What Are the 5 Different Types of Essays? A Complete Guide

For high school or college students, essays are unavoidable – and what makes it even trickier is that the essay types change throughout your academic career. As soon as you’ve mastered one type of writing assignment, you’re faced with another, even more challenging than the last.

This article by Custom-Writing experts will provide everything you need to ace an essay of any type. We will cover 5 major types of essays and explain how they differ across various study levels. This article also includes model thesis statement examples and numerous useful links to resources with sample papers. Keep reading to get valuable insights into academic writing!

📑 What Are the 5 Types of Essays?

There are 5 main categories of essays every student should know about:

• Expository essay. Essays of this type present available data on the subject without critical analysis, argumentation, or personal opinion. It aims to educate the audience on the subject by presenting facts, details, and evidence.
• Argumentative essay. In assignments of this type, the writer takes a specific position on the debatable topic and argues it with the help of supporting evidence.
• Persuasive essay. Unlike the argumentative type, which relies on objective facts and statistics to make the reader agree with the author, a persuasive piece usually appeals to emotions and subjective beliefs to convince the readers.
• Descriptive essay. As the name suggests, this essay type is primarily dedicated to describing the assigned subject—a person, a place, an event, a theory, a relationship, or a concept. Descriptive writing typically uses plenty of detail to create a vivid image of the topic, stimulating the reader’s imagination and enriching their perception of the subject.
• Narrative essay. A narrative usually relates the writer’s personal experience or tells any story with a plot. It follows a linear structure with a beginning, unfolding events, and a culmination. Unlike other academic essays, narrative pieces often present characters, their interactions, and emotions.

Keep reading to learn more about each type of academic papers!

✍️ Expository Essay Type

An expository essay presents objective, unbiased information on a topic to deepen the readers’ knowledge of it. This essay type is often assigned as an in-class or exam task.

Check out the useful writing tips below:

• Avoid taking sides in expository essay’s thesis statement. For example:
  “The oil industry is a very large portion of the energy sector, and it has significant impacts on the climate and economy.”
  Note that this thesis statement does not criticize the oil industry. It acknowledges both sides of the issue. This is the sort of objectivity you need in expository writing.
• Ensure you have in-depth subject knowledge to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the topic.
• Try to explain complicated concepts in simple, straightforward terms.

Here are sample topics you can explore:

1. Explain the impact of music on human life.
2. Racism in the USA.
3. Why is learning foreign languages beneficial?
4. The pace of global climate change.
5. The use of vaccines in 20th-century medicine

🚀 Argumentative Essay Type

Argumentative essays test your ability to examine an issue from different points of view and develop persuasive arguments for their ideas. Unlike expository papers, they’re longer and more rooted in research.

Writing a good argumentative paper requires the following:

• A thorough investigation of a topic and collection of evidence.
• Extensive literature research or empirical investigation through surveys, interviews, or observations.
• An in-depth study to help you make an informed, unbiased decision about your stance on the topic.
• Strong arguments rooted in evidence that confirm your thesis.

It’s also important to consider the opposing viewpoint. Answer the following questions:

Here are some of the best argumentative topics to explore:

1. Are mobile apps our helpers or timewasters?
2. Is fasting healthy for everyone?
3. Should unpaid internships be restricted?
4. Should the US Constitution be updated to meet the needs of the modern population?
5. Is the US taxation system fair?

📌 Persuasive Essay Type

Persuasive writing is the polar opposite of expository writing. For this type of essay, your opinion should be the focus, and you should aim to convince the reader to adopt this opinion.

Like argumentative assignments, a good persuasive essay should demonstrate your ability to convince the audience. The texts are usually based on more emotionally evoking topics and arguments and persuade readers to take the author’s point of view.

Here’s how to excel in persuasive essay writing:

• Make it clear that the essay has an opinion. The following would be an excellent persuasive thesis statement:
  “Though the oil industry is an important part of our economy, it has negatively impacted our environment through climate change, smog, and the building of roads.”
• State your position the introduction of your persuasive essay. Make sure to maintain it throughout the text.
• Range the arguments in the persuasive essay body progressing from the least to the most important.
• Use ethos, logos, and pathos to appeal to the reader’s emotions or beliefs.

