types of college essay structures

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College Essay Structures & How to Approach Them

You’ll encounter several different types of essays in the admission process, and the range of structures can leave you a little confused. How do you approach each type? What’s the difference? Why do they each matter? Read on to learn about four of the most common college essays: the personal statement, your favorite activity, the “Why us?” essay, and the intellectual curiosity essay.

1. The Personal Statement

The run-down.

This is the most traditional type of essay. It’s about you, your personality, and your interests. Usually, you’ll adhere to a specific prompt, but you’ll often have a choice. For example, one of the Common App ’s prompts for the 2018-2019 admissions cycle is:

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

The Approach

For this essay, you should spend some time brainstorming ideas . This will help you narrow down which prompt you want to answer, as well as your specific topic.

Try to answer questions such as:

What makes me unique?

What are my beliefs?

What matters to me?

Make sure you’re showing—painting a picture of your experiences with words rather than giving a play-by-play of events—and use plenty of imagery and rhetorical devices to portray your ideas.

For more tips, read What Is a College Personal Statement? .

2. Your Favorite Activity

Some supplements ask you to write about your most important extracurricular—something that has influenced and shaped you.

Choose an extracurricular that is relevant to your goals and career path. The activity should have special meaning to you and be something you enjoy, because your enthusiasm or lack thereof will come through.

Explain how the activity has shaped you, and use rhetorical devices and language to describe it.

Keep in mind that you will be asked to identify important extracurriculars in your activities section, but that will be just a short description. Use this essay to also demonstrate your writing skills.

For more tips on writing this essay, see our complete guide to the Extracurricular Activity essay , including a real sample essay.

3. Why [insert school here]

The “Why this school” essay is an opportunity to show both what you know about the school and how you’ll fit in there. Colleges want to know why you want to go there in particular—not just any rigorous school.

Remember that this essay is about you and the college —essentially why you’re a mutual fit.

Show that you’ve done your research by mentioning some interesting (and not readily apparent) aspects of the school, such as a tradition, unique activity, or interesting program. Avoid superficial aspects of the college, such as the weather or low acceptance rate.

To start, make a list of aspects of the school you like and pare it down. Pick some characteristics to highlight, and describe how your interests align with the school’s. For more tips on writing this essay, see our complete guide to the “Why this college?” essay , including a real sample essay.

4. Intellectual Curiosity

Colleges look for students who are excited to learn, because these are the people who will contribute to their communities and thrive in careers later on. You will see different versions of prompts asking you about your passion for learning. For example, here’s Stanford’s :

The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning. (100 to 250 words)

Use anecdotes, such as a classroom experience or time you performed independent research, to illustrate your passion for learning. You might also relate a question that inspired you.

This is another essay where it’s important to show, not tell. Your enthusiasm needs to come across so you sounds genuine. Show how much you love to learn.

Essay Structures: The Takeaway

Remember that you can’t just recycle different types of essays; sometimes, you will need to write multiple. Make sure you understand the different structures so you’re well-versed on how to write each kind.

The wording of prompts will vary, but you should be able to identify the structures from the gist and keywords. For example, some colleges will actually use the phrase “intellectual curiosity” while others may ask you about your love of learning. Some colleges will ask you why you want to attend that school, while others may ask you to connect your experiences to a tradition associated with the college.

Make sure you tackle each structure according to what the prompt is actually asking. Once you’ve written a couple, it should get easier and easier to understand what colleges want and how to approach the essays.

Want help with your college essays to improve your admissions chances? Sign up for your free CollegeVine account and get access to our essay guides and courses. You can also get your essay peer-reviewed and improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

Writing Process: Organizing

Types of essays and suggested structures, introduction.

The structural organization of an essay will vary, depending on the type of writing task you’ve been assigned. Below are outline templates for specific types of writing projects. Keep in mind these are just a starting point: there is always room for variation and creativity in how a subject is most effectively presented to a reader.

Analytical essay

This is perhaps the most common structure. Examples of this include questions which ask you to discuss , analyze , investigate , explore, or review . In an analytical structure you are required to break the topic into its different components and discuss these in separate paragraphs or sections, demonstrating balance where possible.

Background information on topic
Overall point of view of the topic (thesis)
Overview of components to be discussed (structure)
Topic sentence outlining first component
Sentences giving explanations and providing evidence to support topic sentence
Concluding sentence – link to next paragraph
Topic sentence outlining second component
Sentences giving explanations and providing evidence to back topic sentence
These follow the same structure for as many components as you need to outline
Summary of the main points of the body
Restatement of the main point of view
Justification/evaluation (if required by task)

Argumentative essay

Examples of this type of essay include questions which ask you to take a position on a topic, such as a particular decision or policy, and present arguments which support your position. An effective way to argue a point can be to present the opposing view first then counter this view with stronger evidence.

Statement of your position on the topic (thesis)
Overview of arguments to be presented (structure)
Topic sentence outlining first argument
Topic sentence outlining second argument
These follow the same structure for as many arguments as you wish to put forward in support of the topic.
Restatement of the position

Interpretive essay

Examples of this type of essay include assignments where you are given data such as a case study or scenario, a diagram, graphical information, or a picture and expected to interpret this information to demonstrate your application of knowledge when answering the task. Based on this data, you may be asked to do a range of things such as provide recommendations or solutions, develop a nursing care plan, a teaching plan, suggest legal advice, or plan a marketing strategy.

Brief background information on topic
Overview of issues to be addressed in the essay (structure)
State overall interpretation (thesis)
Topic sentence outlining first issue identified from the data
Sentences giving further explanation and providing evidence from both the literature and the data, e.g. the case study to support the topic sentence (it is very important in this types of essays to make reference to the data you have been supplied to give your essay context).
Topic sentence outlining second issue identified
These follow the same structure for as many issues as you wish to discuss from the data you have been supplied.
Statement of overall interpretation
Summary of the main issues from the data supplied
Make recommendations or suggest solutions to address the issues arising from the data supplied.

Comparative essay

Examples of this type of essay include compare , compare and contrast , or differentiate questions. In this structure the similarities and/or differences between two or more items (for example, theories or models) are discussed paragraph by paragraph. Your assignment task may require you to make a recommendation about the suitability of the items you are comparing.

Outline of two (or more) things being compared or contrasted
Purpose for making the comparison / contrast
Overview of the specific points to be compared / contrasted
Topic sentence outlining first similarity or difference
Topic sentence outlining second similarity or different
These follow the same structure for as many items or aspects as you need to compare/contrast
Restatement of the main purpose for the comparison / contrast
Summary of the main similarities and differences
Recommendation about suitability of compared items for purpose (if requirement of assessment task)
Overall conclusion

Problem and solution essay

These essay questions often require you to structure your answer in several parts. An example may be to ask you to investigate a problem and explore a range of solutions. You may also be asked to choose the best solution and justify your selection, so allow space for this in your essay if needed.

Background information about the problem
Description of the problem and why it is serious
Overview of the solutions to be outlined
Topic sentence outlining first solution
Explanation of the positive and negative aspects of the solution
Evidence to support explanations
Concluding sentence
Topic sentence outlining second solution
Evidence to support explanation
These follow the same structure for as many solutions as you need to discuss
Summary of the problem and overview of the solutions
Evaluation of solutions and recommendation of best option

Note : Depending on the topic, body paragraphs in a problem and solution essay could be devoted to discussing the problem in more detail, as well as the solution. It’s up to the writer to assess the needs of the project, in order to decide how much time is spent on each part.

Cause and effect essay

Examples of this type of essay include questions which ask you to state or investigate the effects or outline the causes of the topic. This may be, for example, an historical event, the implementation of a policy, a medical condition, or a natural disaster. These essays may be structured in one of two ways: either the causes(s) of a situation may be discussed first followed by the effect(s), or the effect(s) could come first with the discussion working back to outline the cause(s). Sometimes with cause and effect essays you are required to give an assessment of the overall effects, such as on a community, a workplace, an individual. Space must be allocated for this assessment in your structure if needed.

Background information on situation under discussion
Description of the situation
Overview of the causes or effects to be outlined
Topic sentence outlining first cause or effect
Sentences giving explanations and providing evidence to support the topic sentence
Concluding sentence – linking to next paragraph
Topic sentence outlining second cause or effect
These follow the same structure for as many causes or effects as you need to outline
Conclusion, prediction or recommendation

Finally, consider that some essay assignments may ask you to combine approaches, especially in more advanced classes. At that point, you may have to vary your body paragraph strategy from section to section.

This chart gives an idea of what different roles paragraphs can play in a mixed-structure essay assignment.

Flow Chart. Central idea: Choosing Paragraph Patterns. Radiating from top right: Narration - introduction, to tell a story that makes a point, to give background on people or event, to show sequence of events. Process - to show steps of action, to explain how to do something. Example/Illustration - to clarify a point or concept, to give a picture or specific instance, to make the abstract real. Analogy - to compare scenarios, to compare to a settled outcome, to compare one event to another very different one. Definition - to clarify meaning, to set foundation of argument, to give background. Comparison/contrast - to draw distinction between items, to find common ground. Description - to give details, to create a picture. Cause/effect - to lead from one item to another, to argue logic of evidence of action. Classification/Division - to put items in categories, to clarify comparison of items in a category, to divide items by characteristics.

Revision and Adaptation. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Writing an Essay. Provided by : QUT Cite Write. Located at : http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/write/essay.jsp . License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Image of Choosing Paragraph Patterns. Authored by : GrinnPidgeon. Located at : https://flic.kr/p/a9oiLS . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

The Admissions Strategist

College essay formatting: how to structure different kinds of college essays.

When it comes to writing college application essays, most applicants worry about choosing an excellent topic or crafting a perfectly polished personal statement .

But here’s the thing:

If you forget to pay attention to your essay’s structure , your memorable topic and flawless grammar won’t do you any good.

In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about structuring a college application essay. By following these tips, you’ll impress admissions officers and increase your chances of acceptance!

How to Format Your College Essay: The Ultimate Guide!

Click above to watch a video on how to format a College Essay.

Why Is Structure Important?

First, let’s talk about why structure is important.

