ING182U-COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND ACADEMIC REPORTING II
Chapter 3: Essay Types: Examples Essay, Opinion Essay and Sample Essay Analyses
Introduction
In this chapter, we will explore two different types of essays: example essays, opinion essays, and sample essay analyses. Each of these essay types has its unique characteristics and objectives. By understanding the features and purpose of each type, writers can effectively communicate their ideas and arguments to their intended audience.
Exemplification
Exemplification refers to using examples to illustrate or explain a general point or an abstract concept. Examples are likely to serve as a tool to turn something abstract into something concrete. That is why they enable the most effective exchanges to occur in spoken or written communication. Many of the most effective essays use examples extensively. It is worth noting that exemplification is frequently used in non-academic writing situations, such as business reports, memos, and proposals. One of the most important situations for using exemplification is in a letter you write to apply for a job. In writing, examples have many functions such as explaining and clarifying, adding interest and persuading the reader.
You should explain and clarify your point with specific examples instead of writing about hasty generalisations. Second, all of the examples should be related to the thesis statement.
There are some points to consider when using examples in writing. These are a number of examples, relevancy of examples and choice of examples. First, the number of examples depends on the topic. Some topics require numerous examples, whereas others can be developed effectively with two or more examples. Third, considering that an example is a representative member of a class or category, the examples you use to prove a point in the thesis statement should be representative examples so that they could fairly support the thesis.
Example Essay
An example essay consists of three main parts, namely introduction, body and conclusion. Introduction paragraph begins with a generalisation about the topic and ends with the thesis statement. This statement identifies the topic and the main point you want to make about this topic, which the rest of the essay will support with examples.
Body paragraphs (also known as supporting paragraphs or developmental paragraphs) consist of a topic sentence, which presents the main point of the paragraph, and examples that support the topic sentence and thus the thesis. The organisation of the body paragraphs is very important for the coherence of an example essay. Therefore, instead of starting to write your essay right away, it is much better to make a list of all the examples you can think of about the topic. Then, you should decide on the best ones and group related examples together. After that, the body paragraphs could be organised in three different ways:
1. each body paragraph may develop a different example about the topic, 2. each body paragraph may present a point illustrated by several brief examples, 3. each body paragraph may deal with an aspect of an extended example developed throughout the paper.
Within each paragraph, you can arrange examples
• chronologically, • in order of increasing complexity, or • in order of importance.
Finally, the conclusion paragraph of an example essay restates the thesis and reinforces the main idea of the essay. Apart from the organisation of examples, another thing that matters a lot for the coherence of an example essay is using transitions. You should use transitional words and phrases to introduce your examples in order to enable readers to see the connection between an example and the general statement it is illustrating. In example essays, the most frequently used transitions include for example, for instance, in fact, namely, specifically, that is, and thus. There are also some specific phrases that could be used to connect paragraphs in an example essay. Such as one examples of, to begin with, consider, another example of, finally, the most important/significant/interesting example of.
Although they provide a smooth transition between paragraphs, transitional phrases could sometimes become mechanical and repetitious. To abstain from this, it is possible to pick up a keyword or phrase from one paragraph and use it in the topic sentence of the next paragraph.
In conclusion,
• an example essay begins with a generalisation about the topic and states the thesis of the essay at the end of the first paragraph, • the thesis is supported with an appropriate number of examples, • the examples should be representative or fair examples, • the organisation of examples depends on the topic, • typical organising principles are time, complexity and importance, • transition between paragraphs and repetition of key words provide coherence.
Opinion Essay
As the name indicates, an opinion essay is a piece of written work in which the writer tells what they think or feel about a topic, and support this opinion or feeling with facts and examples. Unlike other types of essays, the opinion essay can rely on the writer’s opinion rather than relying on hard facts only. Another distinctive characteristic of an opinion essay is the use of such personal expressions as “I think” and “I believe”. Probably the key to writing an effective opinion essay is to support the thesis with effective exemplification.
