Types of Essays
Publication Date: 20 Nov 2017


Common Essay Types
If you want to succeed in studying and get high grades, you need to be able to write different types of essays. Essays are required for college applications and tests of many kinds. Sometimes success of your whole essay depends on your ability to choose the correct type of paper. If you’re confused about different essay types, you’re not alone, but we think that you can’t afford to stay confused anymore. There are a lot of essay types, but there are just a few most common ones, so we decided to take a closer look to any one of them.
All types differ by purpose. Some of them imply storytelling, for others you need to draw a vivid picture, or on contrary, give only facts with no unnecessary phrases. Your essay may give readers new information, or express your feelings about certain period of your life. Sometimes you just need to convince others to accept your opinion on certain issue. Depending on purpose, we can distinguish most common essay types.
- Descriptive essays . Writing such an essay, you have to paint a picture with your words. The goal is to describe a certain object, place, or experience. However, it’s not just a description. An essay must express the deepest meaning of a certain situation, or subject. This type of essay requires developed writing skills and an ability to use vivid words. Your target is the emotions of your readers.
- Narrative essays . This type requires you to write about your real experience. This type may seem to be relatively simple, but don’t let this apparent simplicity blind you. First of all, you need to express your memories in a concise way. You have to choose the most important things and get rid of unnecessary details, to let your readers get you as clear as possible. You also need to involve your readers and be creative. We suggest you to write in the first person, since it helps readers feel you and perceive your story easier. You also need to explain why this story is important for you and useful for others.
- Persuasive essays . Here your goal is to convince the reader and make him or her accept your own point on a particular issue. It’s all about facts and your ability to present these facts in the most persuasive way. You can also use quotes of experts to support your point with authoritative sources. Another important thing is to not be one-sided. Always make sure to provide detailed facts and opinions from different sides. Along with this, you must be able to explain, why your own point is the right one.
If you have a chance to choose your topic, we suggest you not to choose too controversial issues. You also must think about your audience. If they will more likely choose a certain point on this issue, you have to take it into account and use it in your essay. Maybe you won’t need too many arguments, if most people usually agree with you. On the contrary, if your point is not obvious, you may make more efforts to convince your readers.
- Expository essays . This is an informative type of essay, which requires an accurate analysis and facts. You cannot appeal to emotions nor write in the first person. Your essay must include definitions, examples, and statistics. This type of essay includes many variations, such as cause and effect essays , compare and contrast essays and process essays. The latter ones imply a step-by-step description of a particular process.
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5 Common Types of High School Essays (With Examples)
- First posted on 2021-08-28
- Last modified 4 months ago

When it comes to high school essays, descriptive and narrative essays are very similar in the sense that they encourage writers to be creative in expressing their ideas. Expository and argumentative essays focus on providing clear information and making compelling points. Analytical essays require writers to present their arguments and are intended to enhance readers’ understanding of a topic, while persuasive writers try to persuade readers to accept a point of view.
In this article, we will go into details about each one to help you better define the type and the writing method when you start writing.
What will be covered in the article?
1. descriptive high school essays.
A descriptive essay asks writers to describe something vividly —object, person, place, experience, emotion, situation, etc., but more commonly you will be asked to describe something abstract —emotions, experiences, or something outside of your typical experience.
A descriptive essay allows writers to be creative and have the freedom to express, especially when the topic is personal about them and what they care about, for example, their favorite food or their culture. Even though this sounds easy, this type of essay tests the writer’s ability to make appropriate word choices and have a strong creativity to help readers visualize the overall picture of what they are writing about. A descriptive essay normally starts with introducing the subject or object of description, continuing with giving an overall picture, and then going into details.
Below is an example of a descriptive essay from Yourdictionary :
I watched a thunderstorm, far out over the sea. It began quietly, and with nothing visible except tall dark clouds and a rolling tide. There was just a soft murmur of thunder as I watched the horizon from my balcony. Over the next few minutes, the clouds closed and reflected lightning set the rippling ocean aglow. The thunderheads had covered up the sun, shadowing the vista. It was peaceful for a long time.
