Academic Writing

A reaction essay is an essay that is written in response to something else. The initial topic that the writer is responding to could be anything from a speech that was heard to another essay to the latest breaking news event. A reaction essay is designed to state the writer’s position in respect to someone else’s opinion or happening in the world. This will often include a summary, but it is important to use that summary as a backdrop and not the bulk of the essay.

Although the term "critical" is most often used in a negative sense, a critical essay does not necessarily need to have a negative tone. A critical essay is simply the writer's reaction to another reading. As the writer, you will analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the reading as well as the information that it presents. This can end up framing the reading in either a positive or negative light.

A critical essay must start out with the writer restating the main idea of the reading or readings. It is a good idea to do this with each work that will be included in the overall analysis. After quickly summarizing the main points of the reading, the next step is to break down and evaluate the reading or readings. One level of assessment is to analyze the factual information that the author presents in the reading. This can take many forms but usually reliability and relevance are examined. The logical flow of the author's presentation of the material must also be taken into consideration when looking at the reading critically. Another level of analysis that the writer needs to take into consideration is whether or not there are opposing viewpoints than those that are presented in the reading. This takes careful analysis and presentation on the part of the writer. It also requires the writer to take an educated stand and present evidence to back up claims. It is important to keep personal feelings out of this critical analysis and focus on simple facts and logical conclusions. Another approach to writing a critical essay is research work that has already been done about the reading that the writer is analyzing. This is a great way to lend credibility to the claims and opinions that the writer is already trying to establish. The key to a successful critical essay is to stay focused on the facts and organization of the essay. The backbone of the critical essay is the making of claims and backing them up with credible evidence from the text. It is important for the writer to ensure that all information that is presented about the reading is relevant and flows in a logical manner.

A persuasive essay is very similar to an argumentative essay in that information is presented to attempt to persuade the reader that a certain point of view is more legitimate than another. Another element of a persuasive essay will try to convince the reader to take a certain action or to modify a behavior they are already performing. Usually, the success of a persuasive essay is based on many things. First is the information presented that is in support of the author’s point. If a reader can sense that the writer is less than very well informed on the topic, credibility will be lost. Another aspect of convincing the reader to buy into the writer’s point of view is quality of writing. Although this may seem obvious, it is critical to building effective momentum toward a powerful argument.

Whereas most essays are designed to have the writer prove a thesis by backing it up with specific thesis by backing it up with specific evidence, an exploratory essay leads the writer by exploring, not proving. The writer does not start writing with an idea to prove, but rather explores many different options and opinions. Although an exploratory essay is similar to an inquiry essay, the exploratory essay is much greater in scope as it addresses many aspects of a question instead of a single component.

An evaluation essay is very similar to a few other essay types. In fact, in many cases, an evaluation essay is so close in style and content that they are indistinguishable from an argumentative or analytical essay. Or descriptive essay. However, an evaluation essay is different in the sense that the writer is not simply presenting information or relaying the information of other articles or research, but rather the writer is presenting their own logical thought process about a topic or idea. The writer often begins the process of writing with no specific opinion in mind and then develops an opinion through the course of writing. The author will examine, in a logical manner, as many aspects as are necessary and then come to their own opinions on the topic.

Most essays are designed to prove a point or to lead the reader through a logical set of points in order to arrive at a conclusion. A descriptive essay is not this type of essay, but rather allows the writer to use a great deal more freedom in language usage and subject matter. When a writer is composing a descriptive essay, their job is to create an experience for the reader that is vibrant and powerful. Colorful language and meticulous inspection greatly help in this pursuit.

As I previously wrote, an argumentative or persuasive paper combines researched factual data and the writer's personal opinion; the argumentative essay is usually framed around a thesis statement that reflects the writer's personal opinion, which then persuades the reader to accept his/her reasoning by backing the statement with research facts.