Just like an example essay, an opinion essay consists of three main parts, namely introduction, body and conclusion, and five paragraphs in general. The introductory paragraph presents the writer’s opinion following some general information about the topic. The body paragraphs present the reasons why the writer’s opinion is true and support these reasons with examples. Each body paragraph deals with one reason and related examples. Therefore, the number of the body paragraphs depends on the number of the reasons used to support the thesis. The concluding paragraph makes a summary of the ideas presented throughout the paper and restates the writer’s opinion.
Introduction
Introduction, also known as the introductory paragraph, is the first paragraph of an opinion essay. This paragraph basically consists of two parts. The first part is where the writer leads the reader to the subjects of the essay. The writer should do this in an interesting way to grab the reader’s attention, encourage them to keep reading and show them that reading the essay is worth their time. That is why this part is called “hook”. The hook could be a general statement, a question, a quotation, an anecdote, personal experience and refutation. You can also make use of an unexpected fact or statistics as the hook. In addition, humour or a combination of humour with an anecdote may be employed to grab the reader’s attention in the introductory paragraph. The second part of the introductory paragraph is the thesis statement, which is a clear statement of the writer’s opinion and the reasons that support this opinion. The thesis statement should give a clear image of the essay. In other words, once someone has a look at this statement only, they should be able to comprehend what the whole paper is about. A thesis statement generally consists of two parts, namely the topic and a controlling idea, which is the analysis of the topic according to the writer. A good thesis statement:
• must state the writer’s position on the topic, • should include only one controlling idea, • should be a complete sentence, not a phrase, • should be a statement, not a question, • should give an opinion rather than a simple fact or statement, • should not announce what the essay will be about.
Body Paragraphs
The purpose of the body paragraphs of an opinion essay is to support the opinion stated in the introductory paragraph (thesis statement) with reasons and examples. That is why they are also called supporting paragraphs or developmental paragraphs. There should be one body paragraph for each reason showing why the writer is right. It could sometimes be difficult to come up with reasons and examples to support the thesis. To make it easier, before starting to write your essay, you should make a list of every reason and example related to the thesis that you can think
of. Then, you should choose the best ones (preferably the best three of the reasons) out of this list. It is worth noting that in doing so, you should use the reason that you deem to be the most important in the last body paragraph for a better and effective organisation. Another point that you should consider for a better and effective organisation is having concrete support to convince the reader of the writer’s point of view. Concrete support can be established by using facts, statistics, illustrations and personal experience in addition to examples. You should keep in mind that without concrete and sufficient support, the essay becomes too vague or too general.
Once you have chosen the best reasons to support the thesis and generated some ideas to support these reasons, you are ready to start writing the body paragraphs. The most important sentence in a body paragraph is presumably the topic sentence, which is generally the first sentence of the paragraph. The topic sentence could sometimes be placed at the end of each body paragraph, as well. As the name indicates, the topic sentence tells us the topic, and thus the main idea, of the paragraph.
Linking Words
In order to link an idea to another, we need linking words, which are the words and phrases that can be used to develop coherence within a paragraph. Linking words indicate:
• sequence, • result, • emphasis, • addition, • reason, • example, • contrast.
Conclusion
Concluding paragraph is the last paragraph in which you restate the thesis and make a summary of the points you mentioned earlier in the essay. It is worth noting that the conclusion is as important as the thesis statement in the introductory paragraph because it is what the reader remembers after finishing reading the essay. Therefore, it should be well-crafted and well-organised. In addition to the restatement of the thesis and the summary of the main points, the concluding paragraph may also include a final comment about the topic, a prediction, a recommendation and a possible solution. However, it should not mention a new opinion.
To iterate,
• When you write an opinion essay you need to support your overall view with clear arguments and examples. • You need to include arguments to support your opinion as well as counter arguments. • You also need to provide a conclusion which restates your overall opinion.