Without structure, your “essay” might come across more like pointless rambling .

You might leave your reader feeling lost and confused, and that’s not the type of impression you want to make on an admissions team .

Carefully organizing your essay will:

Help your writing make sense and flow well
Ensure you clearly convey your point(s) to the admissions team
Demonstrate logical thinking and clarity
Contribute to a great first impression!

Step One: Create an Outline

No matter what structure you decide to use, it’s essential to start by creating an outline.

Your outline can take the shape of a formal outline, a bubble map, a list of ideas, etc. The goal is simply to help you plan your essay in advance.

An outline allows you to:

Map out the key points and details you want to cover in your essay
Ensure that ideas are logically connected
Identify any holes in your essay and fix them before you start writing
Plan the order of your paragraphs, the transitions you’ll use, and how to effectively begin and end your essay

As you build your outline, make sure you don’t forget:

A Beginning, Middle, and End

With your college application essays, you’re telling your story to admissions officers.

And all good stories have a beginning, middle, and end.

When you’re outlining your essay, ensure that it has a natural intro, body, and conclusion.

Beginning: The Intro

You can open with an anecdote , a thought-provoking question, dialogue, or maybe even some humor.

However you decide to start your essay, be sure that you have some sort of thesis in your intro.

A thesis is a single sentence that sums up the main point you hope to convey in your essay.

You can also think of the thesis as your answer to the question the prompt is asking.
For instance, if the prompt is asking why you chose this particular college, include a sentence providing an overview of the main reasons you’re interested in this school.

Sometimes, writing the intro is particularly challenging.

If you’re having trouble with your intro, you may want to come back and write it at the end.

Remember, you don’t have to write the essay in the same order that admissions officers will read it!

Middle: The Body

The body of your essay should discuss events, activities, experiences, or examples that support your thesis.

Each body paragraph should focus on a particular topic or aspect, and all of your points should be clearly connected.
As you outline your essay, look for any gaps or confusing transitions between ideas.

Your body paragraphs should not be in random order.

End: Conclusion

You’ll end your essay with a conclusion . Depending on what structure you use for your essay, your conclusion could include:

An ending to the action or event being narrated
Some reflection, an insightful thought
Looking ahead to the future
Connecting the rest of your essay to you, the type of student you’ll be, your growth and development, etc

Types of Essay Structures

All essays need a beginning, middle, and end.

But exactly how you structure these components may vary.

Below, we’ll take a look at several specific essay structures, plus when to use them.

Example Structure

This is your traditional essay structure:

An introduction containing your thesis or main point
Three examples or pieces of evidence supporting this main point
Conclusion stating what the essay has demonstrated/shown

Good for : Making a single, strong point, especially when writing a shorter essay.

This also works well for a very straightforward prompt, such as “Why This College” or questions about your interest in/experiences with a particular field.

Drawbacks : This type of structure can come across as formulaic or dull, particularly for a longer personal essay.

Example : For instance, a “Why This College” essay could include:

An introduction outlining three main reasons for your interest in the college (a particular program, a professor you want to work with, and something specific about campus culture)
Three body paragraphs, each developing one of the reasons mentioned above in vivid detail
A conclusion summing up these main points and reiterating your passion for the college in question

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Cause and effect.

A cause and effect essay is built around explaining how one significant event or experience caused change or had a major impact on you and your life.

If you write this type of essay, you’ll:

Start by describing an experience or influence.
Discuss specifically how this experience or influence impacted you and your life.

Good for : Essays about a life-changing experience or an individual who had a major impact on you, your personal growth, your choice of career, etc.

Drawbacks : It’s sometimes easy to “write yourself out of the equation” in this type of essay. While you do need to introduce the experience or influence, spend the bulk of your time on Step #2: discussing the impact on you .

Example : Let’s say you want to write about how your grandfather, an engineer, inspired your interest in science and math. You can:

Write an introduction briefly explaining that your grandfather had a major impact on your goals and ambitions.
Introduce your grandfather and his background as an engineer, as well as your relationship with him (cause).
Explain how your grandfather inspired your interest in science and math (effect). Then focus the rest of your essay on describing your passion and experiences with math and science, as well as how you plan to pursue this interest at the college to which you’re applying.

Compare and Contrast

This essay structure is similar to the cause and effect essay structure described above.

There are two different ways to structure a compare and contrast essay:

Organize your essay point by point, comparing one aspect of the objects or situations at a time.
Use the “block method,” covering all points of one object/situation in the first half, then all points of the other in the second half.

Good for : Questions about your personal growth and development, since this structure allows you to compare how you once were to how you are now.

You can also use it for “impact essays,” like a question about your leadership skills. (See the example below.)

Drawbacks : This structure isn’t conducive to all essay topics, so use it wisely.

Example : Maybe you want to write an essay about the impact your stellar leadership skills had on your school’s Spanish Club.

Here are two ideas:

Start by briefly introducing your role in the Spanish Club and the fact that you helped improve the club using your leadership abilities. Then use the “block method,” first describing what the Spanish Club was like before you worked your magic, then describing exactly what you did, and finally describing the improvements achieved by your leadership.
If you don’t want to use the block method, you can alternatively focus each body paragraph on an aspect of the Spanish Club that was altered or improved thanks to your leadership.

Narrative or Chronological

Because it’s filled with action, dialogue, and vivid details, the narrative or chronological structure is one of our favorites for the college application essay.

If you choose to write a narrative or chronological essay, you’ll need to focus on a single event or moment in your life.

This essay should create a “snapshot” of a single experience that describes you or showcases a specific aspect of your personality.

With this structure, you’re essentially telling a story.

Your introduction should start at the beginning of the story you’re choosing to tell, briefly alluding to the main point of this anecdote.

Then, you’ll tell the story in chronological order, using colorful, specific details.

Your conclusion should reveal the end of the story, possibly including a brief reflection on how this experience has impacted you or what this story reveals about you.

If you don’t want your entire essay to be a narrative, you may wish to narrate a brief anecdote in your introduction.

The rest of your essay can focus on describing the impact of this anecdote or reflecting on its significance.

Good for : Longer essays, especially when a school has required you to write multiple essays. This structure can be easily adapted to almost any topic, as long as you can think of a meaningful narrative that effectively illustrates your point.

Drawbacks : Some consider this essay structure to be on the risky side, but it’s okay to get creative with your college application essay.

In fact, it’s encouraged! Just make sure that you:

Focus on a key moment or day instead of detailing a long list of events.
Don’t include extra details that aren’t necessary to convey your point.
Don’t overdramatize your story. Just use vivid, specific, and true details that are meaningful to you.

If you’re nervous about using this structure, try using a more traditional structure on some of your other essays. That way, there will be a nice balance to the content and format of your essays.

Example : You want to tell the story of your community’s experience with a powerful hurricane—particularly the way that you helped organize relief efforts.

Here’s how:

Jump right into the action with your introduction. You may describe experiencing the hurricane itself, or perhaps you should take the reader on a tour of your neighborhood, detailing the damage and the emotions people experienced in the hurricane’s aftermath.
Next, simply narrate your story in chronological order. How did the idea to do something take root in your mind? How did you put your plan into action? What exact steps did you follow? Did you experience any problems or obstacles along the way? How did you deal with them?
In your conclusion, you might want to describe the results of your efforts.
Alternatively, you could briefly reflect on what you learned from the experience, how you’ll continue helping others in college and the future, or what this story demonstrates about your character.

What About the Shorter Essays?

In some cases, you’ll be stuck with some pretty restrictive word limits: 250 words, 150 words, and sometimes even less!

How can you write an effective beginning, middle, and end in just a few words?

For these shorter essays, limit your intro and conclusion to just a sentence each.

Sometimes, you might not have an introduction or conclusion and all, and that’s okay!
Colleges understand that word limits do just that: limit how thoroughly you can write about a topic.

Just ensure that your main points are evident and that you’ve chosen only the clearest, most direct pieces of information to include in your essay.

Anything that isn’t absolutely essential will need to be cut.

Read your essay from beginning to end multiple times, ensuring that your ideas flow logically and that the connections between your ideas are clear.

Other Tips for Shorter Essays

Consider the impact your series of short essays will have as a whole.
Vary structure and content, but be consistent with your voice and style.
Ensure that your essays support the impression you’ve established in the rest of your application.
If writing a short essay is really difficult, some experts recommend writing a longer essay and cutting it down to the bare essentials.

Conclusion: College Essay Formatting & Structure

As you write your college application essays, choosing a clear and logical structure is essential.

You want your essay to be interesting and memorable, but you also want it to make sense.

Consider the purpose of each essay you’re writing, then think about the most logical way to structure it (example, compare and contrast, cause and effect, or narrative/chronological). Build an outline, look for and fix any holes in your logic, then start writing.

Admissions officers will be impressed by the clarity and organization of your writing, helping you write your way to an acceptance letter (or maybe several)!

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How to format and structure a college essay: A definitive guide

Bonus Material: Download 30 essays that worked for Princeton

Are you a rising high school senior preparing for the admissions process and aiming for one of those coveted spots at selective universities? Are you looking for help figuring out how to structure your college admissions essay to maximize your chances of acceptance?

We’ve guided countless students through the application process to acceptances at the country’s most selective colleges. In this blog post, we’ll share some of our proven advice on how to structure and format your college admissions essay to make the best impression on admissions officers.

We’ve also included a set of 30 successful college application essays that helped students get into Princeton. There are few better resources to help your brainstorming than essays that you know worked!

Download Thirty Essays that Worked for Princeton

Jump to section:

What makes a successful college essay Types of College Essay Formats The Narrative Essay Format and Example The Montage Essay Format and Example The “I am…” Essay Format and Example The Creative/Artistic Format and Example Next Steps

What makes a successful college essay?

You can think of a college essay’s effectiveness as being made up of two things: the content, and the narrative structure. In other words, you need to have a strong topic, but you also need to structure and format the way you write about that topic in a specific way. Without the right format, even the most unique and moving topic won’t wow the admission committee.

We’ve written extensively about our step-by-step process for ensuring that you have the right topic in our post on the Diamond Strategy here . It’s a proven method for topic selection, and we encourage everyone to read it and use it.