I was looking up when the first clear thunderbolt struck. It blazed against the sky and sea; I could see its shape in perfect reverse colors when I blinked. More followed. The thunder rumbled and stuttered as if it could hardly keep up. There were openings in the cloud now, as if the sky were torn, and spots of brilliant blue shone above the shadowed sea.
I looked down then, watching the waves. Every bolt was answered by a moment of spreading light on the surface. The waves were getting rough, rising high and crashing hard enough that I could hear them.
Then came the rain. It came all at once and in sheets, soaking the sand, filling the sea. It was so dense I could only see the lightning as flashes of light. It came down so hard the thunder was drowned. Everything was rhythmic light and shadow, noise and silence, blending into a single experience of all five senses.
In an instant it stopped. The storm broke. The clouds came apart like curtains. The rain still fell, but softly now. It was as if there had never been a storm at all, except for a single signature. A rainbow, almost violently bright, spread above and across the water. I could see the horizon again.
2. Narrative Essay
A narrative high school essay is similar to a descriptive essay but focuses more on the story description rather than object description. The story can be about a personal experience that the writer has had, an event, a story, an incident. Writers can even narrate a fictional experience that they haven’t had. Narrative essays are typically written in the first person. For example, the personal statement high school students have to write for college applications.
The purpose of a narrative essay is not only to tell a story, but also to highlight the importance of the experience. Therefore, to write a perfect narrative essay, writers must include the elements of settings, context, plot, ending, and climax.
We have an example from a student’s work, which was published on the blog: People’s Republic of Creativity
Glup, glup.
I sat watching the plunger slowly make its way down the tube and into Miriam’s body. Inside the tube was a clear unknown liquid that would soon be injected into my own body. This was the third time this week, the twelfth time this month, and who knows how many times since we have been trapped in this hell on earth. Each day, we have only been given the bare minimum of food, water, and sleep. I don’t know how much longer we can survive before deemed useless by him.
Miriam fell out of her chair and onto the cold concrete floor, screaming in pain. She scrambles for something she can grasp onto to prop her malnourished body up. Then the piercing sound just suddenly stopped. Her thin arms that look only of bones and skin drop to the ground and she lay still on the floor, as if she were…dead. Please don’t tell me she’s dead! No, she couldn’t be; we promised each other to live until the day of liberation.
She needs to live.
It was my turn. He walked over with a syringe full of what had just been injected into Miriam. I try to focus on the red, black, and white badge on his left arm instead of letting the fear crawl in and take over my brain. But the unsettling tension stirs my thoughts around and around.
“Twin A1387, let’s hope what happened to your sister doesn’t happen to you.” He smirked. The needle pierced through my skin and my body was suddenly aflame. The raging blaze spread through every one of my veins, until I was shrouded in darkness.
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in an empty confinement. The space next to me, the space for Miriam, was empty too. Where was everyone? Most importantly, where was Miriam?
I got up and set my bare foot onto the dirty, wooden floor. Suddenly, my head started spinning and along with it, the world spun too. I fell to the ground, and when I could finally lift my head, what I saw above me terrified me. It was him, death in human form, and beside him were four of his helpers. They grabbed my arms and forced me to stand up.
“Good morning A1387. I am afraid your dear twin sister couldn’t handle the injections from yesterday. Let’s hope your fragile little limbs can endure those chemicals. I wonder how many more injections it will take for you to meet your pathetic sister,” he said, patting my head. His tone was playful, but deadly.
I froze. What? Miriam…dead? That one word, “twins”, has taken away everything of what feels like my past life, and now my last hope? I felt a surge of anger, hatred, sadness, fear, devastation swirling inside me like boiling lava in a volcano, ready to erupt. I wanted to scream, to shout, to kill him, but I couldn’t. My soft limbs felt as if they would collapse merely by trying to stand up. They would be harmless and defenceless against the Angel of Death. When he saw the hatred on my face, he started laughing hysterically and simply said, “What a shame; she was only 13. I cannot wait to see how long it will take for you to fall apart!”
3. Expository Essay
According to Purdue University , the expository essay is a genre of essay that requires the student to investigate an idea, evaluate evidence, expound on the idea, and set forth an argument concerning that idea in a clear and concise manner. To accomplish this, writers use the method of comparison and contrast, definition, example, cause, and effect, etc.
