What is an Essay?

• Jan 05, 2021
• 5 min read

An essay is a piece of nonfiction writing that typically elaborates on the writer’s perspective or arguments pertaining to a certain topic. While essays come in many forms and for many purposes, they are off considered important components of academic writing. These types of essays are generally formal in nature and are the ones we’ll be focusing on here. 

So if you’re looking for a comprehensive guide on how to write essays, now is the time to bookmark this page. 

Types of essays: 

There are many types of essays that one can use to express their perspective on a certain topic, and each may differ according to the nature of the topic they want to write about. Broadly speaking, there are four types of essays that you could use in an academic context: 

1. Narrative essays: These types of essays are generally more personal in nature, and use the first-person pronoun “I”. As the name suggests, it requires you to narrate a particular event or experience from your perspective. In an academic context, for instance, it could be an account of research. 
2. Analytical essays: Analytical writing is one of the most important aspects of academic writing since its whole purpose is to produce or evaluate knowledge. Analytical essays will allow you to be critical of the topic in question and lead a way for you to make your own case. 
3. Expository essays: An expository essay involves you exploring the topic and digging deeper into it. You’ll find yourself analysing nuances and evidence, leading you to write about your own views and analyses.
4. Descriptive essays: As the name indicates, this type of essay requires you to provide objective facts and information about an event or phenomenon. Reports and summaries, for instance, are types of descriptive writing. 

The broad structure of an essay: 

Every essay, irrespective of its type or subject matter, has an introduction, body, and conclusion.

In an introduction, you provide basic information about the topic being written about, then segue into making your primary argument or thesis statement. 

The body of an essay is split into multiple paragraphs, each of them elaborating on a certain facet of the larger. Each body paragraph has its own thesis statement, followed by its reasoning and examples or evidence to support the argument. An essay typically has three to five body paragraphs. 

The concluding paragraph of the essay reiterates your thesis statement, summarizes your arguments for it, and ends with a compelling remark on its relevance. 

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We hope you’re acquainted with the basics of how essay writing works. We have a lot more in-depth articles on essay writing coming up, so make sure you bookmark this page to receive updates about the same! 

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Chetna

Chetna is a child of the internet. A writer and aspiring educator, she loves exploring digital media to create resources that are informative and engaging. Away from the writing desk, she enjoys cinema, coffee, and old books.