Your choice of topic is going to heavily influence what format will work best for your college essay. Below, we’ll go into several specific college essay formats (with successful college admissions essay examples!), and we’ll discuss when to use each one.

Types of College Essay Formats

In this post, we’ll talk about four kinds of structures or formats that have been proven to work again and again for successful college admission essays.

The Narrative – best if you want to describe one key moment in your life.
The Montage – best if you have an eclectic mix of interests/experiences.
The “I am…” – best if you have an identity or belief that’s important to you.
The Creative/Artistic – Best if you have an unusual topic and like taking risks.

Remember: although each of these formats can be broken down into something like a template, it will always get its power from the specifics of your story and your experiences. Take a look at any of these successful college essays that worked and you’ll see that, no matter the format, the key to each is tons and tons of specific detail.

Also remember that these formats are not always interchangeable : if you want to write about what you learned from a pivotal moment in your life, you’ll probably want The Narrative and not, say, The Montage.

The Narrative Essay Format and Example (best if you want to describe one key moment in your life).

The Narrative Essay format is one of the most popular and one of the most commonly seen on “Essays that Worked” blogs–and with good reason! This essay structure lets you tell a detailed story, keeping admissions counselors engaged while also conveying key insights about you as an applicant.

Here are the typical components of a Narrative Essay:

Start in the middle of the story
Show personal growth
Reflect on what’s changed

So what does it look like? Let’s take a look at an actual sample essay from our Thirty College Essays that Worked for Princeton and break it down.

1 – Start in the middle of the story (media res)

Drop the reader right into the middle of a crucial moment, describing it like a scene in a film or movie.

To him, I was a stranger. He could not recall that I had fervently cared for him every day for the past five weeks. As I laughed at his trademark joke for the third time that day, he felt a familiar, but unidentifiable gratitude. When I mentioned a detail about his past, he blushed, realizing that I, a perceived stranger, knew him better than himself. The only recollection he had of me was of a girl with an unmatched dedication to his happiness. This man was one of the patients I encountered during my volunteer internship at Expressions, a hospital program for adults with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Notice how this begins the story with no preamble. If your essay topic is about a major event in your life, one of the strongest ways to begin your college essay is by jumping right into it.

2 – Zoom out

Once you’ve hooked the reader with your story, zoom out and provide more context and background information. How did you get there? What brought you to that moment?

On the second day of the internship, I strode through the door, eager to delve into my new daily responsibilities. As I approached the patients, I anticipated, somewhat naively, a chorus of welcomes and friendly receptions. But instead, I was met with puzzled glances and polite, but reserved greetings. I realized that no one remembered who I was. For the next several minutes, I questioned my purpose in a program where I could not permanently impact the participants. What motivation did I have to go beyond mediocrity when, no matter the quality of my service, I would be forgotten? But it was that morning, as I poured each patient a cup of coffee, smiled, and reintroduced myself, that I constructed my personal motto: “Initiative requires no incentive.” Throughout the rest of the day, I found motivation through mundane, yet meaningful moments, like helping a patient complete a crossword or color a picture. It was in those moments that I learned that dedication is not derived from a desire to make memorable change, but from a will to contribute to your community no matter the reward.

You want to maintain a high level of detail and specificity, but you also want to zoom out enough to make sure your reader understands the background and context of your story. This essay does that perfectly by explaining the internship and the student’s initial involvement. More importantly, it shows us what the student was thinking at the beginning, which provides an opportunity for growth and learning.

3 – Show personal growth/development/change

The narrative works because it’s about how you, as a student, college applicant, and human, have changed and grown through the experience you describe. So the next part of your essay should describe some element of change as it develops through this story. Take a look below:

Over the next few weeks, I discovered that because the patients had no recollection of the past, they cherished the present moment. It was this principle of mindful existence that taught me to love the moments of doing, rather than linger in the memories of “I have done.” To fulfill this principle, I sought to paint each moment with cheer and consideration. Through all their bursts of frustration, shivers of discomfort, and tears of untraceable nostalgia, I strove to offer warmth and support. On several occasions, I brought in my tutu and pointe shoes and performed a ballet variation. As I taught the participants ballet steps, the room rang with laughter and amusement. Hoping to inspire the creativity I find so empowering, I also orchestrated events from poetry slams to watercolor classes to recipe exchanges. By incorporating my individuality into the program, I reinvented my role as a volunteer, a community member, and an individual.

This process of “discovery” is one of the keys to the Narrative Structure. This college essay format is designed to let you bring out the personal growth that accompanied this event. In the body paragraphs, the author shows how she developed and “reinvented” her role through this experience.

4 – Reflect on what’s changed

As you bring your essay to a close, you should actively reflect on what has changed throughout this narrative. The closing can be short and sweet, and often refers back to the original story you told in the first paragraph.

On my last day at the program, I was leading a jewelry-making activity, when I noticed one of the participants becoming agitated. She was, among all the group members, the patient in the most advanced stage of memory loss and the patient I accompanied most often. I drew up a chair next to her and offered my help. Her head, previously hunched over scattered bracelet pieces, slowly lifted and her eyes turned to meet mine. As her eyes flickered across my face, I saw in her expression that she was searching for a thought, creeping to the forefront of her mind. Then, carefully she said, “Your name is Dana, right?” It had been nearly a year since she had remembered the last five minutes, yet she had remembered my name. As I smiled and nodded, she began to tear up, and we both silently rejoiced in the realization that she had momentarily overcome her disease. In that instant, my continuous acts of compassion, whether previously forgotten or anonymous, came to fruition. Service became more than the completion of routine tasks or the collection of volunteer hours; it became the responsibility to foster hope and prosperity within my community, the nation, and humanity.

This final paragraph beautifully brings the entire essay to a close: it recalls the opening paragraph, but now gives it a new and more positive spin. It also tells the admissions committee what this student has learned through this narrative. This student comes away from the experience with a new understanding of service.

This is one of the best examples of a successfully executed college essay in the Narrative style. It hooks the reader in from the beginning, making us want to figure out what’s going on. Then, it gives us the context we need to understand how the writer got to this point and who they are. Most importantly, it concludes the narrative by showing real, impressive personal growth in the student’s perspective on the world, ending with a reflection on what this writer values and brings to a college.

Yours will look different, of course. But if you want to understand why the narrative essay structure works, this impactful essay is a great place to start.

You can find more successful narrative essay examples in our Thirty College Essays that Worked for Princeton .

The Montage Essay Format and Example (best if you have an eclectic mix of interests/experiences)

The Narrative Structure is great if your essay topic can be conveyed through a single crucial moment or experience. But what if you want to show the admissions committee at your dream university some aspect(s) of your personality that can only be conveyed through multiple moments?

Here are the key elements of a Montage Essay:

Introduce your theme
Present a series of snapshots related to the theme
Tie the snapshots to the theme

That’s the kind of topic the Montage Essay Format is designed for. You won’t go into as much detail as you would in the Narrative Essay. Instead, you will present the admissions committee with a series of snapshots from your life, all connected by a common theme.

These snapshots can be actual events, or they can be creatively selected items from your life that tell universities something about you–you might create a montage of what’s on your bookshelf or what kind of bumper stickers are on your car, for example.

1 – Start with the unifying thread or theme

Give us a bit of context for whatever unites the montage by setting it up. Alternatively, you can just jump right into one of the montage moments (like in the Narrative Format). The best option here will depend on your specific essay.

We can see an example from our collection of thirty actual sample essays below:

“You know nothing, Jon Snow” Being an avid Game of Thrones fanatic, I fancy every character, scene, and line. However,Ygritte’s famous line proves to be just slightly more relatable than the incest, corruption, and sorcery that characterizes Westeros. Numerous theories explore the true meaning of these five words, but I prefer to think they criticize seventeen-year-old Jon’s lack of life experience. Growing up in a lord’s castle, he has seen little about the real world; thus, he struggles to see the bigger picture until he evaluates all angles. Being in a relatively privileged community myself, I can affirm the lack of diverse perspectives —and even more, the scarcity of real-world problems. Instead, my life has been horrifically plagued by first world problems.

This introductory paragraph opens with something creative and catchy, then explains the purpose. It also sets up the montage that will follow: “the first world problems.”

2 – Present the montage!

Naturally, this is the biggest part of the Montage Format. The pieces of your montage can be short (as in the below example) or fairly long. The most important thing is that they are detailed, unique, and come together to tell the university admissions officers something about you.

I’ve written a eulogy and held a funeral for my phone charger. I’ve thrown tantrums when my knitted sweaters shrunk in the dryer. And yes, I actually have cried over spilled (organic) milk. Well, shouldn’t I be happy with the trivial “problems” I’ve faced? Shouldn’t I appreciate the opportunities and the people around me? Past the “feminism v. menimism” and “memes” of the internet, are heartbreaking stories and photos of life outside my metaphorical “Bethpage Bubble.” How can I be content when I am utterly oblivious to the perspectives of others? Like Jon Snow, I’ve never lived a day in another person’s shoes. Fewer than three meals a day. No extra blanket during record-breaking winter cold. No clean water. I may be parched after an intense practice, but I know nothing of poverty. Losing a loved one overseas. Being forced to leave your home. Coups d’état and dictatorial governments. I battle with my peers during class discussions, but I know nothing of war. Denial of education. Denial of religion. Denial of speech. I have an endless list of freedoms, and I know nothing of oppression. Malaria. Cholera. Cancer. I watch how Alzheimer’s progresses in my grandmother, but I know nothing of disease. Living under a strict caste system. Being stereotyped because of one’s race. Unwarranted prejudice. I may be in a minority group, yet I know nothing of discrimination. Flappers, speakeasies, and jazz. Two world wars. Pagers, hippies, and disco. I’m barely a 90’s kid who relishes SpongeBob episodes, and I know nothing of prior generations. Royal weddings, tribal ceremonies, and Chinese New Years. I fast during Ramadan, but I know nothing of other cultures. Hostile political parties. Progressive versus retrospective. Right and wrong. I am seventeen, and I know nothing of politics.