Writers are not required to argue or make a personal opinion, but to present balanced and well-organized facts and figures.
In an expository essay–as the name suggests–you need to expose the particular subject in question by providing enough information. It is an informative piece of writing that provides a balanced analysis of the topic. It does not contain any personal opinion; instead, it is based on real facts and figures. Therefore, this kind of high school essay is commonly assigned in high school or college in order to test students’ familiarity with a topic and ability to convey information.
This is an example from College Board’s SAT Writing Prompt.
In response to our world’s growing reliance on artificial light, writer Paul Bogard argues that natural darkness should be preserved in his article “Let There be dark”. He effectively builds his argument by using a personal anecdote, allusions to art and history, and rhetorical questions.
Bogard starts his article off by recounting a personal story – a summer spent on a Minnesota lake where there was “woods so dark that [his] hands disappeared before [his] eyes.” In telling this brief anecdote, Bogard challenges the audience to remember a time where they could fully amass themselves in natural darkness void of artificial light. By drawing in his readers with a personal encounter about night darkness, the author means to establish the potential for beauty, glamour, and awe-inspiring mystery that genuine darkness can possess. He builds his argument for the preservation of natural darkness by reminiscing for his readers a first-hand encounter that proves the “irreplaceable value of darkness.” This anecdote provides a baseline of sorts for readers to find credence with the author’s claims.
Bogard’s argument is also furthered by his use of allusion to art – Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” – and modern history – Paris’ reputation as “The City of Light”. By first referencing “Starry Night”, a painting generally considered to be undoubtedly beautiful, Bogard establishes that the natural magnificence of stars in a dark sky is definite. A world absent of excess artificial light could potentially hold the key to a grand, glorious night sky like Van Gogh’s according to the writer. This urges the readers to weigh the disadvantages of our world consumed by unnatural, vapid lighting. Furthermore, Bogard’s alludes to Paris as “the famed ‘city of light’”. He then goes on to state how Paris has taken steps to exercise more sustainable lighting practices. By doing this, Bogard creates a dichotomy between Paris’ traditionally alluded-to name and the reality of what Paris is becoming – no longer “the city of light”, but moreso “the city of light…before 2 AM”. This furthers his line of argumentation because it shows how steps can be and are being taken to preserve natural darkness. It shows that even a city that is literally famous for being constantly lit can practically address light pollution in a manner that preserves the beauty of both the city itself and the universe as a whole.
Finally, Bogard makes subtle yet efficient use of rhetorical questioning to persuade his audience that natural darkness preservation is essential. He asks the readers to consider “what the vision of the night sky might inspire in each of us, in our children or grandchildren?” in a way that brutally plays to each of our emotions. By asking this question, Bogard draws out heartfelt ponderance from his readers about the affecting power of an untainted night sky. This rhetorical question tugs at the readers’ heartstrings; while the reader may have seen an unobscured night skyline before, the possibility that their child or grandchild will never get the chance sways them to see as Bogard sees. This strategy is definitively an appeal to pathos, forcing the audience to directly face an emotionally-charged inquiry that will surely spur some kind of response. By doing this, Bogard develops his argument, adding gutthral power to the idea that the issue of maintaining natural darkness is relevant and multifaceted.
Writing as a reaction to his disappointment that artificial light has largely permeated the presence of natural darkness, Paul Bogard argues that we must preserve true, unaffected darkness. He builds this claim by making use of a personal anecdote, allusions, and rhetorical questioning.
4. Argumentative Essay
The argumentative high school essay is similar to the expository essay, because it requires writers to present their evidence-based arguments. Writers have to present a thesis statement, gather and evaluate evidence, and establish a position on the topic. Many people think argumentative and expository essays are the same. They belong to a similar genre, but an argumentative essay requires more research than an expository essay. An expository essay is normally used in the SAT test, because test takers are required to investigate and present points from the prompts given. An argumentative essay is generally used in a final project or a capstone, which requires length and detailed research. The essay is divided into 3 parts: introduction, body, and conclusion. The introduction has a topic and thesis statement, the body has evidence and arguments, and the conclusion summarizes the arguments and potential directions for future research.
