essay is a continuous prose that discusses one major issue which is expanded or developed to reveal the subject and theme of the discourse.

Types of Essay

Narrative Essay

Narrative essays recount previous experiences or what one imagines happened or likely to happen in the future.

Types of Narrative Essay:

1. Objective Narrative:

   • Objective narrative may be factual or fictional.
   • The core issue in objective narration is that the narrator uses general statements that are verifiable instead of relative statements that may not be verifiable.
   • Statements that can be validated or invalidated are preferable in objective narration.

2. Subjective Narrative:

   • Subjective narrative uses relative statements to narrate happenings.

3. Factual Narrative:

   • It refers to a story that has been experienced and is recounted as the people involved experienced it.

4. Fictive Narrative:

   • Fictive narratives are imaginary stories that may not have occurred anywhere in the world.
   • If it has been experienced, the writer may not narrate the story as it occurred; he may adjust some elements to suit his objective.

Descriptive Essay

Descriptive essays show the quality and/or quantity of the object of narration. Descriptive essayists use words (descriptors) that express quality, quantity, attributes, etc., to create mind pictures about a thing or a happening. The major aim of descriptive essays is to expand one’s knowledge about the object or event or person being written about by showing the attributes, character, characteristics, traits, etc.

Types of Descriptive Essay:

1. Objective Description:

   • It uses general, verifiable, or absolute statements to state the qualities or characteristics of the object of description.
   • Objective description is based on facts, is non-emotive, and devoid of sentiments.

2. Subjective Description:

   • The essayist uses relative statements in describing an object, a person, or an event.
   • Subjective description is usually based on feelings, opinion, and is emotive.

Expository Essay

Expository essays chronicle or teach processes involved in doing something or achieving a goal.

Types of Expository Essay:

1. Process Expository Essay:

   • This type of essay shows step-by-step processes in achieving a particular goal.

2. Problem-Solution Essay:

   • This type of essay identifies and explains problems surrounding the theme or goal of the essay and also explains likely solutions.

3. Comparison and Contrast:

   • The essay explains more than one phenomenon or subject, identifies and explains shared traits, characteristics, or attributes as well as explains their dissimilarities.

4. Descriptive:

   • Some expository essays could be descriptive or a combination of descriptive and expository methods.

5. Principle and Idea:

   • The concern of this type of essay is to expose laws, cause and effect, or results of an operation.

Argumentative Essay

Argumentative essays show alternative way(s) of viewing a particular issue or object. Argumentative essays involve claims and counterclaims, refutations, propositions and oppositions, concessions, and disagreement.

Structure of Argumentative Essays:

1. Proposition/Disposition:

   • Speaking for or against a topic. A statement that states the stand or position taken in an argument.

2. Premise(s):

   • Evidence obtained from statistics, research results, interviews, notable examples, personal and public experiences, facts, etc.

3. Conclusion:

   • What is being arrived at from the premises/reasons presented.

Steps in Writing a Good Essay

1. Define the type of essay.
2. Define the theme of the essay.
3. Write down the thesis statement of the essay.
4. Select a suitable topic.
5. Carve out a title from the topic.
6. Develop a tentative outline.
7. Gather information on each item in the outline.
8. Write down the topic sentence of each paragraph.
9. Compile your information in the approved essay format.