This montage is really a list of the first-world problems of the writer and the things the writer “knows nothing” about. In writing this list, however, the student is making clear that they’re aware of the limits of their own experience, and that kind of self-reflection is crucial for a winning college essay.

3 – Tie the moments of the montage together

Each montage essay must end by clearly drawing a lesson. The question every admissions officer will be asking is: what do all of these moments tell us about you?

Is ignorance really bliss? Beyond my community and lifetime exists myriad events I’ll never witness, people I’ll never meet, and beliefs I’ll never understand. Being unexposed to the culture and perspectives that comprise this world, I know I can never fully understand anyone or anything. Yet, irony is beautiful. Embarking on any career requires making decisions on behalf of a community, whether that be a group of students, or a patient, or the solar system. I am pleased to admit like Jon Snow, I know nothing, but that will change in college.

This reflection really doesn’t have to take up a lot of space. In just a few sentences, this author shows us why the montage matters: this student understands the limits of their experiences and knowledge, and, most importantly, is eager and willing to work to overcome them.

For more successful college application essays like this, check out our collection of actual sample essays below:

The “I am…” Essay Format (best if you have an identity or belief that’s important to you)

This format is the most direct way to approach a personal essay. By using this structure, you will directly present the admissions officers with some crucial aspect of your personality, background, or interests.

This essay format is best for students who want to highlight a particular quirk, lifelong challenge, or important aspects of their demographic background.

This kind of essay generally follows this structure:

A surprising “I am…” statement
Explanation of the statement with specific examples
Reflection on how this has shaped you

Like all college admissions essays, this will require you to be specific and detailed. But, it might not involve much of an actual story or narrative (though it can!). Take a look at the breakdown of the example below to see how it’s done.

1 – Start with a surprising “I am…” statement

This essay structure depends on hooking your reader’s attention from the first line, so you want to start with something memorable, unexpected, and maybe even a bit confusing. Though often this means saying “I am…” it could just as easily be “I believe…” or “I have…”

I am an aspiring hot sauce sommelier. Ever since I was a child, I have been in search for all that is spicy. I began by dabbling in peppers of the jarred variety. Pepperoncini, giardiniera, sports peppers, and jalapeños became not only toppings, but appetizers, complete entrées, and desserts. As my palate matured, I delved into a more aggressive assortment of spicy fare. I’m not referring to Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, the crunchy snack devoured by dilettantes. No, it was bottles of infernal magma that came next in my tasting curriculum.

Here’s a classic example of how to start. “Hot sauce sommelier” is unusual and quirky enough that it holds the reader’s attention. Admissions officers will want to keep reading to see why this matters.

2 – Expand on the “I am…”

This can take different forms: you can explain how you came to be, say, a hot sauce sommelier. Or you can tell us what that looks like in your everyday life. It’ll depend in large part on what your individual story is, but the key is specifics, specifics, specifics.

Despite the current lack of certification offered for the profession which I am seeking, I am unquestionably qualified. I can tell you that a cayenne pepper sauce infused with hints of lime and passion fruit is the perfect pairing to bring out the subtle earthy undertones of your microwave ramen. I can also tell you that a drizzle of full-bodied Louisiana habanero on my homemade vanilla bean ice cream serves as an appetizing complement. For the truly brave connoisseur, I suggest sprinkling a few generous drops of Bhut Jolokia sauce atop a bowl of chili. Be warned, though; one drop too many and you might find yourself like I did, crying over a heaping bowl of kidney beans at the dining room table. Although I consistently attempt to cultivate the rarest and most expertly crafted bottles of molten spice, like an oenophile who occasionally sips on five dollar bottles of wine, I am neither fussy nor finicky. I have no qualms about dousing my omelets with Cholula, dipping my tofu in pools of Sriracha, or soaking my vegetarian chicken nuggets in the Frank’s Red Hot that my mom bought from the dollar store. No matter the quality or cost, when gently swirled, wafted, and swished; the sauces excite my senses. Each initial taste, both surprising yet subtly familiar, has taught me the joy of the unknown and the possibility contained within the unexpected.

Check out all specific details the writer uses in this portion of the essay! These moments both show the student’s skill as a writer and, more importantly, convey their very real passion for hot sauce. It doesn’t matter that it’s a little bit silly: what matters is showing the university that this student is dedicated to something .

3 – End by reflecting on how this aspect of your identity shapes who you are as a person and student

As always, these essays have to end with a bit of introspection: you’ve told us the story, now explain why it matters, as this student does.

My ceaseless quest for piquancy has inspired many journeys, both gustatory and otherwise. It has dragged me into the depths of the souks of Marrakech, where I purchased tin cans filled with Harissa. Although the chili sauce certainly augmented the robust aroma of my tagine, my food was not the only thing enriched by this excursion. My conquest has also brought me south, to the valleys of Chile, where I dined among the Mapuche and flavored my empanadas with a smoky seasoning of Merkén. Perhaps the ultimate test of my sensory strength occurred in Kolkata, India. After making the fatal mistake of revealing my penchant for spicy food to my friend’s grandmother, I spent the night with a raw tongue and cold sweats. I have learned that spice isn’t always easy to digest. It is the distilled essence of a culture, burning with rich history. It is a universal language that communicates passion, pain, and renewal. Like an artfully concocted hot sauce, my being contains alternating layers of sweetness and daring which surround a core that is constantly being molded by my experiences and adventures. I’m not sure what it is about spiciness that intrigues me. Maybe my fungiform papillae are mapped out in a geography uniquely designed to appreciate bold seasonings. Maybe these taste buds are especially receptive to the intricacies of the savors and zests that they observe. Or maybe it’s simply my burning sense of curiosity. My desire to challenge myself, to stimulate my mind, to experience the fullness of life in all of its varieties and flavors.

This student makes clear to colleges why this aspect of their personality matters. It has helped them learn and travel; it shows the student’s desire to “challenge” themselves and to “stimulate their mind,” which is exactly what a top-tier university is looking for.

The Creative/Artistic Format (Best if you have an unusual topic and like taking risks)

I’m cheating a little bit here: by definition, there’s no real format to these Creative/Artistic Essays. These are the most unique, the toughest to pull off, and the riskiest essays. But for certain students, they’re undoubtedly the right choice.

Although these essays aren’t as easy to bulletpoint out as the above, creative personal essays will always contain the following elements:

A unique gimmick
Meaningful information about the writer’s life or identity
A mature reflection

The Creative/Artistic Essays make your essay stand out to colleges, but require careful planning and editing to pull off. If you’re an artist type, or, alternatively, if you feel your application needs something to separate you from the pack, these can be the right choice.

Consulting with one of our expert college essay coaches can be the best way to ensure that your Creative/Artistic Essay helps and not hurts your application.

Below is a successful example, and some analysis of why this essay works:

“Is it bigger than a breadbox?” “Yes.” I have always been tall, decidedly tall. Yet, my curiosity has always surpassed my height. Starting at a young age, I would ask countless questions, from “How heavy is the Earth?” to “Where does rain come from?” My curiosity, displayed in questions like these, has truly defined me as a person and as a student. Therefore, it is not surprising that I became transfixed the first time I played 20Q (the electronic version of Twenty Questions). Somehow, a little spherical device guessed what I was thinking. The piece of technology sparked my curiosity and instilled in me a unique interest in 20Q. This interest would later reveal valuable character traits of mine while also paralleling various facets of my life. “Does it strive to learn?” “Yes.” I became determined to discover how 20Q guessed correctly. After some research, I discovered artificial intelligence, more specifically, artificial neural networks—systems which learn and improve themselves. This idea fascinated me. I wanted to learn more. I read avidly, seeking and absorbing as much information as I could. When given the opportunity years later, I signed up for the first computer programming class available to me. I found myself in an environment I loved. I would stay after class, go in during free periods, make my own apps, and work over Cloud-based IDEs. I prized the freedom and the possibilities. “Is it driven?” “Yes.” After my introduction to 20Q, I began to play Twenty Questions (the traditional parlor game) and became determined to rival the guessing accuracy of the artificial intelligence. At first I was mediocre. However, through long car rides with family, good-natured yet heated competitions with friends, logical strategy, and time, I became more effective. I discovered the “secrets” to success: practice and perseverance. “Does it apply what it learns?” “Yes.” As 20Q implements what it learns, so do I. Throughout high school, I applied the “secret” of practice to my basketball career. I spent countless hours sharpening my skills in 90° summer heat to 20° late-winter cold, countless afternoons playing pickup games with my friends, and countless weekends traveling to AAU basketball tournaments. As a result, I became a starter for my school’s varsity team. I applied another “secret,” this time the “secret” of perseverance, by dedicating myself to physical therapy after knee surgery in order to quickly return to football. Later that year, I became the first player in my grade to score a varsity touchdown. “Does it attempt to better itself?” “Yes.” Once I became proficient at Twenty Questions, I strengthened my resolve to become masterful. To do so, I needed to become a skillful inquisitor and to combine that with my analytical nature and interpersonal skills, all of which are vital for success in Twenty Questions. Because I had been debating politics with my friends since the 8th grade, I recognized that debate could sharpen these skills. I began to debate more frequently (and later more effectively) in English and government class, at the lunch table and family gatherings, and whenever the opportunity presented itself. This spurred in me an interest for how public policy and government work, leading me to attend Boys State and receive a nomination for The United States Senate Youth Program. “Does it think deeply?” “Yes.” So far, I have realized that thriving at Twenty Questions, just like life, is all about tenacity, rationality and interpersonal skills. I have found that, as in Twenty Questions, always succeeding is impossible; however, by persevering through difficulties and obstacles, favorable outcomes are often attainable. As I have become better at Twenty Questions, so too have I improved in many other aspects of my life. Nonetheless, I realize that I still have unbounded room to grow. And much like 20Q, I will continue to learn throughout my life and apply my knowledge to everything I do. “Are you thinking of me?” “Yes.” Source: Johns Hopkins Essays that Worked

Framing this essay as a round of 20 questions is the kind of risky creative move that, in this case, can really pay off.

It works here because it isn’t just being creative or artsy for the sake of it: this format really allows the student to express multiple important aspects of their personality as it relates to their application.

