Part One An Overview of the
Essay......................................................................1
I What Is an
Essay?..............................................................................................
.............2
1 The Basic Structure of an
Essay....................................................................................2
2 Essays in Different Types of
Writing.............................................................................4
1 Narration and the narrative
essay...............................................................................4
2 Description and the descriptive
essay........................................................................8
3 Exposition and the expository
essay..........................................................................9
4 Argumentation and the persuasive
essay.................................................................10
II What Is a Research
Paper?......................................................................................... 11
Part Two Writing an
Essay.......................................................................................21
I Planning and Shaping the
Essay................................................................................22
1 Choosing and Limiting a
Topic....................................................................................22
1 Choosing a
topic...............................................................................................
........22
2 Limiting the
topic...............................................................................................
......28
2 Determining Our Purpose and
Audience.....................................................................29
1 Determining our purpose and writing a statement of purpose................................29
2 Identifying our audience and adjusting o