Essay type #1. Expository
What Is an Expository Essay?
This type of essays explains a topic, theme, or idea. When writing an expository essay, imagine that you are explaining your topic to the target audience. You can choose to write an expository essay if you need to discuss any topic, from your reaction to a movie or a book to explaining how something works. This type of an essay is also the best choice when you need to give a reaction to a recent event, such as political debate, football match, or ecological issue.
What Are the Criteria of a Good Expository Essay?
Regardless of the type of the essay, you need to attract the reader’s attention. To achieve this, follow these rules:
- Include a clear thesis statement. In the introductory paragraph, be sure to include a thesis statement/research question/description of the purpose, etc. Having informed the reader about the purpose of the essay, do not digress;
- Your essay should contain ample evidence to support your claim. This means referencing relevant research, including good examples, facts, and statistics. However, remember to properly incorporate the evidence into the body of the paper. Be sure to illustrate your point succinctly.
- Make sure your essay is concise. Repetitions, vague statements, and lack of clarity will never work to your advantage. Try to be as clear as possible and do not leave the readers guessing.
Expository Essay Sample
Are Cell Phones Dangerous?
Introduction
Nowadays, almost every household in the world has a cell phone device. The number of mobile users keeps growing every day, and it revolutionizes the way people interact. Cell phones are a common feature among all age groups. The dynamics of the role that the mobile device plays may vary from one age group to another depending on the preferences of the various groups. Today, the cell phone is an integral feature in the lives of people. The discussion as to whether or not cellular devices are dangerous is dependent on how users use the device.
Body
The potential usefulness of cell phones far outweighs the potential dangers. The invention of any piece of technology including the mobile phone is to improve the quality of life of the end user. The technologies may pose potential dangers; however, the intent at the innovation level is to benefit the user rather than harm the user. There are numerous reasons for arguing that cell phones are useful rather than dangerous. Below are some of the arguments why cell phones are beneficial to the users. First, communication is the primary function for which manufacturers create cell phones. Cell phones ensure ease and convenience of communication among people across the world. Call services and messaging services provide constant interaction between people. Moreover, smartphones have video call applications that further sophisticate the way people communicate. During emergencies, cell phones come in handy as people can use them to call for help ensuring a timely response to a distress. Long distance communication that was problematic a few decades ago has seen a tremendous improvement in the cell phone era. Second, cell phones enable people to have broad access to information through the internet. Today cell phones are equivalent to mini personal computers. Learners are increasingly using the internet to gain access to all kinds of information to conduct academic research. Educators are increasingly incorporating the use of mobile devices and other forms of technology to support the learning process. Internet connection on smartphones means that cell phone users can access information from books, newspapers, websites, and journals with just a click. Access to information on a mobile device is not only convenient but also cost effective. Sharing information is also easy using email services, messaging applications, and social media. Third, the cell phone is growing in popularity as a tool for entertainment. The entertainment feature of mobile devices is prevalent among the younger generation. Youthful mobile device consumers prefer devices that offer multiple entertainment options. The most popular entertainment options include video players, cameras, music players, social media interaction, and games. The versatility of the cell phone ensures that users can use it for multiple functions. Fourth, the mobile device also has other additional features that make it useful on a day to day basis. The massive adoption of e-commerce has made mobile devices an important tool for transaction. The user can conveniently shop for goods online without stepping into a physical store. The daily schedules that people have today make it necessary for marketers and businesses to offer a convenient mode of purchasing products from the comfort of one's home. Users have the option of using mobile and wireless money transfer services from their mobile phones. The conference call feature available on most smartphones enables to conduct business meetings with partners in different locations in a cost efficient and convenient manner. Partners do not need to travel to a specific place for the meeting as they