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Essay

Essay

Definition:

Prose used to discuss, explain, or argue a topic from an author’s personal point of view.

Purposes:

• To present ideas around a topic
• To entertain through discussion
• To provide a point of view
• To persuade
• To carefully develop similarities between two elements or sides
• To examine what happened and why
• To argue for a particular point of view
• To express personality through thoughts, feelings and life position
• To explore
• To explain (e.g. steps, what kind, for example)

Characteristics:

• Types: formal, informal, biographical, comparative, photo, personal narrative, or response to questions
• Forms: Narrative, definition, division/classification, process analysis, cause and effect, argumentation/persuasion, comparison/contrast, and example/illustration, sequence, evaluation, classification, choice, explanation, descriptive
• Tight focus
• Short composition
• Introductory paragraph or sentence presents the issue and author’s perspective
• Leads
• Clear organizational form and organized collection of ideas
• Clear readable and interesting style
• Author’s position and credibility
• Background information
• Appropriateness for a specific audience
• Author’s authority
• May include humor, exaggeration, cause and effect, analogies, opinion, persuasion, classification, description, reviews, comparison or contrast
• Adequate support for reasons behind opinion or position
• Logic
• Transitions
• Examples, quotes, verbal elaborations and pictorial illustrations
• Mixed-genre components
• Appropriate appeals
• May include anticipation of and response to a reader’s counterargument through rebuttal
• Linguistic creativity
• Clear, coherent, consistent analysis, supported by evidence
• Independent thought
• Wide usage of numerous expressive means: metaphors, parables, allegoric figures, symbols and comparisons

Grade Level Instructional Scope for COMPREHENDING the Genre and Text of an Essay:

Booklists:

• Grade 6

Access to the Documents:

Complete K-8 Genre Project
From the Michigan Department of Education

Complete K-8 Genre Booklist
From Kent Intermediate School District