Below is an example from a GRE writing answer from ETS :
Prompt : The best ideas arise from a passionate interest in commonplace things
Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement above and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how those considerations shape your position.
Passion is clearly necessary for a truly great idea to take hold among a people—passion either
on the part of the original thinker, the audience, or ideally both. The claim that the most lucrative
subject matter for inspiring great ideas is “commonplace things” may seem initially to be counterintuitive. After all, aren’t great ideas usually marked by their extraordinary character? While this is true, their extraordinary character is as often as not directly derived from their insight into things that had theretofore gone unquestioned. While great ideas certainly can arise through seemingly pure innovation… say, for example, Big Bang cosmology, which developed nearly all of its own scientific and philosophical precepts through its own process of formation, it is nevertheless equally true that such groundbreaking thought was, and is, still largely
a reevaluation of previous assumptions to a radical degree… after all, the question of the ultimate nature of the universe, and man’s place in it, has been central to human thought since the dawn of time. Commonplace things are, additionally, necessary as material for the generation of “the best ideas” since certainly the success among an audience must be considered in evaluating the significance and quality of an idea.
The advent of Big Bang cosmology, which occurred in rudimentary form almost immediately upon Edwin Hubble’s first observations at the Hooker telescope in California during the early 20th century, was the most significant advance in mankind’s understanding of the universe in over 400 years. The seemingly simple fact that everything in the universe, on a very large scale, is moving away from everything else in fact betrays nearly all of our scientific knowledge of the origins and mechanics of the universe. This slight, one might even say commonplace, distortion of tint on a handful of photographic plates carried with it the greatest challenge to Man’s general, often religiously reinforced, conception of the nature of the world to an extent not seen since the days of Galileo. Not even Charles Darwin’s theory, though it created more of a stir than Big Bang cosmology, had such shattering implications for our conceptions of the nature of our reality. Yet it is not significant because it introduced the question of the nature of what lies beyond Man’s grasp. A tremendous number of megalithic ruins, including the Pyramids both of Mexico and Egypt, Stonehenge, and others, indicate that this question has been foremost on humankind’s collective mind since time immemorial. Big Bang cosmology is so incredibly significant in this line of reasoning exactly because of the degree to which it changed the direction of this generally held, constantly pondered, and very ancient train of thought.
Additionally, there is a diachronic significance to the advent of Big Bang cosmology, which is that, disregarding limitations such as the quality of optical devices available and the state of theoretical math, it could have happened at any point in time. That is to say, all evidence points to roughly the same raw intellectual capacity for homo sapiens throughout our history, our progress has merely depended upon the degree of it that a person happens to inherit, a pace that has been increasing rapidly since the industrial revolution. Yet this discovery had to happen at a certain point in time or another—it cannot have been happening constantly or have never happened yet still be present—and this point in time does have its own significance. That significance is precisely the fact that the aforementioned advent must have occurred at precisely the point in time at which it truly could have occurred—that is to say, it marks the point in our history when we had progressed sufficiently to begin examining, with remarkable substantiated acuity, the workings of the universe across distances that would take millions of human lifetimes to reach or to traverse. The point for the success of this advent must necessarily have been, additionally, the point at which the audience concerned was capable and prepared to accept such a radical line of reasoning.
Both factors, a radical, passionate interpretation of the commonplace and the preparedness to accept such an interpretation, are necessary for the formulation of a truly great idea. If the passion is absent from an inquiry by the thinker or by the bulk of an audience, the idea will die out if it comes to fruition at all. If the material is not sufficiently commonplace to be considered by an informed audience of sufficient size, the same two hazards exist. Given these two factors, the idea must still be found palatable and interesting by the audience if it is to hope to gain a foothold and eventually establish itself in a significant fashion.
5. Analytical Essay
An analytical essay is a writing genre that provides an in-depth analysis of a topic, ranging from art, music, literary text to politics, science and philosophy, etc. Analytical essays can boost a writer’s writing skills and overall comprehension of a topic, while helping readers become more educated about the subjects of importance. This type of essay is not to persuade readers to a certain point of view, but to provide a well-rounded and comprehensive analysis for the readers. The analytical essay is normally used in the GRE writing section.