can hold meetings via mobile devices. Both consumers and businesses appreciate the usefulness of mobile devices in the conduct of business. Mobile technology like any other technology that has benefits has its' limitations. The potential dangers arising from the use of cell phones are created by the human beings. The elimination of such threats is easy; however, the casual manner in which mobile users approach the issues makes it difficult to win the battle. The dangers of cell phones in today's society are as follows. First, the society is slowly losing personal interaction making people anti-social. Socialization involving real interaction is drastically reducing as mobile device use gains popularity. Social media platforms and messaging applications are taking over the overall interaction between people. Messaging and communicating via social media is not wrong; however, it could make people distant by eliminating one-on-one interaction. The lack of personal connection resulting from cell phone use may break friendships and close family ties. The second danger of cell phones is that they are a major source of distraction at work, when driving, at school, and at home. Mobile phone distractions account for a large percent of all traffic accidents in the world. While driving, a person may get distracted by a text or call making them lose control causing an accident that could be fatal. Drivers can avoid such accidents by avoiding the use of cell phones while driving. At work and at school cell phones are nuisances resulting in time wastage, hence, poor performance at school and work. The constant interruption by the phone calls, messages, and social media divert attention from studies or work making it difficult to fulfill school or workplace requirement. Third, while it appears extremely convenient to have personal information on a mobile device, there is a potential danger due to security and privacy breaches. Compromising of personal information may be damaging especially because some malicious people use the information to blackmail and extort victims. Some people leak other people's personal information on the internet causing them public humiliation and bullying. In some instances, victims of public shaming more often than not commit suicide to avoid the public humiliation. Criminals use stolen bank account information to steal from unsuspecting victims. People use various security features such as passwords to ensure the security of their devices. The security features are at times not enough to stop hackers from remotely accessing personal information from people's devices. The fourth potential danger of cell phone is that it exposes teenagers and children to inappropriate information such as pornography. Children can quickly access inappropriate information on the Internet. The information is toxic to young minds and could lead to inappropriate behavior and pornography addiction. Failure of parents and guardians to control the content their children access online could be potentially dangerous. Children may learn an inappropriate and disrespectful language online. The internet is also an avenue for bullying. Bullying is a major problem among teenagers that often results in suicide, low self-esteem, and dropping out of school. Parents should be keen on the online activities their children engage in to ensure that they are not perpetrators or victims of bullying. Timely intervention could help save lives.
Conclusion
The issue of whether or not the cell phone is dangerous varies from one user to another. If mobile phone users choose to use devices for the right purpose, the device is beneficial. However, if users want to use gadgets for evil things such as bullying, and fraud the device is seen to be dangerous. The purpose of technology is to improve the lives of end users by offering convenience and an easy way of doing things. Users can only realize the benefits of the innovative and ever improving cell phone technology if they use it appropriately.
Essay type #2. Persuasive
What Is a Persuasive Essay?
In this kind of essay, the author aims at convincing the reader to accept his or her point of view. To make an essay persuasive, your argument and its premises have to be strong. If you want to convince the reader, you have to present a reasonable rationale.
What Are the Criteria of a Good Persuasive Essay?
- The point of view has to be expressed clearly.
- The content has to be interesting for the readers.
- Support your claims with solid evidence and careful reasoning.
- Know your target reader. What can convince them?
- Be sure to conduct a thorough research before trying to persuade your reader.
- Beware of emotional language. Being too passionate about your topic, you might easily lose your audience.
- Avoid repetitions.
- Show respect of the reader by choosing appropriate language.
- Do not ignore the rules of writing a good essay. Remember that all paragraphs have to be structured well. Discuss only one topic in one paragraph and add the transition to make the writing coherent.
- Do not forget to write a strong concluding paragraph.