Here are a couple of intriguing ideas to write about:

1. It is necessary to curb bullying at schools.
2. Ineffective gun control is the main reason for school shootings.
3. Each of us is responsible for climate change.
4. We need to protect children from cyber threats.
5. Combating the menace of antibiotic resistance is an urgent issue.

🎨 Descriptive Essay Type

Descriptive essays create an image of something using vivid language and specific details. They aim to “show” readers the place, thing, person, or event with the help of words.

Here’s what you should know about this type of essay:

• Write a descriptive thesis statement. Remember the expository thesis about the oil industry? Descriptive writing would likely focus on an object associated with the industry, such as a tanker or even the liquid oil itself. A sample descriptive thesis statement could sound like this:
  “Crude oil is a black, viscous liquid that gives off an odd smell like plastic or many sorts of fuel.”
• Use vivid and varied language you use in your descriptive essay should be.
• Appeal to the reader’s senses when describing something.

Topics may be the following:

1. The scariest place I have ever visited.
2. My last overseas vacation.
3. My dream destination country for college studies.
4. The challenge I overcame the previous semester.
5. The sweetest childhood memory.

✒️ Narrative Essay Type

Narrative writing is essentially telling a story. It may be moving, emotional, anecdotal, or insightful. You are allowed to write using first-person pronouns, and creativity is appreciated. Such assignments aim to teach students to express themselves and their viewpoints in an emotionally engaging way.

Narrative essays have many similarities with descriptive papers, except they feature an obligatory sequence of events. Like any story, a narrative essay comprises an introduction, characters, plot, setting, climax, and conclusion. The only case when a narrative assignment does not have to comply with this structure is a book report, which is supposed to be impersonal and unemotional.

Here are the key things to keep in mind:

• State the purpose of your narrative essay in the thesis. Make it clear why you decided to tell the story.
• Feel free to use first-person narration. It’s not a must but is welcomed.
• Don’t switch between points of view. If you decide to write a third-person narrative, keep it consistent throughout the text.
• Use descriptive language that will have an emotional response in the reader.
• Ensure your narrative is well-structured and engaging.

Examples of narrative topics to consider include:

1. The birthday party I will remember forever.
2. My use of digital technology in studies.
3. Write about the time you got lost in a strange city.
4. A cross-cultural encounter that taught me cultural literacy.
5. Describe the event that showed you the value of peer collaboration at school.
6. Reflect on the phrase “Character is forged in adversity” based on your personal experiences.

Want to learn more about these 5 types of essay writing? Check out the following articles:

📚 Types of Essays: Middle School

Middle school essays are usually non-demanding academic tasks. Their main aim is to develop structured writing skills in students.

At this level, you are generally expected to do the following:

Here 4 of the most popular essay types for middle school.

Cause and Effect Essay

In a cause-and-effect essay, the text should focus on the impact of some phenomenon or physical thing—in other words, a cause and its effect.

The simplicity of this essay type allows you to explore almost any event or phenomenon. All you need to do is consider its causes and consequences. Again, the oil industry can be the focus of a cause-and-effect essay thesis statement:

“The oil industry has had a tremendous impact on our world, enabling the automotive industry, contributing to climate change, and generating great wealth.”

Possible topics for such essays include:

1. The effects of social media on relationships between friends.
2. How lack of sleep impacts academic performance.
3. Positive and negative consequences of skipping breakfast.
4. How daily exercise affects psychological well-being.
5. The impact of video games on children’s ability to focus.

Reflective Essay

A reflective essay aims to respond to or reminisce about a specific person, place, thing, event, or phenomenon. You may be required to reflect upon a poem, a military battle, or perhaps even another essay.

Reflective essays should be very subjective, so you’re free to use personal pronouns like “I” and “me” in them. For example, this would be a great thesis statement for a reflective essay:

“The oil industry has provided many benefits to society, but I worry deeply about its potential costs to our planet and its species.”