A good analytical essay includes a thesis statement that states your main argument, followed by an analysis of your thesis and evidence to support it.
We will take an example from a student’s work about CRISPR, a genetic engineering method. The full essay can be accessed here , but below is the preview of the essay:
No matter how much money people are willing to pay for health care, they may still suffer terribly from incurable diseases such as AIDS and cancer because of the underdevelopment of medical technology. However, today, the advancement in human knowledge has led to the introduction of human gene-editing, turning impossibility to possibility. In particular, the recent technology for genome editing called CRISPR has been having a groundbreaking impact on research in genetic science. This is due to its remarkable potential to simply cure genetic diseases in an embryo before they have a serious effect on further developmental progression. Although currently, there have been numerous debates regarding its extension in research for widespread uses, CRISPR is a completely promising technology because of the benefits it brings to people.
CRISPR, or Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, is the newest innovation in genetic engineering. The way CRISPR works is similar to “the scissor-like action of Cas 9 to target… any specific DNA sequence” (Baylis and Rossant). By making cuts in specific locations in DNA, CRISPR can cure diseases and make alterations in an embryo’s DNA, which prevent diseases from being passed down to following generations (Baylis and Rossant). Throughout the history, governments and researchers came up with different approaches politically and scientifically in attempt to control population. They hoped to encourage the “richest, wisest and healthiest to breed like rabbits” and the “sick, stupid, and poor to take one for the empire and remain childless” (Comfort 28). The second attempt happened during the 20th century, when the U.S government passed the law preventing marriage and immigration that would threaten a perceived core American “stock.” Another more extreme example was when Nazi sterilization law further advanced this population control approach. Later in the century, a biotechnological approach was established as a safer and more humane way to manage population health (qtd in Comfort 28). “Gene surgery,” which is similar to CRISPR technology, was established and followed by contentious debates regarding ethical issues between disease treatment and human trait enhancements. Currently, there has been a halt in the use of CRISPR because of the increase in concern from the public about the pros and cons of this technology.
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Description: This course helps students develop and improve their writing skills to prepare students for higher education courses. The methodology emphasizes the ability to read critically, think critically, and write critically. Students will learn informative, narrative, descriptive, creative, and persuasive essay writing skills. Students will learn how to brainstorm, structure and outline, form an argument, defend it, incorporate academic sources, and develop a clear, articulate writing style. The focus will be on the writing process, intended audience, consistent tenses, point of view, correct grammar uses, building vocabulary, appropriate style, and proper research and citation protocols.
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Different types of essays high school
Cover Letter Example High School Essay Templates and Formats High school essay examples include a variety of short essays such as the narrative essay, persuasive essay and analytical essay and more.

Types of Essays Used in Academic Writing: Learn How to Succeed
Keep reading to understand the definitions of each type of composition to get you apt to write them whenever duty calls! The Expository Essay This essay will need much of your time.
It is quite an extensive essay so be ready to churn out pages and more pages. However, you can divide this assignment into several sub-sections. These sub-sections are the interpretation part, definition section, cause and effect, response, and analysis section.
An explanation essay provides useful information on the process in question step-by-step. Along with descriptions of the process, the explanation essay offers detailed guidance on the subject. For example, how is a President elected in the US; or how does a chocolate factory manufacture its fantastic candies.
The definition essay has to be the simplest of all. Nonetheless, this does not imply that you should only write single sentences copied straight from the English dictionary as your definition.
This act is what is called plagiarism in writing. It is quite a serious offense that attracts legal action. A good student should use both the official definitions of the phrase or word along with their understanding of the phrases or words.
Moreover, give the reasons for why some events happen and their results. For instance, when asked to write about the causes and effects of the Civil War in America, show a clear link between the roots of the war and the consequences of the same.
The reflection essay is at times referred to as a personal response essay. This essay takes subjectivity to another level. It requires you to provide a personal opinion on various topics.
Nonetheless, you should describe the subject and support your claims with verifiable facts and evidence Finally, the critical analysis essay intends to make the reader comprehend the covered material.