Persuasive Essay Sample
It is the desire of every human being to have the body systems functioning harmoniously in order to enjoy life and live it to the fullest. Good health is a priority to everyone, but how often do we make efforts to eliminate undesirable and unhealthy lifestyle habits that often leave our bodies unfit to function at the optimum? Indeed, most people understand that regular exercise is very important. Engaging in regular exercise not only improves our health holistically but also shapes our bodies and boosts our performance making one feel upbeat. The exercise entails any type of physical exertion, a jog in the morning, brisk walking, skipping rope, a swimming session or attending an aerobic dance are just but some forms of exercise. Apart from the compelling health benefits of exercise, it is also fun. Most of the diseases and conditions affecting people today are directly related to sedentary lifestyle, diabetes, obesity, heart diseases, cancer, and other diseases can be avoided through regular exercise. This one of the major benefits of regular exercise. Our bodies are made to move, but with the technological advancement permeating our lives, it is easier to use the lift rather than climb the stairs just as it is to drive to work rather walk even if it is just a few kilometers. This inactivity is a great health risk affecting most of the population. “Use it or lose it”, this is an expression that evidences the truth about our bodies. If you do not use your body, you are likely to lose it. The efficient functioning of our hearts, lungs, joints and the brain can only be realized through regular exercise. In addition, inactive lifestyle coupled with feeding on junk food has resulted in many health problems in our society today. They include obesity especially in young children which predisposes them to other diseases such as high blood pressure and heart diseases. Exercise is a remedy to these lifestyle issues. We all desire to look and feel better about ourselves, having well toned muscles and even that good posture. Exercise is no doubt the solution; it strengthens and tones our bodies. This in turn is a great boost to our self-esteem and self-confidence. Exercise develops our muscles, bones and the ligaments improving our strength and endurance levels. It also makes our bodies more efficient in the way they function, for instance, less energy will be utilized due to improved stamina. Flexibility or having joint full range of movement is yet another vital benefit of exercise. In fact, most tasks require flexibility in our daily chores, the ability to move our legs and arms from one place to the other cannot be underestimated. Many undesirable features that characterize old age can be eliminated through regular exercise. Exercise slows the aging process keeping one looking and feeling much younger in the entire life. It reduces depression often associated with old age and keeps the body systems strong, functional and in good shape. The loss of balance and coordination in old age is also improved. Exercise has been proven to release the hormone endorphin, which lowers stress, and anxiety that in turn improves the mental well-being. Precisely, life can never be better without exercise and it is hard to manage without it. The rewarding benefits in terms of good health are incredible. Regular exercise is key to holistic health mentally, socially, physically and emotionally. In addition, exercise improves the quality of life, reduces stress and boosts our moods leaving us feeling happier and satisfied in our lives.
Essay type #3. Analytical
What Is an Analytical Essay?
An essay in which you analyze, investigate, and interpret a topic is called analytical. You can choose this type of an essay when analyzing books, important events, artworks, or abstract phenomena.
What Are the Criteria of a Good Analytical Essay?
To write a successful essay, be sure to do the following:
- Introduce the argument
The introductory paragraph is very important because it tells the readers what they are going to read about. Just vaguely naming the book/work of art/issue, etc. that you will analyze is not enough. Remember that every topic can have numerous interpretations, so it is necessary to make a clear thesis statement. The focus of the essay has to be as narrow as possible.
- Analyze the subject
Having stated the problem, say what your argument is. Only after that can you start analyzing the subject. For example, when analyzing a text, describe the stylistic devices the author employs to convey his/her ideas. In other words, you have to explore how exactly the author conveys his/her ideas. Remember to support your claims with text evidence, i.e. quotes, passages from the text, etc. This will make your discussion stronger.
- Provide your reaction
This means you have to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the subject matter by including your personal response to what you are writing about. However, this does not mean your response must always be positive. For instance, if you are analyzing a text which was supposed to be persuasive but failed to fulfill its purpose, do not hesitate to say the truth. Just remember your tone has to be critical, so be sure to explain why your reaction is negative or positive. Draw on evidence from the text to illustrate your claims. In addition, your reaction has to be seen throughout the whole essay, not just in the conclusion.
- Provide a conclusion
In the last paragraph, make a conclusion about how the analysis is related to your argument.