Reflective essay topics include:

1. A lesson you learned from failure.
2. A time when you stepped out of your comfort zone.
3. The impact of childhood memories on who you are today.
4. A moment when you realized the importance of family.
5. How traveling across the nation changed your opinion of people.

Check out Australian National University’s examples of reflective writing to see what such essays may look like.

Analytical Essay

In many ways, analytical writing is a mix between a reflection and a report. Prior to writing such an essay, you should reflect on your topic and conduct research. The reflection is personal, while the analysis is rooted in facts and logic.

Compare the following example thesis statement with the one from the previous type of essay:

“As the oil industry has grown, the levels of greenhouse gases have increased along with temperatures and concentrations of particulate matter in the atmosphere.”

This statement outlines factors that will be analyzed in the essay’s body. Note that it doesn’t use subjective feelings or personal pronouns. You can even try to use an informative thesis statement generator to make examples of both types and then compare the results to see the difference more clearly.

Possible topics for analytical essays include:

1. What are the qualities of a good leader?
2. Reasons why reading is essential for personal growth.
3. How technology makes life more convenient.
4. The importance of time management for balancing studies and life.
5. Why kindness can change the world.

Definition Essay

This type of essay details a definition and relevant characteristics of an idea, phenomenon, term, or concept to create a complete understanding of the discussed subject. Choose a word with a complex, arguable meaning for your paper and include familiar examples to clarify it.

Some topic ideas you may pick are:

1. What is community service and volunteering?
2. My definition of digital literacy.
3. How can you explain cultural diversity?
4. Towards a new, inclusive definition of fairness.
5. What does the term “multicultural society” mean?

To learn more on these types of essays for middle school, check out our in-depth articles:

🎊 Types of Essays: High School

Writing for high school is a bit different since students at this level engage more deeply with the study material.

Here’s what characterizes such essays:

Let’s take a closer look at the four major types of high school essays.

Response Paper

As its name suggests, a response paper communicates a student’s thoughtful and critical response to an assigned learning material, like an article, book, or video. Such papers usually consist of two parts: an overview of the work and the student’s opinion.

Topic suggestions for this writing type include:

1. Justice in To Kill a Mockingbird.
2. Mental illness in Hamlet.
3. Father-son relationship in The Kite Runner.
4. On family relationships in Interstellar.
5. Ethics of biographical movies: House of Gucci.

Exemplification Essay

An exemplification or illustration essay is one of the most flexible assignment types. Writing such a paper is all about choosing vivid examples. In other words, you want to make points that exemplify or illustrate your thesis statement.

For an exemplification essay, you should focus on evident, clear proof. Consider the following example thesis statement:

“The oil industry has had serious effects on the environment as demonstrated by the impact of massive oil spill on wildlife, the uncontrolled fires and explosions caused by oil and oil derivatives, and the melting of the polar ice caps caused by climate change.”

In the body of this exemplification essay, you should devote a paragraph to each of these arguments. Descriptions of the effect of the oil industry on wildlife or mentions of oil refinery explosions will grab the reader’s attention.

Once again, the conclusion should restate the thesis and remind the reader of the examples one last time.

Exemplification essay topics include:

1. The benefits of teamwork in achieving success.
2. Why self-discipline is the key to personal growth.
3. How small daily habits lead to long-term success.
4. The role of patience in building strong relationships.
5. Why lifelong learning is essential in today’s world.

Comparison and Contrast Essay

In a compare and contrast essay, you make a comparison of two or more issues. You may look at their similarities, differences, or both.

In writing a compare and contrast essay, students usually find two or more subjects with comparable characteristics and discuss their similarities and differences. Try to find subtle, unexpected aspects of compared subjects rather than state the obvious to get high grades.

The focus of your analysis should be reflected in your thesis statement. Consider this example:

“While both the oil industry and the solar-power industry will be major sources of energy in the future, oil has more environmental costs than green solar power.”

Some topics to consider are as follows:

1. Compare paper and digital books.
2. College education at home vs. abroad.
3. Discuss the benefits of cat vs. dog ownership.
4. Aspects of in-class vs. online learning.
5. Text vs. audio learning materials.

