All writing is divided into two types – fiction and non-fiction. There are a lot of styles of non-fiction writing, many of which grew out of the essay. The essay, in one style or another, is the form most people are first introduced to. Because this is the form most people are familiar with, all the styles get labelled with it. This is the case even when the style is rarely used for essay writing.
Essays
Essays are pieces of non-fiction writing of a limited length and breadth of topic. Essay is the term used by universities for this form of writing, and they are strict about the style and format of the essays their students write. A university essay usually covers a single topic and is written to show that the student has grasped the ideas covered in the class.
This limited scope is what makes an essay different from, say, a non-fiction book. A book has one large theme that covers many smaller topics.
Essays are also different from reports and articles, blog posts and manuals, though all of them use the same set of non-fiction writing styles. The major styles of non-fiction writing (see below) were each designed to fill a specific need.
Other non-fiction
Non-fiction writing styles are also used in business, science, and the media. These pieces of writing are called reports, articles, commentaries, and features. Writing skills are something you will use your entire life, both at work and in your personal life.
Each style of writing has a specific format, many of which share similarities. They all have a set-up, additional detail, and a wrap-up. Just think about novels, articles, and jokes, to name a few. Each type of writing style follows the same general format – introduction, body, conclusion. Despite these similarities, they are not all the same, even if they are all called ‘essay’. Each style puts emphasis in different areas and is used for multiple purposes.
In the introduction, you set out your topic and make a broad statement describing what you want to say about the topic. The body part of the essay contains the details of your topic, often supported by facts or the opinions of experts. The conclusion of the essay brings the topic back around to the broad statement made in the introduction. There are, of course, variations on this pattern, but we discuss those below.
Alphabetical list of non-fiction writing styles along with a brief description
Argumentative Essay
Writers use this style of writing to persuade the reader to agree with their opinion. The style involves the use of well-researched and properly cited facts and follows the basic essay structure. Universities often use these as assessments. The same style is common in politics and social activism.
Cause and Effect Essay
This style uses narrative and verifiable facts to connect a chain of events. It narrates the progression from A to B, then C, and beyond. The emphasis for this style of writing is on the body of the text where all the links are being laid out. Reporters, historians and scientists often use these to show how or why something happened.
Compare and Contrast Essay
Writers use this style when they want to show the similarities and differences between 2 ideas, opinions or things. This style uses the basic essay structure, but in the body you need to give equal weight to both topics. Professors often assign these essays when they want their students to show they understand the complexity of a topic. Businesses use this style for their marketing material – Here is version A of our product, here is version B. The product can be anything from cars to pizzas.
Critical Essay
This style of writing provides an in-depth look at a topic. Critical essays use researched facts and/or the opinions of experts to support the writer’s point of view. This style uses the basic essay structure, but all three parts are equally important. Your introduction must express your opinion clearly. You back up your opinion with solid evidence in the body. Then, in the conclusion, you show that you have given the topic careful thought. Professors use this style of essay to test critical thinking skills and the ability to identify and use appropriate evidence. This style is also the most common form of article in trade journals and science blogs.
Definition Essay
Researchers use these essays to explain new terms or ideas discovered during their work. The topics of ‘definition essays’ are often new, complex, and/or abstract. Writers use these types of essay to provide a framework that other researchers can build from. The principal focus of these essays is the body where all the explaining happens.
Descriptive Essay
Writers use this style to describe people, places, things or events, like a city, festival or aspect of culture. These essays follow the basic structure. The focus can be on the description given in the body, or it can be on the emotional impact of the experience provided in the conclusion.
Expository Essay
Writers use this type of essay to provide a set of facts about a topic. They don’t express an opinion either way about the topic. Nor does this style ask the reader to form an opinion. This style uses the basic essay structure with little to no variation. Teachers assign these essays to their students so they can show their knowledge of a specific topic. People use this writing style for marketing, news stories and scientific reports.
Narrative Essay
This style allows the writer to talk about a personal experience they believe to be important in shaping their lives. An essay in this style must follow the essay format, and it must be true. This is not fiction. Making up a story and claiming that it’s a narrative essay, or a memoir, can land you in big trouble. This style differs from the basic essay format in one significant way. The conclusion discusses what the author learned/gained from the experience. Universities often ask applicants for a Short-form essay of this sort. This writing style is also used for memoirs.
Persuasive Essay
Writers using this style are attempting to convince readers to accept their point of view on a topic. This style doesn’t rely on references and citations the way an argumentative essay does. It’s usually an emotional or moral appeal to the reader. This style is unlikely to be acceptable in any university-level course. For most professors, this style is only one step away from fiction. It is, however, commonly used in the Short-form essay in language proficiency tests. You will also see it on blogs, recruitment pamphlets, or social media.
Process Essay
These are a type of expository writing. They describe how to do something, or how something works. They only loosely follow the essay structure, if at all. The focus is almost entirely on the ‘body’ of the text. Writers often set the facts out in chronological order to show the logical progression of events. Common uses for this type of writing are instruction manuals and cookbooks.
Short-form Essay
This style of essay is common for language proficiency tests and university entrance applications. Language proficiency tests use short persuasive style essays. They do this because they are testing for writing proficiency, not knowledge of a particular topic. They ask the writer to give an opinion about a single topic backed by two or three talking points, all of which are provided in the test. These essays are usually between 70 and 300 words long. The university application essays can be up to 500 words long and are usually narrative in style. This is because the university wants to learn something about their applicants that won’t show up on their school report cards.
Knowing your audience
As you can see from the list above, different places and situations require different styles of writing. It’s important to know what style of writing suits your topic and your audience. Submitting the wrong type of essay to a professor will end in a failing grade. Submitting the wrong type of article to a publisher will end in a rejection letter. And submitting the wrong type of report to your boss could get you fired.
For more on this, see the post on prepping for the essay.
