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Types of Essay writing

Descriptive Persuasive Argumentative Narrative Discursive

What is a descriptive essay?

Sensory images are used to describe what the writer sees, hears, smells, touches, and tastes. It paints a clear description of people, places, objects, or events.

3 What are the key words that show it is a descriptive prompt?

Describe your house. Imagine telling someone who has never visited you. There are many tourist spots to visit in Birmingham. Describe your favorite place to take visitors. You may want to tell what you will see, hear, smell and how you feel when you are there. Tell us what you see, hear, smell, taste, and feel on Christmas morning.

YOU MUST

DESCRIBE OR TELL WHAT A PERSON CAN SEE, HEAR, SMELL, TASTE OR FEEL.

What

is

persuasive

essay?

You are asked to prove something. Give reasons why. Present arguments against your reasons. Show them to be false. Take a stand Ask or call for an action.

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What are the key words that show its a persuasive prompt?
Persuade a close friend to donate blood as part of a blood drive that your school is sponsoring for the Red Cross. Some of your kid brothers friends have taken up smoking and want him to start too. Write a convincing letter to your kid brother to not take up this habit. Write a letter to the editor of the newspaper telling why citizens in Birmingham should support a tax increase benefiting the local public schools.

YOU WILL NOTICE THE

WORDS PERSUADE, CONVINCE OR TELL WHY SOMEONE SHOULD DO SOMETHING.

A narrative

What is a narrative?

Tells a story. Has chronological order and sequence of events. Has action.

Has conflicts or problems.

Has dialogue. Has characters. Has a definite beginning, middle and end.

What are the key words that show that these are narrative prompts?
You and your friend find a big box that is labeled Do Not Open. Your friend wants to open the box. Write a story about what happens next.
Tell about a time when you made a serious mistake. Two little girls found a wallet on the sidewalk. Tell what happened next.

NOTE THE WORDS: WRITE A STORY

TELL ABOUT A TIME, or

or

TELL WHAT HAPPENED NEXT.

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Narratives
Narratives are essays that relate one moment in which a writer reveals an experience he/she has had. They are used to tell a story in such a way so the reader can easily follow the events. Before writing this type of essay it is best to keep the following suggestions in mind: What moment in my life best illustrates the point I want to write about? Remember that a moment is limited as much as possible in time. It is best to use the moment in your life that you recall most sharply.

Narratives, cont

What kinds of details would make this moment come alive? Remember to show the setting in which the moment occurred through such things as color, smell, touch & sound. Describe the people who were there and use important bits of dialogue that occurred while the moment was developing. Also keep the following things in mind: What is the purpose of the narrative? Be consistent in your viewpoint. Follow a logical time sequence.

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Narratives, cont

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Make your characters believable and come alive with as much description as possible Limit the the scope of the moment as much as possible so that your reader does not get bogged down in a bunch of irrelevant material. Use dialogue sparingly. Only include the most important dialogue that directly relates to the moment you are describing.

Argumentative Essays
Argumentative essays are used to either explain or defend a personal opinion. Before starting to write this type of essay take a few moments and ask yourself the following questions: What have I read recently ,or what can I read quickly & easily, before I write that will help me to support my reason for holding this opinion?

Argumentatives, cont
What have I learned about this subject from TV, movies or radio that will help me to support my opinion? What have I learned from reliable friends, parents, other relatives & teachers that will help me to support my reason for my opinion?

Other considerations for Argumentative Essays

What is my oppositions reason for believing differently ? Who is my audience? Which points about my topic best illustrate why I believe as I do? Use of a pro and con sheet may help to clarify the points most relevant to your argument. Use the appropriate tense

Argumentative Essays, cont

This type of essay can be done in one of four different ways: By first presenting your points and then refuting the points of your opposition By refuting your oppositions points then presenting your points and their support By presenting your first point and its support which refutes your oppositions first point, and continue the same process with your second and third point, etc. By presenting a point for your belief and then a point that refutes the oppositions belief.

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Argumentative Essays, cont

Keep in mind that it is necessary to select evidence that effectively supports your claim. This evidence may be in the form of personal experiences, experiences or testimony from others, factual information, statistics from reliable sources, charts, graphs or diagrams, or expert testimony

Discursive essay
The main idea of writing discursive essays is to set some arguments. Your goal is to make people discuss your topic pointing different opinions. Basically, it has a lot to do with argumentative and persuasive essays though it is a separate type that has particular features.

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Writing a discursive essay, you will have to deal with varieties of opinions. Learning them all, you need to show your point of view is worth paying attention as well, and though it might be some kind of hopeless one it deserves the right to take place and be considered. The main clue that differ discursive essays from argumentative and persuasive ones is that you do not have to prove your words with evidence. The strongest support here is your mind.

What to do:
To make the entire process of discursive: select the matter to discuss; determine your position; study opinions of opponents and followers; explain why one point is acceptable while the rest is not; pick arguments and think over proves.

Think Brainstorm-PACO
P-What is your purpose? A- Who is your audience? C- Content --What are your ideas for details, facts, or reasons? O- Organization --Think how you want to structure your paper.

Jot down these ideas.

NOW START YOUR OUTLINE, OR WEB!

Summary
Identify your prompt Plan your work with an outline. Give your work a title with an action word. Grab interest in the beginning Build your paragraph with explanations, examples, & evidence following the topic statement or key statement. Use strong action words Use vivid adjectives Use metaphors Finished? Reread & reread to improve and clarify.