English 353

In English 353 you will write five types of essays. The first will be expository, the second, contemplative, the third, comparison and contrast, followed by a persuasive essay and finally, a research essay. Below are explanations for each type of essay.

The Expository Essay

The purpose of an expository essay is to describe, explain, clarify, expand or explore a concept, an event, a thing or a process. Writers do this by using specific details and examples to illustrate the general point they are trying to convey to the reader. By explaining the particular topic to the reader, the writer is demonstrating his or her understanding of the topic.

In his website, Dr. Robert Berman suggests that an exposition has a structure—it requires the construction of paragraphs which perform the following tasks:

1. Clarify the belief. Clarifying the belief may involve some or all of the following

   paraphrase—begins the process of clarification by reformulating the belief in other words

   exemplification—clarifies the belief by providing examples to illustrate it concretely

   analogy—clarifies the belief by likening it to some other more familiar belief

   contrast—clarifies the belief by a contrast with an opposing claim.

2. Provides supporting reasons for the belief you have clarified.
3. Traces implications and consequences which acceptance of the belief might have both for thought and action.

If you are unfamiliar with writing expository essays, this structure might help you formulate a similar kind of outline for your own writing. Please remember, the above is simply an example—be sure to use a structure that suits your approach.

The Contemplative Essay

The contemplative essay is both a form and a purpose essay (but the purpose is less easily categorized). The form is characterized by tentativeness at the opening; the purpose by exploration of the situation or topic presented. While the standard formal essay is expected to have the thesis statement (i.e., the essay’s conclusion) placed emphatically at the conclusion of the opening paragraph, the contemplative essay typically begins with an interesting—perhaps puzzling or even shocking or bizarre—observation and proceeds to a sense of resolution by exploring various implications of and perspectives on the opening observation.

The contemplative essay offers a technique for exploring topics—for meditating upon them—in a style that mirrors both one’s own tentative grasp of things and one’s exploratory spirit. Thus, it permits the exploration of ideas and perceptions not normally available to the standard formal essay. Where standard formal essays require the conclusion up front, the contemplative essay demands a less conclusive, more tentative, opening statement leading to an exploration of the significance of that statement.

The Comparison and Contrast Essay

The Writing Process: A Concise Rhetoric suggests that comparison and contrast can appear in many different structures. A comparison emphasizes similarities by featuring the unknown with the known. Contrast, however, highlights differences by comparing similar things. Comparisons are a natural means of conveying your ideas through vivid impressions—impressions that reach a large possible audience. The power and universality of comparisons can be gauged by noting that they are the foundation for the two most potent poetic techniques, simile and metaphor, and for the most popular poetic device up to the Renaissance: allegory. When Robert Burns opened his poem, “A Red, Red Rose” with his well remembered simile: “O my luv’s like a red, red rose/ That’s newly sprung in June,” he could expect his readers to be pleased with the comparison and to associate his love with the qualities of a fresh, red rose (English 255 Student Manual).

There are two primary methods of organization for this type of essay: block and alternating. As the name implies, block organization requires that the writer first write about topic A and then topic B: if you are writing about men and women, you would write your first half of the essay about men and the second half about women. The important part of this approach is creating a transition between the two, otherwise you will have written two separate and unrelated sections—this is not an essay. The alternating method, as it suggests, alternates point by point: you would write about men, then women, then men, then women and so forth. This can be a trickier approach because it is not just about one successful transition, rather, it is about numerous smooth transitions. The danger of this method is that the essay can sound choppy if you switch between points too often. A possible approach would be to think of some main points to compare and contrast between men and women, and use a paragraph to explore each one.

The Persuasive Essay

This form is similar to the expository essay; however, the goal is different. In this type of essay the writer must try to defend the chosen side of an argument—the writer must not only show, but also convince. The University of Victoria Writer’s Guide website suggests that, “the persuasive essay must choose a side, make a case for it, consider and refute alternative arguments, and prove to the undecided reader that the opinion it presents is the best one. You must be aware of other sides and be fair to them; dismissing them completely will weaken your own argument.”

See The Writing Process: A Concise Rhetoric, page 153.

From:
The UVic Writer’s Guide

The Research Essay

The University of Victoria Writer’s Guide website suggests that the research essay relies on works of others. The process of writing a research essay requires you to find source material, then synthesize what you learn with your own ideas. You must find source material on the subject and use it to support the topic that you are exploring. Take particular care to narrow your topic because it is easy to get lost in the plethora of outside materials. The greatest danger inherent in a research essay is plagiarism. If your paper consists of a string of quotations or paraphrases with little input of your own, you are not synthesizing but copying; if any of the borrowings are unacknowledged, you are plagiarizing, and the penalties are severe. (See the “Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct ” section of the Student Manual.) A research paper should demonstrate what you have learned, but it should also show that you have a perspective on the subject.

To ensure that you do not plagiarize, always include a Works Cited page at the end of your essay—details of the Works Cited page and the research essay are outlined on pages 379–388 of The Writing Process: A Concise Rhetoric. Be sure to familiarize yourself with Chapters 19-22 before proceeding with your final paper.