You’ll notice that, like most creative essays, it combines elements of the other essay formats. But it does so in a unique way that can’t be replicated: nobody else can write a 20 Questions style essay without ripping off this author.

If you can find a creative idea like this one that lets you express unique elements of your story or personality in a fun, attention-grabbing structure, then this option might be the best one for you.

You should think of the steps outlined in this blogpost as the middle of the essay writing process. First, you need to brainstorm and select your topic (see our guide on that here) . Then, based on that topic, you can use this post to identify what structure and format will work best for crafting your essay.

If you’ve settled on an essay format, it’s time to move on to actually writing the essay itself. We recommend starting by reviewing some of the past successful essays linked below and by first reading our post on the Diamond Strategy for topic selection.

Of course, there’s no substitute for professional help: our expert essay coaches have helped countless students with brainstorming, topic choice, organization, crafting, and final touches on essays that have helped these students gain admission to Ivies and other elite colleges. If you’re interested in working with one of our college essay coaches, reach out to us here !

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Types and Examples of Essays: The Complete List

Essays are concise pieces of writing that present information in a comprehensible, straightforward manner. The traditional structure of an essay begins with an introduction, uses topic sentences, and concludes with a conclusion that restates the thesis.

Table of Contents

Diverse essay types demand different writing abilities, such as the ability to inject the figurative language into a personal essay to make it come to life or to critically analyze a complex issue in an analytical essay in order to find a solution.

The length and format of essays also vary, with some spanning pages and others neatly fitting into just a few paragraphs. Before you are required to write these types of essays, familiarize yourself with them. You will become a skilled essayist once you comprehend how they differ and how they are similar.

In this article, we provide you with a list of the most prevalent essay types.

Types of Essays with Examples

Understanding the different types of essays that make up the majority of your high school, college, and university assignments is a smart place to start when considering how to write one.

Essays can be categorized into a wide variety, but the four main types of essays are argumentative, expository, narrative, and descriptive essays. Let us take a detailed look at these four main types of essays with examples.

4 Major Types of Essay with Examples

The four primary methods/ types of essays that are typically required in academic settings are as follows (according to Purdue Online Writing Lab), and the majority of the essays you will ever write in your life will roughly fit into one of these categories:

The majority of the essays you will ever have to write in your existence will come under one of these four categories, which are the norm in academia.

These are four different ways to convey an essay’s idea rather than four unique essay genres. Of the nine conventional rhetorical modes, which also include techniques like classification and process analysis, these four are the most frequently employed.

1. Expository Essays

These are most likely the types of essays you may encounter and the standard essay style needed for exams.

When writing an expository essay, you will go deeper into a subject or issue to develop an idea, analyze supporting data, and then organize an “exposition” on the concept.

Depending on the writer’s objectives, expository essays can take a variety of forms including:

Descriptive or Definition Essays
Procedure or “How-To” Essays
Comparison Essays
Cause-and-Effect Essays
Problem/Solution Essays
Examples of Expository Essays

Watching The Thinderstoem

Over the open ocean, I observed a thunderstorm. Only thick, heavy clouds and a roiling tide could be seen at the start, and everything was quiet. I was standing on my balcony looking out toward the horizon when I heard a quiet thunderclap. The clouds began to shut over the following few minutes and reflected lightning lit up the undulating ocean. The sun was obscured by the thunderheads, casting shadows across the scene. For a very long period, there was calm.

I turned to look up just as the first thunderclap struck clearly. It shone against the sky and the water, and when I blink, I can see its outline in perfectly reversed colors. Thereafter, more. Thunder appeared to be struggling to keep up as it rumbled and stalled. Suddenly, the clouds appeared to be tearing apart, and patches of dazzling blue gleamed above the gloomy water.

I then looked down and observed the waves. Every bolt was met with a brief period of surface-spreading light. I could hear the waves smashing as they became more violent, rising high.

Then the rain started. It deluged the sea and soaked the sand all at once and in sheets. I could only see the lightning as bursts of light since the fog was so thick. The rain was so intense that it drowned out the thunder. Everything was rhythmic light and shadow, quiet and sound, and all five senses were combined into one experience.

It abruptly came to a standstill. The storm broke out. Clouds began to separate like curtains. Still falling, but much more subtly now. With the exception of one signature, it appeared as though there had never been a storm. A nearly ferociously vivid rainbow covered the sky and the lake. The horizon was once again visible.

Click here for an in-depth understanding of exploratory essays and how to write them ?????

2. Argumentative Essays

These essays are comparable to expository essays, but they are typically far more in-depth and support their arguments with well-researched qualitative and quantitative data (acquired via primary or secondary sources). An argumentative essay’s goal is to establish a viewpoint or position on a subject by offering justifications and proof.

An argumentative essay is typically written for a higher-level audience, such as high school or university. This implies that you will have to conduct some research, make some notes, and probably refer to your lecture notes.

Examples of Argumentative Essays

Having chocolate milk in class?

I disagree that chocolate milk should no longer be served in school cafeterias. Do people believe that chocolate milk's sugar content is unhealthy, according to Chocolate Milk in School Cafeterias? They want to remove it from the dining halls. This is not a smart move.

The options available to children purchasing lunches in the cafeteria are limited. They could be limited to a single main course or veggie. They can then select chocolate milk in place of white milk. They might eat extra potato chips, cookies, donuts, and other junk food if they are unable to make a decision. Many kids just purchase junk food for lunch.

Compared to Coke or Gatorade, chocolate milk is preferable. When bringing a lunch, children must purchase a beverage; instead of purchasing milk, these children might bring a sugary beverage.

Even though chocolate milk contains some sugar, it is still preferable to other beverages. It still has vitamins and minerals, so that's a plus. Although some kids just don't like white milk, I believe it is preferable for youngsters to at least drink some milk than none at all. The American Heart Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics both say this, and I agree!

For an in-depth understanding of argumentative essays, click here. ??????

3. Descriptive Essays

As the title suggests, the focus of this essay is language in general, specifically adjectives, similes, and metaphors. The goal of these essays is to describe the topic you are requested to write about as vividly as you can. You will need to include an introduction, body, and conclusion, just like in an expository essay.

A descriptive essay, however, differs from other types of writing since it requires you to describe a specific object in great detail. The other types of essays may include description, but they typically require a little more, such as an argument, whereas a descriptive essay only provides a detailed description of something, with the thing being described serving as the main focus rather than an argument.

Examples of Descriptive Essays

Parents' view of university education in my country

Teenagers in my nation do not work because they are too busy studying. For teenagers, playing the character of a student and a good student is paramount. Making your parents proud is crucial, as is competing for top colleges and employment.

Families and parents believe that it is crucial for kids to study very hard, very long, and without breaks in order to achieve the best grades possible. Only a small percentage of the population in my country can attend university since there are so few open spots.

Therefore, the pupils who perform best in school are the ones who attend universities. The top employment goes to students who attend the best universities. Choosing the right university will allow you to unwind.

It's crucial to make your parents happy. In the 1950s, while our nation was at war, our parents struggled mightily to rise above it. The nation was empty. Like in Japan, parents here put in long hours at work, and pupils here are expected to work hard. The family is honored for their labors. Top marks are crucial, so parents may be proud of their son's diligence.

Click here for more on descriptive essays ?????

4. Narrative Essays|

Again, a narrative essay is a more personal piece of writing where your point of view is made apparent to the reader, contrary to what the title might imply. These articles may take the form of stories or be referred to as “creative non-fiction.” In these essays, the first-person pronoun “I” is frequently used.

Narrative essays, which are frequently the closest thing to works of journalism, must also have a distinct introduction, body, and conclusion that are filled with brief language. You are probably well on your way to being a successful journalist if you are able to write a compelling narrative essay.

Examples of Narrative Essays

Thinking in a Systems Approach

A child's death is always tragic. Only a few hours after giving birth, one of my sisters lost her first two children, twins. I learned from how my family members handled this incident that even those who were raised with the same ideas and ideals might have very diverse perspectives on the world.

My sibling was delivered early. We weren't shocked to find that her first pregnancy would not proceed to term because she arrived a month early than she should have. However, the fact that the infants would arrive two months early rather than just one upset us.

We had little expectation that they would live a long life because their prospects of survival were slim. My role in the situation was quite limited because I lived several hundred km apart, but I worried and wept with everyone else. The full extent of my sorrow for my sister and the rest of my family did not reach me until a few years later when I saw my sister at a family reunion.

That's when I realized how much hope, disappointment, and grief those two little girls' incredibly brief lives had brought to our family. At that point, I genuinely felt sad for both my sister and myself.

At about the same time, I realized that our collective perspectives on the incident varied. My mother was at one extreme and I was at the other, creating a type of polarization.

I'm a devoted Mormon, as is my mother. We both hold the same beliefs about God, including that we were all in God's presence before coming to Earth, that God has a plan for our salvation, and that if we live righteously, we can return to God. We also hold to the doctrine of foreordination, which holds that God assigns particular individuals to particular jobs on Earth.

I eventually realized that our differences stemmed from what I like to refer to as system orientation. We both practice religion, however, my mother exclusively practices religion, whilst I also practice science. She believes that religion is the only rational and consistent explanation for everything, particularly the loss of a baby.

In my worldview, which integrates religion and science, God may exist, but he need not be in charge of everything. Many events, such as infant deaths, take place within his plan without being specifically mentioned in it. Understanding and respecting my mother's viewpoints as well as my own and feeling better about them are made possible by looking at it in this way.

Click here for an in-depth look at narrative essays ?????

There are 4 main types of essays

The 7 Other Types of Essays

Using one of these four rhetorical devices may be required of you when writing an essay. You might be required to write an argumentative essay on whether or not a new college policy should be implemented.

You would convey your stance by using persuasive writing tactics in your essay, such as by outlining your opinion of the proposed legislation and how it is likely to affect society.

You can better grasp the texts you work with by having a better understanding of the four primary forms of writing. When reading an essay, try to determine the writing style the author is using by focusing on the essay’s structure, tone, vocabulary, and method of presenting the main idea.