Analytical Essay Sample
In the 18th century, the Chinese became the first Asians to settle in the United States. As a result, the rate of immigration increased in the 19th century. This was because of the Gold Rush. The first immigrants were rich Chinese who had the aim to run the business. They received a warm welcome by the Americans because they were considered to be extremely hard-working. Some also moved in order to look for jobs in hotels or industries. There was also overpopulation in China and, so there was a need to look for new settlement. However, the Chinese population started to decrease when the American government made laws chasing the Asians out of their land. Among them was the Chinese Exclusion Act. Many Chinese started to return home and this also reduced the population. This essay is aimed at analyzing the challenges encountered by two persons as their families immigrated to the United States. This is achieved by discussing the similarities and differences of their families’ background during the time of the migration. The essay also gives the overall impact of Asians immigration on the economy of the United States. Both Guo and Liu had a Chinese origin. Philip Guo was born in Taiwan, a town in China, and Eric Liu was born in New York in the United States. Their migration to the United States was due to domestic reasons. In spite of having the same originality, Guo and Liu faced challenges as they were brought up. Some of these challenges were similar and others different. One of the similarities in their family background was the way they were brought up. In the case of Guo, he was left by his parents when he was just eleven months old. His mother left for the United States to further her studies, and later the father left for Switzerland for business matters. During this time, the young boy was left under the care of the extended family. In this, his grandmother played a significant role. The parents later came together after five years, at the time when Guo had lost the parent-child relationship. In the case of Liu, his father passed away when the boy was young. Therefore, the mother had to spend more time in looking for ways to meet the family's needs. This resulted in him being left with some other people. The other similar challenge was the migration and settlement. For example, at the age of twelve, Guo had stayed in three different continents, six cities, and had attended seven different schools which had different systems of education. This implied that coping with the new environment was a problem and getting along with a new way of living was a challenge. Even after that, he moved to the United States with his family. At that time he was seven and was left with another family when the father went for work. The better part of Liu’s life was that he was born in the United States. Therefore, he did not suffer the problem of settlement much. However, his mother moved from one place to another within the United States to get a way of earning a living. This was also inconvenience to some extent. However, their settlement was favored because the Chinese Exclusion Act was appealed in 1943. Also, the 1964 Immigration and Nationality Act had removed all the barriers to immigration. Racism was also a considerable challenge to Liu and Guo. It was a time when the Asian American legend and myth were on the ground. In any matter, concerning either social or political, one’s race was a main consideration. In one time, Liu wanted to dismiss the myth, but he ended up in frustration when tried to get into a relationship with the white girls. The basis for identity was ethnicity, social class, and gender. So, Liu was against this form of identification. Guo says that, even if he was a Chinese, he felt different from the other Chinese in the streets of the China towns. This suggests that different levels of classes had a different degree of respect. Guo viewed that his communication in English was fluent and his parents were well-educated with graduate level degrees. Liu and Guo were also the victims of the violation of Asians’ rights. It was claimed that the Asians undermined the rights of non-Asians. Thereby, the United States concluded that the Asians were possibly going to violate the rights of the Americans. As the matter of fact, the Asian tribes were looked down upon, and it was viewed that they should not have any government powers. This is caused by the failure to understand the Asian culture. These social fights can only be stopped if the level of understanding among various cultural groups is enhanced. However, there were some differences in the family background and settlement of Liu and Guo. For instance, at a younger age, Guo was treated like a king in the extended family. This was because he was the first-born son. At the time of his birth, a male child was more valued than a female child. It was also a time when the Chinese government had implemented a one-child family to regulate the population of China which was increasing rapidly. This had resulted in the rise in abortion cases, if in any case, a fetus was suspected to be a female. The government also issued a birth permit. The permits were applied per year, and the list of the families which were supposed to conceive in a year was displayed. If a family failed to conceive in their schedule, then it had to reapply, and it was not a guarantee to get the permit. Therefore, it was a privilege to get a permit and conceive and more so to give birth to a boy. Consequently, the male population exceeded that of female at a range. This made the government ban the checking of the fetus’ sex. In the case of Liu, it seems that he lacked all that care a child deserves. Only the mother was alive and the grandmother took care of him. However, he grew up to be a clever boy, and went as far as Harvard Law School. The other difference is that, at the age of twelve years, Guo was able to communicate in three different languages including Chinese. On the other hand, Liu was unable to read Chinese even if he knew how to communicate. This implies that Guo was brought up by a caring individual who was ready to instruct him from the ground roots. Guo grew up even knowing his background, unlike Liu who was born and raised in the United States. In general, the Asian migration has contributed to the development of the United States. At the mid 19th century, Asian Americans became a part in the entertainment industry. They acquired various roles in acting films. They have also set up businesses like stores, laundries, hotels and have become dominant entrepreneurs. In so doing, they have become rather influential in the American economy. Asian Americans have also acquired top political positions in America. This is due to the increased voting population. They have also been incorporated to the U.S military. However, there were some reactions on the immigration of Asians. On one side the United States government reacted, and on the other side the common people. The government allowed in all the immigrants before the start of the First World War, provided one had a white skin color. This however, came to change towards the end of the 19th century. Some groups were restricted from going to the United States. For example in 1875, prostitutes, criminals and drug addicts were not allowed to immigrate. It was worse in 1917, when the United States government excluded all Asians from immigrating to America. The common people also started to treat the immigrants with hostility at the end of 19th century.
