Is Essay a Genre of Literature: Its Structure and Examples

Essays are one of the many different kinds of texts that students are required to write in their academic journey. Along with other texts such as laboratory writings, research proposals, book reviews, case studies, and others, they can be referred to as genres.

These genres can be easily constructed from a small range into different types of texts. For example, essay questions can be answered in different ways using different answer formats.

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Is Essay a Genre?

An essay is a genre of writing because essays are a type of academic writing classification. They are a flexible small genre of literature and part of human communication that seeks to express one’s views, argument, or thesis by backing it up with personal or external sources.

They serve purposes such as introducing topics to wide audiences, applying for college and university admissions, and being part of future novels.

Essays have also been selected as common elements of the education process in a lot of countries. They are a very good way of testing the ability and diligence of students.

Also, they are divided into several types with common ones including argumentative, descriptive, expository, and comparative essays.

Reasons Making Essay a Genre in Writing

Essays are genres in writing because they are opinions in which reflections, critiques, personal impressions, and ideas are exposed to evaluate different themes.

These themes are also deeply analyzed and interpreted implying that essays are genres that are rehearsed. Questions on different subjects are problematized based on the writer’s general opinions and conclusions made.

Additionally, essays are a genre because they present attempts at the critical decision and personal point of view in a natural flow of ideas that is required in the academic world.

Thoughts Why Essays Are Not a Genre

Essays cannot be considered as writing genres when they are written with no purpose or audience. Almost every writing in the academic world is regarded as an essay.

Even pointless writings that were just written without any aim are considered essays. However, these essays cannot be regarded as genres. An essay that will not be read by an audience cannot be a genre of academic writing.

This means that any form of writing that is not marked by instructors or used for academic purposes cannot be classified as a genre of writing.

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Main Genres in Academic Writing

1. Research Paper

A research paper is the end product of the culmination of critical thinking, research, organization, composition, and source evaluation.

You can explain it as a child growing after as a writer interprets, evaluates, and explores specific sources. It is a genre of writing that depends on the support and interaction of primary and secondary sources.

When every research paper is done, it furthers the field of the topic and provides students with opportunities to increase their knowledge of that particular topic.

The two main types of research papers are argumentative and analytical research papers. Analytical essays ask questions, explore and evaluate the topics while argumentative essay introduces a controversial topic in which the writer is needed to take a stance that will be supported in the essay.

2. Dissertations

A dissertation is a long piece of academic writing based on research that is submitted for Ph.D. and sometimes for Master’s degree purposes.

One purpose of writing dissertations is to make scholarly arguments. For example, dissertations in humanities will have to include evidence that you have gathered from credible books and articles.

Also, dissertations should show that you have done your work. They are crucial in ensuring that graduates get the stamp of approval for their degree credentials from their institutions.

Dissertations are written to professors in various academic departments who have high expertise in different areas of specialization. They are the ones who determine whether students have passed or not.

3. Thesis

A thesis is a paper that identifies a specific research question and answers it fully. It includes a thesis statement that provides the stand taken on the research question.

This paper is written mostly by Master’s students after taking core courses in the first half of their program.

It is a culmination of learning to show that the students can easily comprehend and apply theories, practices, principles, and codes of ethics in a particular field of study.

4. Reports

Report writing is a way of elaborating on a topic formally. The audience is always a thought-out section. For example, a report can be written about a business case or school event.

The main purpose of writing a report is to inform the reader about something without the personal input of the writer on that topic. Therefore, reports only portray facts., charts, solid analysis, data, and tables.

Knowing the audience’s motives is very important because it sets out the set of facts that will be focused on in the report.

5. Field Projects

Field projects involve the integration of theory and practice. As a result, students are allowed to work and write on real-world challenges. The issues that these projects deal with mostly include those of critical aspects of society.

Students research, analyze, and give recommendations on the issues of priority to advance the goals of field project partners. The purpose of these projects is to provide the students with unique learning opportunities where practical first-hand practice in the different professional fields is provided.

The audiences of these projects are the supervisors who often check their programs and grade them after the completion of the project period.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What genres of essays are there?

There are four genres of essays. These include exposition, narration, argumentation, and description. These are the types of tasks that are common in essay writing assignments in most institutions.

Therefore, students must understand how to write essays belonging to each of the four genres.

What is an essay in writing?

An essay is a piece of writing that outlines the writer’s views and opinions on a certain story. Essays try to convince the readers about something by shedding light on it through thorough information.

To convince readers, essays must have several components that make them flow logically. These include the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.

Are ALL essays persuasive?

There are different types of essays with each requiring a different approach angle. Persuasive essays differ from other essay types in that they are designed to involve arguments that serve the purpose of making the reader agree with the writer’s point of view.

An argument is made on a single subject or a particular viewpoint and the writer provides evidence that will aid in persuading the reader.

Apart from persuasive essays, others include argumentative essays, descriptive essays, expository essays, and many more.

Is essay fiction or nonfiction?

Essays are nonfiction because the writer is attempting to tell the truth about something.

Essays are not like fictional short stories. For example, in descriptive essays, the writer must dive into deep research on credible information that tells the truth about a certain topic.

Also, in argumentative essays, the writers must show evidence of why they are in favor of a particular point of view

How do you identify a genre in literature?

To identify a genre in literature you will need to identify the tone of writing, the style of writing, the techniques used in the narrative, the length of the essay, and the content of the essay.

Content includes what the essay is all about. It is the aim or main point that the essay tries to prove.

What is the difference between essay and literary forms?

Literary form is the style or manner of constructing, coordinating, and arranging parts of compositions such as poems, novels, and television show scripts while essays are pieces of writing that just inform the reader about a certain topic.