Here we analyze the 4 types of essays available:

Personal essays

Your emphasis in a personal essay is on something that has affected you personally. It may be a current issue, a historical occurrence, or a more comprehensive examination of how many situations and events have molded you into the person you are now.

Personal essays frequently use narrative writing strategies. However, depending on the subject matter and thesis of the essay, authors may also use expository or descriptive tactics. Argumentative, comical, and college application essays are just a few examples of different genres of writing that can overlap with personal essays.

Political essays

Some of the most well-known political essays may be familiar to you from what you studied in history class. These essays are works by eminent philosophers from the past and the present that address society and ideal forms of government.

In a political essay, the author discusses the current situation and suggests solutions, occasionally using historical examples of situations or solutions that are analogous to the current one. Political essays typically fall under the categories of informative or persuasive writing.

Compare-and-contrast essays

Essays that compare and contrast two things are probably one of the essay types that students write the most. In this style of essay, the author contrasts and compares two subjects in order to highlight the main distinctions and similarities between them.

The content of compare-and-contrast essays is typically revealed through the similarities the author draws, making them expository writing assignments. When comparisons are used to persuade the reader to adopt a particular perspective, they can also be considered persuasive writing pieces.

College (application) essays

Essays you write in college may not always qualify as college essays. Actually, you’ll write all of your college essays before you enroll in a college unless you later go to graduate school or another type of specialized academic program.

A concise personal essay that emphasizes your personality traits and life experiences that make you the perfect fit for the college to which you are applying is known as a college application essay or personal statement.

Analytical essays

Essays that analyze a topic in-depth focus on its essential elements and draw conclusions after carefully analyzing these elements. An analytical essay regarding a book’s topics or an argumentative essay’s ideas can be required of you. The purpose of analytical essays, which are examples of expository writing, is to present facts by interpreting content.

An analytical essay does not attempt to persuade the reader to adopt a particular viewpoint. Instead, the author gives a piece of media, such as a short story or movie, and analyzes its theme by going over the various ways it conveys that theme.

Argumentative essays

As the name implies, you argue in an argumentative essay.

You specifically make an argument for or against a certain viewpoint. For instance, your task might be to advocate for or against your school’s rule prohibiting students from enrolling in more than two AP courses annually and to back up your arguments with facts.

You might use statistics showing a correlation between a student’s enrollment in AP courses and their typical AP test results or the amount of homework an AP course requires to support your argument that it’s a good idea.

Argumentative essays that are well-written don’t rely on emotional appeal. Instead, they use evidence—statistics, facts, and logic—to persuade readers of the validity of their ideas. Argumentative essays are typical examples of persuasive writing.

Humorous essays

As the name suggests, this sort of essay aims to make the reader laugh and be entertained. A comical essay could describe an amusing incident in the author’s life or it might be a political essay that makes political commentary through satire. A humorous essay is one that is both entertaining and academic.

Essays that are humorous frequently rely more on tactics used in narrative writing, such as metaphors and descriptive language, than they do on other essay-writing strategies. Hilarious essays frequently take the form of descriptive articles that employ hyperbole, irreverence, or quirky language to communicate a humorous perspective on the subject matter.

We hope by reading to this point, you now know how to write an essay that gets all the accolades and grades you deserve.

What are you waiting for now that you are aware of the various essay types and how to compose them? Start working on your essay right away.

How to Write Expository Essays (and Elements)

How to Write a Compelling Argumentative Essay

How to Write a Descriptive Essay (Types and Tips)

Narrative Essays How to Write with Examples

Narrative Essays: Examples and How to Write them

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Essay Structure – Format, Layout & Outline With Examples

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At the heart of every essay lies a structured framework that ensures the conveyance of ideas in a coherent and logical manner. The essay structure is the backbone of academic writing , guiding readers through the essay. A well-structured essay helps convey information seamlessly and enhances the reader’s comprehension of the topic. This article will delve into the essential components of essay structure and will answer frequently asked questions about essay structure.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1 Essay structure in a nutshell
2 Definition: Essay structure
3 Parts of the essay structure
4 Essay structure examples
5 Different types

Essay structure in a nutshell

An essay structure is the organized way in which the writer’s ideas are presented in writing, ensuring that the reader can follow and understand the main points easily. Think of it like a skeleton that holds and shapes the content of the essay. The parts every essay includes are the introduction, body, and conclusion.

Definition: Essay structure

Essay structure has a lot to do with the way you have presented your thoughts and logic in an academic essay . For instance, you want to ensure that you present one idea at a time, and then support them with facts to convince your readers. A good essay structure should also use an active voice and conclude with thoughts that are focused on summarizing the aforementioned ideas. Furthermore, in the concluding paragraph, let your readers know your ground based on the subject.

To write a strong essay, you need to come up with coherent ideas and use them to create a striking argument. Your essay structure should be one that lures the reader into following what you have to say closely. In this bit, we have shared valuable tips to help you learn and use the right essay structure in your next creative writing.

Imagine you’re telling a friend a story.

Beginning (introduction) : You set the scene. “Hey, I want to tell you about the time I went camping.”
Middle (body) : You give the main details and events. “First, we set up the tent. Then, at night, we heard a strange noise…”
End (conclusion) : You wrap up the story. “So, it turned out to be just a squirrel! But it was a memorable trip.”

The structure of nearly every single essay is simply like this:

Introduction : Introduce your topic.
Body : Explain the main points and details.
Conclusion : Sum up everything you’ve said.

That’s the basic essay structure!

Parts of the essay structure

As mentioned above, the essential parts of a strong essay include the introduction, body, and conclusion. Below you will find a quick overview of the basic structure of an essay along with the content of each part.

Introduction

To give your essay a good introduction, you want to make it broad, but be careful not to go too broad. Moreover, this is the part in which you should share some background information related to the topic. However, you want to be careful not to start your argument just yet. Toward the end of your introduction, drop a thesis statement . This is also called the topic sentence and the most important part of your basic essay structure. Some writers also prefer throwing their thesis in the last sentence, but that relies greatly on your style of writing.

The body is the term used to refer to the paragraphs that come after the introduction but before the conclusion of the essay structure. A well-structured essay should feature multiple academic body paragraphs and include transition words . However, the overall length of the body of your academic essay is determined by the number of ideas you have to share. The details you use to back up your thoughts also have an impact on the overall length of the body of the essay structure. Make sure that you present one idea after the other, and then support them with substantial facts to convince your readers.

Your conclusion might look a bit similar to the introductory paragraph of the essay structure. In this section, make sure to restate your thesis because your readers might have lost it while reading the body. Furthermore, in the conclusion, you need to create a summary of the main points your essay touches. Do not forget to remind the readers of what you think about the entire subject in discussion of the essay structure.

Number of paragraphs

The number of paragraphs in an essay largely depends on the essay’s length, complexity, and specific requirements set by the instructor or the assignment. There is no set requirement for college essays. However, there are some general guidelines.

Short essays: 500 words or fewer
Standard college essays: 1,000 to 1,500 words
Long essays: 1,500 words and above

Note: Be sure to use transition words when writing your paragraphs to enhance the flow and readability of your academic essay.

Essay structure examples

Several methods exist for organizing information in an essay. Typically, your assignment will specify the style to adopt. If uncertain about the appropriate approach, it’s wise to consult your instructor. However, these are all solid essay structures. In the following, you will learn about the basics of essay structure along with templates for essays.

Chronological essay structure

A chronological essay structure is an organization method where a series of events or steps are presented in the order they occurred in time, from the earliest to the latest or vice versa. It’s particularly useful for recounting events, like historical events, narrating stories, or detailing processes.

Note: It’s crucial to provide clear transitions and explanations, so the reader can easily follow the progression and understand the significance of each step or event.

Introduction 1.1 Hook 1.2 Background 1.3 Thesis statement
Body 2.1 First Event (the earliest in time) 2.1.1 Discussion 2.1.2 Consequences 2.2 Second Event 2.2.1 Discussion 2.2.2 Consequences
Conclusion 3.1 Recap 3.2 Significance or impact of the topic 3.3 Closing statement (concluding thoughts or perspectives)

Topic: The development of personal computers over time.

Introduction 1.1 Hook: From massive room-sized machines to sleek devices that fit in our pockets, personal computers have undergone a radical transformation in just a few decades.” 1.2 Background: Brief history of early computing devices and their initial applications. 1.3 Thesis statement: “The evolution of personal computers, from their inception to the present, has not only revolutionized technology but also drastically altered our daily lives.”
Body 2.1 First Event (the earliest in time):** Introduction of the first personal computer. 2.1.1 Discussion: Description of the first personal computer, its creators, its design, capabilities, and its reception by the public. 2.1.2 Consequences: How the introduction of this computer paved the way for future technological developments and impacted industries. 2.2 Second Event: The graphical user interface (GUI) and the mouse. 2.2.1 Discussion: Origin of GUI, its integration into personal computers, and the invention of the mouse. 2.2.2 Consequences: The transformation of user experience, making computing more accessible and user-friendly, sparking wider adoption.
Conclusion 3.1 Recap: A brief overview of the main events discussed in the essay. 3.2 Significance: Reflection on how the evolution of personal computers has affected work, education, communication, and entertainment. 3.3 Closing statement: “As we witness the relentless march of technological progress, it’s vital to appreciate the humble beginnings of personal computers and recognize their profound influence on modern society.”

Problems methods solution essay structure

A problems methods solution essay structure is designed to identify an issue, present a method to address it, and then propose potential solutions. This format is particularly effective for topics that involve challenges or issues that need addressing.

Introduction 1.1 Introducing the problem 1.2 Background 1.3 Description of solution approach
Problem 2.1 Precise definition 2.2 Causes 2.3 Effects
Method 3.1 Previous approaches to the problem 3.2 New approach and why it’s better
Solution 4.1 Application of the new method to the problem 4.2 Solution after doing so
Conclusion 5.1 Effectiveness of solution 5.2 Description of implications 5.3 Closing statement

Topic: Plastic pollution in the oceans.