You can choose the topic from a scholarly article or book chapter to write about. In other instances, the teacher may pick it for you.
After selecting a topic, the writer analyzes and interprets the subject in their article. The instructor will look at your article to gauge your interpretation. To write an efficient critical analysis, explain each line of the piece of text individually.
A Descriptive Essay A descriptive essay is an original piece that offers an in-depth explanation and detailed analysis of a particular event, object, chosen literary piece. The writer needs to use various adverbs and adjectives to describe the subject. This essay should employ literary tools such as allegories, metaphors, analogies, similes, and personifications.
These tools are useful in helping the reader to visualize your subject. A Narrative Essay This essay tells an exciting story from the writer to the audience in a captivating manner.
The purpose of this piece is to help the reader comprehend one topic at a time. Testimonials Rick I was impressed with an assignment as well as with the timely manner in which it was accomplished.
Thanks for a perfect understanding of my instructions and creative approach.Apr 14, · Essays can be a complicated business even for a seasoned college student. There’s rules to follow for each different type of essay, and it can be difficult to keep them all in order.
If there is an essay in your future, take a look at these four types of essays and remind yourself of what the Author: Natasha Quinonez. Five Types of Essays for High School.
This is not an exhaustive list, but it’s a good one. Persuasive Essay. As the name implies, a persuasive essay attempts to persuade. Here are a few rules for persuasive essays.
Here we've compiled a list matching the top essays in our database against "distracted driving es essays".Whether your project or assignment is for school, personal use or business purposes our team works hard in providing % royalty free essay samples across many different topics.
High School Cliques and School Violence Essay High School Cliques and School Violence There is an overabundant amount of cliques in high schools throughout the United States.
Many teenagers believe the only way to be recognized is to be affiliated with the popular crowd. Browse and Read Types Of Essays For High School Students Types Of Essays For High School Students Inevitably, reading is types of essays for high school one of the requirements to be undergone Choose any type of example essay to find out how to write it.
Students face essays in middle school, high school, and college. MA and Ph.D. papers tend to more complex.
Below are tips to help you write efficient essays at the different levels of education: Tips on Writing the Different Types of Essays for Middle School. Pick middle school essays such as narrative, storytelling, demonstration.
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Types of Essays for School or Work

- 1.1 What Kinds of Essay Can You Write?
- 1.2 Descriptive Essay
- 1.3.1.1 Comparing and Contrasting Essays
- 1.4 Classification Essay
- 1.5 Explanation Essay
- 1.6 Narrative Essay
- 1.7 Persuasive Essay
The Different Types of Essays Writing
This page will go over the common types of essays assigned in high schools, colleges and universities. The types of essays covered are: The Descriptive Essay, Narrative Essay, Expository Essay, Classification Essay, and Explanation Essay.
Many students find themselves with an assignment for a certain type essay that they have never even heard before. Now they’re not only stressing over what to write about, the correct format and wording, but now they have to figure out what this essay type is. This article will review the most common types of essays assigned and give a few tips and tricks to help a student write a great essay.
What Kinds of Essay Can You Write?
Essays and other writing papers are a significant part of any educational process. It would be hard to get high marks without showing good results in writing papers. While preparing your writing assignment, it is necessary not only to collect information in relation to your topic and to organize the structure of the paper, but to recognize the different types of essays and to understand which one to choose so your composition comes out as well as it can.
Essay writing is really not as hard as it seems. It’s not like writing iambic pentameter or poetry , rather you’re often discussing facts.
Descriptive Essay
A descriptive essay is one in which the writer describes something, or someone throughout the paper. This type of paper usually contains detailed information about the subject being discussed such as background, history and other specific descriptions of the topic. The purpose of the descriptive essay is to not only describe, but also to evoke emotions from the reader. Here are a few tips to help write a descriptive essay:
- Combine ideas, both abstract and concrete
- Use a limited number of adjectives, a nice balance needs to be included to ensure that the essay is not too wordy
- Give examples and make inferences when possible to help the reader draw conclusions and bridge the events
It’s okay to feel slightly confused between narrative and descriptive essays; they are quite alike. But the primary mission of this type it to “paint” a picture using the art of words.