Essay type #4. Argumentative
What Is an Argumentative Essay?
In an argumentative essay, you have to justify your position on a subject by proving that it is more reasonable than the positions expressed by other people. As you can see, this type of essays is similar to the persuasive ones except for in argumentative essay, you argue against the positions of the others to defend your own. Instead of simply persuading the reader to accept your opinion, you have to provide strong argumentation.
What Are the Criteria of a Good Argumentative Essay?
- Do not lose focus when providing the arguments.
- Express your argument in a clear thesis statement. Remember that you cannot present an argument in a form of a question.
- Choose to write on topics you understand. Otherwise, it will be hard for you to present strong evidence.
- An effective argumentative essay includes a discussion of both advantages and disadvantages of a certain issue.
- You still have to properly structure your essay. This means discussing only one idea per paragraph and writing good topic sentences.
- Remember to use transitions to make the essay coherent.
- Make sure you know your target reader. What do you have to say to convince them?
- Include only reliable evidence.
- Try to make your essay not only convincing but also interesting.
- Summarize your discussion in a concluding paragraph.
Argumentative Essay Sample
Introduction
Education is the means that dictates the way people think, feel, and act. An educated person is the person who thinks, acts, and feels according to the expectation of the community. An educated person has the knowledge on the expectations of the community and has the appropriate skills, values, and behaviors. In order for a person to be educated, he or she must undergo the process of learning. Learning is the process in which human beings acquire new or modify existing knowledge, skills, behaviors, and values. Learning involves the synthesis of different, types and pieces of information.A person can gather information needed for the learning process through many ways. To be educated, one can gather information through listening to other educated people, observation, or reading. Among the different ways to acquire knowledge and get educated, reading is the most important. In order for a person to be educated, that person must be a reader. The aim of this essay is to argue the notion that in order for a person to be educated, he or she must be a reader. In order to be educated, a person needs to gather a lot of information from many sources on different issues. An educated person should have the knowledge on most of the fields that affect human life. The fields range from environment, technology, fashion, and other social factors affecting interaction between people. An educated person needs to have the knowledge on the current matters of the world. Most of the information a person needs to be educated is in written mode. To obtain such information one must read different sources like newspapers, web articles, books, journals and many other written materials. To get the information from this many sources, of which many are writing, one must be a reader. There is no education without reading. A person cannot claim to be educated if he or she is not a reader. Reading skill is one of the components of education. If a person does not have the reading skills, then that person can never be educated. A person who cannot do some other small things does not qualify as educated. For example, all new home and office appliances come with written instructions of use, an educated person should be able to read the information and use the appliance in the right manner. Being able to read the instruction simplifies the life of a person. A person who cannot read such instructions does not qualify as educated. Referring to a person who is not a reader as educated is like referring to a vehicle without wheels as a vehicle. The vehicle needs to have wheels to attain all the requirements of being a vehicle. A vehicle without wheels is useless, as it cannot move, in the same way; a person does not attain all the requirements of being educated if he or she is not a reader. A person cannot sustain the education he or she has attained if he is not a reader. Some other people argue that other forms of attaining information are enough to obtain and sustain the knowledge. The people argue that a person can obtain knowledge, and thus be educated, through observation and listening. The people argue that, even in the very old days, when people did not have the ability to read or write there were people who were educated. Whereas it is true that one can obtain knowledge through other ways apart from reading, the ways are not enough. It is also true that in the very old days educated people did not have the reading skill. In the old days, the community needed to interact among themselves, few people with the same methods of life survival. In today’s world, an educated man needs to communicate with people all over the world. There are new things in the world each day, this is the reason the today’s man needs reading skills to be able to cope with the world today. If any person is not up to date with the current issues, then that person do not qualify the requirement of being educated.
Conclusion
In order to be educated, a person must be a reader. Whereas there are many ways to obtain knowledge and become educated, reading is arguably the most important. Some people say that other ways of obtaining knowledge is enough to be educated, but this is not the case considering that most of the information today is in writing form. Therefore, the conclusion is that in order to be educated, someone must be a reader.