Introduction 1.1 Problem: “Plastic pollution in the world’s oceans is an escalating crisis.” 1.2 Background: Overview of the scale of plastic waste dumped into the ocean annually and its sources 1.3 Description: “By employing innovative waste management and biodegradable alternatives, we may start to reverse this tidal wave of pollution.”
Problem 2.1 Definition: “Plastic pollution refers to the accumulation of discarded plastic products in marine environments, leading to habitat destruction and harm to marine life.” 2.2 Causes: Indiscriminate disposal of plastic, lack of recycling initiatives, single-use plastic products, and ineffective waste management systems. 2.3 Effects: Entanglement and ingestion by marine animals, disruption of marine ecosystems, microplastics entering the human food chain.
Method 3.1 Previous approaches: Use of ocean cleanup projects, awareness campaigns, and certain bans on plastic items. 3.2 New approach: “Promoting the mass adoption of biodegradable plastics and enhancing global waste management infrastructure, offering a more holistic and sustainable solution.”
Solution 4.1 Launch of global initiatives promoting the use of biodegradable plastics, incentives for industries to adopt better waste practices, and establishment of international waste management standards. 4.2 Significant reduction in new plastic waste entering oceans, gradual cleanup of existing pollutants, and restoration of marine ecosystems.
Conclusion 5.1 Effectiveness: “Early results from regions that have adopted these methods show a 40% reduction in marine plastic waste.” 5.2 Implications: Healthier marine ecosystems, safeguarded marine species, reduced health risks for humans, and a model for addressing other environmental challenges. 5.3 Closing statement: “The battle against oceanic plastic pollution, while daunting, showcases humanity’s capacity to innovate and protect our blue planet.”

Compare-and-contrast essay structure

A compare-and-contrast essay structure is designed to evaluate the similarities and differences between two subjects. This can be a literary analysis essay that compares two texts, but it can also be an argumentative essay that compares the strengths of arguments. This structure helps readers understand and analyze the two subjects in relation to one another.

There are two primary methods of the compare-and-contrast essay structure for organizing a compare-and-contrast essay: the block method and the point-by-point method . The choice of structure often depends on the complexity of the subjects, the length of the essay, and the writer’s preference.

Point-by-point method

In this method of the essay structure, you alternate between points about the first subject and comparable points about the second subject. For example, if comparing cats and dogs, you might discuss the fur of cats, then the fur of dogs, followed by the temperament of cats, then the temperament of dogs, and so on.

Body 2.1 First point of comparison 2.1.1 Subject 1 2.1.2 Subject 2 2.2 Second point of comparison 2.2.1 Subject 1 2.2.2 Subject 2
Conclusion 3.1 Summary of arguments (synthesis) 3.2 Relevance of topic 3.3 Closing statement

The topics “traditional schooling” (subject 1) and “online learning” (subject 2) will be compared and contrasted.

Introduction 1.1 Hook: “In the age of technology, the blackboard, and chalk classroom finds itself competing with screens and keyboards.” 1.2 Background: Brief overview of the rise of online learning platforms and their increasing popularity recently. 1.3 Thesis statement: “While both traditional schooling and online learning offer unique educational experiences, they differ significantly in terms of interaction, flexibility, and learning environment.”
Body 2.1 First point of comparison: Interaction 2.1.1 Traditional schooling: Emphasizes face-to-face interactions, providing students immediate feedback and promoting social skills through group activities. 2.1.2 Online learning: Relies mostly on digital communication, which might delay feedback but also offers a wider network of international peers. 2.2 Second point of comparison: Flexibility 2.2.1 Traditional schooling: Generally follows a fixed schedule, with set times for classes, which might not cater to everyone’s personal schedule. 2.2.2 Online learning: Often allows for a self-paced learning experience, offering students the flexibility to learn at their preferred times.
Conclusion 3.1 Synthesis: Both traditional schooling and online learning have their merits, with the former offering a rich interactive experience and the latter granting unparalleled flexibility. 3.2 Relevance: In today’s evolving educational landscape, understanding the pros and cons of both learning methods is vital for educators, parents, and students alike. 3.3 Closing statement: “As the future of education unfolds, the blend of traditional and online methods might just be the key to fostering a holistic learning experience.”

Block method

In the block method of the essay structure, you discuss one subject in its entirety before moving on to the second subject. Using the same example, you’d first discuss cats (fur, temperament, care, etc.) and then move on to discuss dogs.

Body 2.1 First subject 2.1.1 Point 1 2.1.2 Point 2 2.2 Second subject 2.2.1 Point 1 (compare) 2.2.2 Point 2 (compare)
Conclusion 3.1 Summary of arguments (synthesis) 3.2 Importance of topic 3.3 Closing statement

The topics “living in the city” (subject 1) and “living in the countryside” (subject 2) will be compared and contrasted.

Introduction 1.1 Hook: “The hustle and bustle of city streets versus the serenity of open fields—where does one truly find peace?” 1.2 Background: A brief description of urban and rural living and the age-old debate about which is better. 1.3 Thesis statement: “City life and countryside living present contrasting lifestyles, each with its unique benefits and challenges.”
Body 2.1 First subject: Living in the city 2.1.1 Point 1: Cities offer a plethora of services, entertainment venues, shopping malls, and healthcare facilities right at one’s doorstep. 2.1.2 Point 2: City life is often characterized by its bustling nature, with people always on the move and a never-ending list of things to do. 2.2 Second subject: Living in the countryside 2.2.1 Point 1 (compare): While the countryside might lack some modern facilities, it offers residents a close connection to nature, with fresh air and open spaces. 2.2.2 Point 2 (compare): The countryside provides an escape from the rush of urban areas, with its calm, laid-back lifestyle and fewer distractions.
Conclusion 3.1 Synthesis: While city life offers modern conveniences and a dynamic environment, the countryside provides tranquility and a deep connection with nature. 3.2 Importance: The decision between city and countryside living can significantly impact one’s quality of life, mental health, and overall well-being. 3.3 Closing statement: “Whether amidst skyscrapers or wheat fields, true contentment lies in finding a balance between modern comforts and nature’s embrace.”

Different types

There are different types of essays. While they could take different formats, the structure remains the same. Your essay, despite its nature, must have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Other details might come in, but they should not interfere with the recommended basic essay structure.

Narrative essay

In the narrative essay , the writers communicate to the readers while sharing a real-life experience. Though this might sound straightforward, the students are usually challenged to tell a story about themselves.

Descriptive essay

A descriptive essay is more of painting a picture. It has a close relationship with the narrative essay. In this case, the writers are expected to use words to create clear, descriptive images.

Expository essay

An expository essay is an informative piece that mainly presents a well-balanced analysis of a given topic. In this case, the writer is expected to use facts, examples, and statistics to define a topic.

Persuasive essay

Persuasive essays are a tool used by writers to convince readers to agree with their perspective. Facts and logic must be used strategically in this case.

Argumentative essay

An argumentative essay is a type of writing where the author takes a stance on a particular issue and provides evidence and reasoning to support that position. The main goal is to persuade the reader to agree with the writer’s viewpoint.

What is the basic essay structure?

The general essay structure contains three main parts. These include the introduction, body, and conclusion. Using this format, you can easily write and ensure that your academic essay is perfectly organized. With this basic academic essay structure in mind, you should stick to the topic to guide your ideas and their sequence.

Why is the essay structure important?

The basic essay structure is not only crucial to the writer but also to the readers. It helps them comprehend the logic and flow of your thoughts as a writer. The main intention of the academic essay should be clearly stated in the essay introduction . The readers should get detailed information about the topic in the body of the academic essay. Summarize everything and share your thoughts with your readers in the concluding paragraph.

What are the different types of essay structures?

There are four main types of essay structures . However, the structure stays the same for the most part:

Expository essays, descriptive essays and narrative essays
Argumentative essay or persuasive essay
Compare and contrast essays
Analysis, or cause and effect essay structures

Each one of these essays will still have an introduction, followed by body paragraphs with a conclusion at the end.

How does an essay structure look at university?

While you learn about the five-paragraph essay in high school, an essay in university is a tad bit more complicated. You should always create an essay outline before you begin writing. The outline also helps you to come up with elaborate arguments. At a minimum, your essay structure should include the three main parts, namely, introduction, body, and conclusion.

How many sentences should you have in each paragraph?

There is no specification for the number of sentences you should have in each of your paragraphs. For neatness and readability, make sure that each paragraph has a maximum of four sentences. You need to ensure that every paragraph is long enough to cover everything, but also short enough to be interesting.

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1.6 - TWO APPROACHES TO STRUCTURING A COLLEGE ESSAY

Two approaches to structure.

I think there are two basic structural approaches every student can use to write their college essays: Montage Structure and Narrative Structure. We’ll explore them in detail in a bit, but to figure out which approach you might want to take...

First, ask yourself two questions:

1. Have you faced significant challenges?

2. Do you want to write about them?

To clarify: You can write a great essay whether you've been through challenges or not.

The question is: How?

The answer: Find the right structure.

If you answered yes to both, Narrative Structure may work well for you.

If no to either, Montage Structure offers a great approach.

You can think of Narrative Structure as classic Hollywood movie structure, focusing on a challenge that fundamentally changed your life.

Montage presents a series of experiences that are thematically linked, allowing you to present multiple sides of yourself that wouldn’t all fit into a single narrative arc.

I’d like to stress that neither structure is inherently better than the other. I’ve seen incredible essays using both structures. I say this because I don’t want you to feel like you need to write about challenges to write an outstanding college essay. You don’t.

And please note that ”significance” is obviously on a spectrum. We’ll talk about this in greater detail soon, but keep in mind that the more significant the challenge, the easier it will be to write about it well.

With that in mind, what follows are some strategies that have helped some of my students craft compelling essays.

