There are many different kinds of essays, but all of them have this in common: the writer is speaking his or her mind about something truly important to him or her. That something important may be a personal experience, a belief, a judgment (about a book or movie, for instance), a policy or any real-world topic. Some essays are fairly informal and quite personal; others, like many school essays, are more formal and impersonal. In any case, the writer is always trying to present his or her view to the reader and always emphasizes the idea (or ideas) that animate the writing. The writer tries to convince the reader to see things his or her way for the course of the essay and tries to nudge the reader to serious thought.
There are many different ways to categorize essays. Writers INC lists many different kinds depending upon subject or method of development. Paradigm Online Writing Assistant or POWA (an excellent source) lists four kinds: informal essays; thesis/support essays; argumentative essays; and exploratory essays. Robert Atwan and Donald McQuade, editors of The Writer's Presence (a reader used in English II), categorize essays into three general types: those in which the writer explores himself or herself (personal essays often called memoir); those in which the writer shapes information about a subject (essays often called expository); and those in which the writer contends with an issue (essays often called argumentative).
Memoir
"Memoir is not what
happens, but the person to whom things happen."
Virginia Woolf
In her book In the Middle,
teacher Nancie Atwell has defined memoir as a "window into [the writer's]
life. . . . Memoir is how writers look for the past and make sense of it. We
figure out who we are, who we have become, and what it means to us and to the
lives of others: a memoir puts the events of a life in perspective for the
writer and for those who read it. It is a way to validate to others the events
of our lives -- our choices, perspectives, decisions, responses. Memoir
recognizes and explores moments on the way to growing up and becoming oneself,
the good moments and the bad ones. It distills the essence of an experience
through what a writer includes and, more importantly, through what a writer
excludes. Memoir celebrates people and places no one else has heard of. And
memoir allows us to discover and tell our own truths as writers."
Memoir (sometimes called a "personal experience essay") brings to life an incident or a closely related series of incidents that reveal something important about who the writer is. Sometimes the memoir focuses on a person or on a place important in the life of the writer. Whatever the subject, it must be tightly focused on something that matters deeply and looms large in the memory of the writer. It may be the moment when, for instance, the writer learned a life lesson or discovered a personal strength previously unknown or tested a belief. Like a short story, a memoir uses dialogue, action, narration and description to create a scene or a very few connected scenes.
When you write memoir, you don’t necessarily have to state explicitly what you learned from your experience or what that experience meant to you. Nevertheless, if the memory (or memories) is so important that you chose it (or them) from among many others of your life, then you must show your reader how and why it (or they) affected you implicitly. Your reader doesn’t just want to find out what happened; he or she also needs to know the impact that event (or person or place) had -- and maybe still has -- on you, the writer.
The "Informal Essays" section of POWA may prove helpful to you as you write memoir.
Exposition
The writer of an
expository (or informative) essay explains something to the reader. Any time you
explain, define, inform, show how to, illustrate, discuss or define, you are
writing exposition. The keys to success are two: strong content supported with
plenty of specific and varied information and logical organization that follows
what Writers INC calls "a thesis-statement-plus-support
structure." (See Writers INC 105-114 for plenty of good advice about
writing expository essays.)
Expository essays can be written about anything and can make anything interesting. For instance, the essayist may explain a volleyball team's strategies for success, may discuss and define teenage school groups (or cliques), may offer information about the causes of acne, or may explain how to create a strong personal web page.
For more advice, check out the "Thesis/Support" section of POWA.
Argument (or Persuasion)
When you write to
persuade your reader to accept your judgment, you are writing argument. All such
essays make what are called "claims," that is, statements of opinion
or judgment about facts, worth or policy. If you argue, for instance, that
McGehee's instills values in its students, you are making a claim of fact. If
you argue that McGehee's is the best girls' school in the city, you are making a
claim of worth. If you argue that McGehee's should become a co-ed institution,
you are making a claim of policy.
No matter what kind of claim you make, you won't convince a reader to accept your opinion just because it's yours. You have to convince your reader by offering plenty of reasoned and specific evidence in support of your point of view. That evidence may include statistics, observations, expert opinions, comparisons and the like.
Arguments can be found in the newspaper: editorials, letters to the editor, many columns and reviews (of movies, plays, concerts, art exhibits, restaurants and the like) are all arguments.
For more information, consult Writers INC (115-123) and POWA's "Argumentative Essays."