Expository Essay
This type is based on facts, statistics and approved information. The writer should not express personal feelings while writing. The main aim of the essay is to reveal facts and information to the reader, but not to apply to reader’s emotions. One of the most common types of this writing compares and contrasts topics, ideas or things.
Compare – Contrast Essay
A compare and contrast essay is much like it sounds. The goal is to take two or more objects, people, businesses or any other topic and describe their similarities as well as differences. There are many of these type essays that are written for academic as well as business purposes. There are different ways to arrange the essay, some students like to compare/contrast throughout the body of the paper while others like to discuss one topic and then move to the next. This is a formatting preference and unless otherwise stated either method will work. It also depends on the topic of the paper and how it reads will help you make the decision of whether you combine or separate differences. One of the best ways to prepare for this type of essay is to build what is known as a Venn diagram. This is the type of diagram that is two circles that overlap where the middle of the circle is what the items have in common. This makes it very easy to readily identify and distinguish the differences as well as their commonalities.
Comparing and Contrasting Essays
First, decide which similarities and differences to focus on, and organize your paper so that it will be clear and effective. It will also explain how you can (and why you should) develop a thesis that goes beyond “Thing A and Thing B are similar in many ways but different in others.”

Classification Essay
The classification essay is a great way to discuss a group of things that have similar characteristics. This type of essay can be seen often times where businesses, sports teams, cities or governments are written about in one paper. In order to classify there is a need to narrow the topic and restrict it to something that can be easily compared and assorted into specific topics. For example, one might classify football teams that had great years or not so great years such as the Dallas Cowboys, the Green Bay Packers or any other team that could be lumped into one group.
The order of the classification essay is sometimes the most difficult part of the writing process. The best way to order this paper is to develop the classifications and theory behind the paper before starting. If you are going to talk about the best football teams in the world’s you may want to list the teams in the order that you believe are the best. That way you can write your paper from a top down perspective and have a good guideline instead of jumping around from team to team. That is very confusing to the reader and also produces a poorly written essay.
Explanation Essay
The explanation essay is one that is used quite a bit in college entrance and classrooms across the world. This type of paper is based on a description explaining a product, company or something that there is a need for understanding. One of the best examples of an explanation essay would be a medical procedure, test, products or something in which a consumer gets detailed information about the product. Explanation papers can become very detailed and require a lot of research to provide a good description and explanation about the topic at hand. This paper needs to be packed full of resources and facts that tell the reader everything they need to know about that specific topic.
Narrative Essay
This type of essays is all about telling a story and sharing personal impressions. Writing a narrative essay requires deep thinking about one’s experience, choosing those facts that would be relevant and exciting/useful for a reader, and then place them in a logical order on paper so that the reader can follow the author’s experiences without being confused.
Persuasive Essay
A persuasive essay involves proving one side of an argument against another side and developing the best arguments into a standard easy to read format essay. Arguments in the essays can either be rational and emotional. The use of emotional arguments will depend on the audience and may not be appropriate for some academic papers. The overall goal which is common for these essays is to make a reader change their mind and accept the view and ideas of the writer. It is common to use facts, expert’s opinions and logical explanations of an object or idea in this structure.
These are not the only types of essays that a college student or someone looking for entrance to an educational institute may have to write. There are several others that can be required, but these are the most commonly asked for. With an essay it is important to have the appropriate research, facts and information before beginning the writing process. Do not ever write jargon and try to pass it off for a good paper, it just simply will not work.
Check Out These Related posts:
- What is an Expository Essay?
- How to Write an Essay Outline
- Quotations in Essays the RIGHT Way!

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There are many completely different essay types. They have different purposes, styles and structures, so we made a quick guide for you!
In high school, you have to write different kinds of essays for various assignments. A good way to understand and master essay writing skills is to know what kind of essays you're required to write
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1.2 Descriptive Essay1.3 Expository Essay1.3.1 Compare – Contrast Essay1.3.1.1 Comparing and Contrasting Essays1.4 Classification Essay1.5 Explanation Essay1.6 Narrative Essay1.7 Persuasive Essay The Different