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4.3: Types of Essays and Suggested Structures

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Introduction

Analytical essay

Background information on topic
Overall point of view of the topic (thesis)
Overview of components to be discussed (structure)
Topic sentence outlining first component
Sentences giving explanations and providing evidence to support topic sentence
Concluding sentence – link to next paragraph
Topic sentence outlining second component
Sentences giving explanations and providing evidence to back topic sentence
These follow the same structure for as many components as you need to outline
Summary of the main points of the body
Restatement of the main point of view
Justification/evaluation (if required by task)

Argumentative essay

Statement of your position on the topic (thesis)
Overview of arguments to be presented (structure)
Topic sentence outlining first argument
Topic sentence outlining second argument
These follow the same structure for as many arguments as you wish to put forward in support of the topic.
Restatement of the position

Interpretive essay

Brief background information on topic
Overview of issues to be addressed in the essay (structure)
State overall interpretation (thesis)
Topic sentence outlining first issue identified from the data
Sentences giving further explanation and providing evidence from both the literature and the data, e.g. the case study to support the topic sentence (it is very important in this types of essays to make reference to the data you have been supplied to give your essay context).
Topic sentence outlining second issue identified
These follow the same structure for as many issues as you wish to discuss from the data you have been supplied.
Statement of overall interpretation
Summary of the main issues from the data supplied
Make recommendations or suggest solutions to address the issues arising from the data supplied.

Comparative essay

Outline of two (or more) things being compared or contrasted
Purpose for making the comparison / contrast
Overview of the specific points to be compared / contrasted
Topic sentence outlining first similarity or difference
Topic sentence outlining second similarity or different
These follow the same structure for as many items or aspects as you need to compare/contrast
Restatement of the main purpose for the comparison / contrast
Summary of the main similarities and differences
Recommendation about suitability of compared items for purpose (if requirement of assessment task)
Overall conclusion

Problem and solution essay

Background information about the problem
Description of the problem and why it is serious
Overview of the solutions to be outlined
Topic sentence outlining first solution
Explanation of the positive and negative aspects of the solution
Evidence to support explanations
Concluding sentence
Topic sentence outlining second solution
Evidence to support explanation
These follow the same structure for as many solutions as you need to discuss
Summary of the problem and overview of the solutions
Evaluation of solutions and recommendation of best option

Cause and effect essay

Background information on situation under discussion
Description of the situation
Overview of the causes or effects to be outlined
Topic sentence outlining first cause or effect
Sentences giving explanations and providing evidence to support the topic sentence
Concluding sentence – linking to next paragraph
Topic sentence outlining second cause or effect
These follow the same structure for as many causes or effects as you need to outline
Conclusion, prediction or recommendation

This chart gives an idea of what different roles paragraphs can play in a mixed-structure essay assignment.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)

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How to Structure an Essay
The basic structure of an essay always consists of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. But for many students, the most difficult part of structuring an essay is deciding how to organize information within the body. This article provides useful templates and tips to help you outline your essay, make decisions about your structure, and ...
How to Format a College Essay: Step-by-Step Guide
Again, we'd recommend sticking with standard fonts and sizes—Times New Roman, 12-point is a standard workhorse. You can probably go with 1.5 or double spacing. Standard margins. Basically, show them you're ready to write in college by using the formatting you'll normally use in college.
How to Format and Structure Your College Essay
1. In-the-moment narrative. This is where you tell the story one moment at a time, sharing the events as they occur. In the moment narrative is a powerful essay format, as your reader experiences the events, your thoughts, and your emotions with you. This structure is ideal for a specific experience involving extensive internal dialogue ...
PDF Strategies for Essay Writing
Harvard College Writing Center 2 Tips for Reading an Assignment Prompt When you receive a paper assignment, your first step should be to read the assignment prompt carefully to make sure you understand what you are being asked to do. Sometimes your assignment will be open-ended ("write a paper about anything in the course that interests you").
12.2: Types of Essays and Suggested Structures
Sentences giving explanations and providing evidence to back topic sentence. Concluding sentence - link to next paragraph. Following body paragraphs. These follow the same structure for as many components as you need to outline. Conclusion. Summary of the main points of the body. Restatement of the main point of view.
College Essay Structures & How to Approach Them
To start, make a list of aspects of the school you like and pare it down. Pick some characteristics to highlight, and describe how your interests align with the school's. For more tips on writing this essay, see our complete guide to the "Why this college?" essay, including a real sample essay. 4. Intellectual Curiosity.
Types of Essays and Suggested Structures
Analytical essay. This is perhaps the most common structure. Examples of this include questions which ask you to discuss, analyze, investigate, explore, or review.In an analytical structure you are required to break the topic into its different components and discuss these in separate paragraphs or sections, demonstrating balance where possible.
PDF A Brief Guide to the Elements of the Academic Essay
of reflection can come anywhere in an essay; the sec-ond is usually comes early; the last four often come late (they're common moves of conclusion). Most good essays have some of the first kind, and often several of the others besides. 10. Orienting: bits of information, explanation, and summary that orient the reader who isn't expert in the
PDF ACADEMIC ESSAY STRUCTURES & FORMATS
ACADEMIC ESSAY STRUCTURES & FORMATS. ACADEMIC ESSAY STRUCTURES & FORMATS. Standard American argumentative essays begin with an introductionthat gives a main point (thesis). The thesis is supported by a series of body paragraphswith sub-points, and the essay ends with a conclusion. Below is a visual representation of this structure, adapted from ...
College Essay Formatting: How to Structure Your College Essays
There are two different ways to structure a compare and contrast essay: Organize your essay point by point, comparing one aspect of the objects or situations at a time. Use the "block method," covering all points of one object/situation in the first half, then all points of the other in the second half.
Example of a Great Essay
The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement, a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas. The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ...
How to format and structure a college essay: A definitive guide
1 - Start with a surprising "I am…" statement. This essay structure depends on hooking your reader's attention from the first line, so you want to start with something memorable, unexpected, and maybe even a bit confusing. Though often this means saying "I am…" it could just as easily be "I believe…" or "I have…".
Types and Examples of Essays: The Complete List
1. Expository Essays. These are most likely the types of essays you may encounter and the standard essay style needed for exams. When writing an expository essay, you will go deeper into a subject or issue to develop an idea, analyze supporting data, and then organize an "exposition" on the concept.
Essay Structure ~ Format, Layout & Outline With Examples
There is no set requirement for college essays. However, there are some general guidelines. Short essays: 500 words or fewer; Standard college essays: 1,000 to 1,500 words; Long essays: 1,500 words and above; ... There are four main types of essay structures. However, the structure stays the same for the most part: Expository essays ...
6.21: Text: Types of Essays and Suggested Structures
Sentences giving explanations and providing evidence to back topic sentence. Concluding sentence - link to next paragraph. Following body paragraphs. These follow the same structure for as many components as you need to outline. Conclusion. Summary of the main points of the body. Restatement of the main point of view.
How to Write an Essay Outline
An essay outline is a way of planning the structure of your essay before you start writing. It involves writing quick summary sentences or phrases for every point you will cover in each paragraph, giving you a picture of how your argument will unfold. You'll sometimes be asked to submit an essay outline as a separate assignment before you ...
Guide
I'd like to stress that neither structure is inherently better than the other. I've seen incredible essays using both structures. I say this because I don't want you to feel like you need to write about challenges to write an outstanding college essay. You don't. And please note that "significance" is obviously on a spectrum.
4.3: Types of Essays and Suggested Structures
Sentences giving explanations and providing evidence to back topic sentence. Concluding sentence - link to next paragraph. Following body paragraphs. These follow the same structure for as many components as you need to outline. Conclusion. Summary of the main points of the body. Restatement of the main point of view.
What Is an Essay? Structure, Parts, and Types
3. Argumentative essays. An argumentative essay is a type of essay that aims to persuade the reader to adopt a particular stance based on factual evidence and is one of the most common forms of college essays. 4. Expository essays. An expository essay is a common format used in school and college exams to assess your understanding of a specific ...
How to Write a "Why This College" Essay
Impression: This essay shows the college that you're not just applying to a bunch of random schools. It shows you've done your research and that you're genuinely interested in being part of their community. Structure of a "Why This College" Essay. The "Why Us" essay is your chance to shine beyond grades and test scores.

What are your chances of acceptance?

Your chancing factors

College Essay Structures & How to Approach Them

1. The Personal Statement

The Approach

2. Your Favorite Activity

3. Why [insert school here]

4. Intellectual Curiosity

Essay Structures: The Takeaway

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Writing Process: Organizing

Analytical essay

Argumentative essay

Interpretive essay

Comparative essay

Problem and solution essay

Cause and effect essay

The Admissions Strategist

Why Is Structure Important?

Step One: Create an Outline

A Beginning, Middle, and End

Beginning: The Intro

Middle: The Body

End: Conclusion

Types of Essay Structures

Example Structure

Get personalized advice!

Compare and Contrast

Narrative or Chronological

What About the Shorter Essays?

Other Tips for Shorter Essays

Conclusion: College Essay Formatting & Structure

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How to format and structure a college essay: A definitive guide

What makes a successful college essay?

Types of College Essay Formats

The Narrative Essay Format and Example (best if you want to describe one key moment in your life).

1 – Start in the middle of the story (media res)

2 – Zoom out

3 – Show personal growth/development/change

4 – Reflect on what’s changed

The Montage Essay Format and Example (best if you have an eclectic mix of interests/experiences)

1 – Start with the unifying thread or theme

2 – Present the montage!

3 – Tie the moments of the montage together

The “I am…” Essay Format (best if you have an identity or belief that’s important to you)

1 – Start with a surprising “I am…” statement

2 – Expand on the “I am…”

3 – End by reflecting on how this aspect of your identity shapes who you are as a person and student

The Creative/Artistic Format (Best if you have an unusual topic and like taking risks)

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Types and Examples of Essays: The Complete List

Types of Essays with Examples

4 Major Types of Essay with Examples

1. Expository Essays

2. Argumentative Essays

3. Descriptive Essays

4. Narrative Essays|

The 7 Other Types of Essays

Personal essays

Political essays

Compare-and-contrast essays

College (application) essays

Analytical essays

Argumentative essays

Humorous essays

How to Write Expository Essays (and Elements)

How to Write a Compelling Argumentative Essay

How to Write a Descriptive Essay (Types and Tips)

Narrative Essays: Examples and How to Write them

Your Step to Success

Essay Structure – Format, Layout & Outline With Examples

Essay structure in a nutshell

Definition: Essay structure

Parts of the essay structure

Introduction

Number of paragraphs

Essay structure examples

Chronological essay structure