🎓 Types of Academic Essays for College and University

In college and university, students should typically write complex, research-based works that differ significantly from high school essays.

These are the primary specifics of the papers at this level of study:

Check out the academic essay types you may come across at this level of study.

Critical Essay

This type of essay requires a student’s critical engagement with the assigned topic and an in-depth analysis of the issue from multiple perspectives. It is not enough to follow where the literature leads you. You should formulate your standpoint and back it up with carefully selected evidence.

Some topics you can use are:

1. Adverse effects of social media on communication.
2. The present-day commodification of culture.
3. The evolving concept of privacy in the digital era.
4. Imagery and symbolism in Green Book.
5. Discuss the ethical side of drone warfare.

Reflective Essay

Reflections represent a student’s analysis of the assigned topic through the prism of their personal experiences and values. It is okay to sound subjective and present arguments from the first-person viewpoint.

Here are a few examples of reflective essay topics:

1. The effect of globalization on my local community.
2. Consider the changing standards of portrayal of women in media.
3. Environmental impacts on community health.
4. My experience with unequal access to education.
5. Does alternative medicine work?

Analytical Essay

Analytical essays invite students to research the topic with the help of different academic publications and form an unbiased, data-backed analytical position on the subject. Here, you should stick to facts and logic only and don’t try to persuade your readers with emotional appeal.

Try to examine one of these ideas:

1. How is race presented in Oscar-winning films?
2. Analyze the ethics of animal testing.
3. Study the changing global security context.
4. How do cultural values affect national development?
5. Impact of deepfakes on public trust in politicians.

Research Essay

In a research essay, students should examine the subject extensively and synthesize the identified material for a detailed, structured piece. This type of essay is typically longer than any other academic paper and assesses not just your writing skills but also your ability to conduct scholarly research.

Check out a few samples of research essay topics:

1. Does consumerism erode modern cultures?
2. Impact of social media on heavy users’ mental health.
3. AI usage ethics in professional activities.
4. Does gentrification kill social cohesion?
5. Research the actual effects of deforestation.

👌 Remember These Important Essay Tips

Now, it’s time for practical advice you can apply when writing any kind of essay. These tips and tricks are just the basics of essay writing. Yet, keeping them in mind can facilitate your work and ensure a high grade.

Here they are:

• Read the task carefully. When working on any assignment, always pay close attention to the instructions. The standard interpretation of any particular essay style is never as important as your teacher’s definition of the assignment.
• When in doubt, ask questions. No teacher will be upset with you asking for reasonable clarifications. It is better to meet your professor’s expectations than to surprise them with a creative effort and, subsequently, get a poor grade.
• Learn from the example. Reading other papers on the topic can give you many valuable ideas. If you can’t access other students’ works, you can generate a sample with our ChatGPT essay writer. It’ll illustrate the writing tips you’ve read and showcase what a good essay looks like.
• Stick to the classic 5-paragraph format at first. Have you noticed that most of the examples described above fit into the 5-paragraph essay format? This structure is a powerful way to organize your thoughts. Master it, and you’ll write shorter and longer essays with ease, too. Try our outline maker to get more ideas for organizing your paper.
• Start writing your essay early. No matter the essay type, your revisions will be better than your first drafts. If you have time for second, third, and fourth drafts, you will be much happier with your final grade. To ensure consistency of the text, have each draft read to you by an essay reader.
• Use our free online tools. AI can make your student’s life much easier if you use it ethically and wisely. For example, an attention grabber generator can formulate a catchy hook for your paper, a transition word adder will improve the flow of your text, and a conclusion maker may help you write an impressive final paragraph.

We hope our explanations and tips show you that writing an essay is less painful than you may think. Actually, it can be pretty exciting. Just give it a try!

🔗 References

1. Essay Structure | – Harvard College Writing Center
2. Writing: Types of Essays – Smith College
3. Essay Writing // Purdue Writing Lab
4. Types of academic writing – The University of Sydney
5. Guide to Different Kinds of Essays – Gallaudet University
6. What are the types of essays? – Quora