Essay Types and Organization PDF

# What is an Essay? An essay can be written by you on almost any subject reflecting your attempts to express your experiences, ideas, and feelings about whatever topic you are writing on. An essay may be written creatively especially the ones that are reflections of a writer's personal experience,...

# What is an Essay? An essay can be written by you on almost any subject reflecting your attempts to express your experiences, ideas, and feelings about whatever topic you are writing on. An essay may be written creatively especially the ones that are reflections of a writer's personal experience, feelings, and ideas. It uses ordinary, colloquial language and is conversational in tone and style. It considers the following acronym to make it effective: - **C**ontent - **R**ole - **A**udience - **F**ormat - **T**opic # Types of Essays According to Cantular (2011), essays are classified into its content and purpose. Here are the types of essays: 1. **Speculative** - This type needs to explore ideas and feelings. It is less organized, less authoritative, and less insistent in its presentation for it simply projects the mind of the writer. 2. **Argumentative** - This essay presents claims and ideas in a straightforward manner. Its main intent is to establish a point by supporting it with evidences, data, and information. 3. **Narrative** - This essay relates an incident as it happened. It is unlike fiction since its intention is the conveyance of idea/insight based on an event. 4. **Expository** - This essay has the purpose of expounding and making something clear for the readers. # Patterns of Organization Just like any other prose composition, essays can be organized in the following patterns or methods of organization. - **Chronological order** - A chronological pattern of organization arranges information according to a progression of time, either forward or backward. When a topic is best understood in terms of different segments of time, a chronological format works well. For example, topics of an historical nature are best organized using this pattern. - **Order of importance** - In this order, ideas or steps are prioritized by the writer or speaker according to a hierarchy of value. When using the order of importance pattern of organization, information can be structured from most important to least important or least important to most important. - **Sequential order** - A sequential pattern of organization is similar to a chronological pattern, but arranges information according to a step-by-step sequence that describes a particular process. When one wishes to describe a process that follows specific series of steps in a particular order, then a sequential pattern works well. - **Spatial order** - A spatial pattern of organization arranges information according to how things fit together in physical space; i.e., where one thing exists in relation to another. - **Comparison and contrast order** - A compare and contrast pattern arranges information according to how two or more things are similar to or different from one another (or both). # Essay as a Genre Another genre of literature aside from poetry, drama, and short story are the essays. The word *essay* came from the French word "essais" (Cantular, 2011).