Reading

• Narration focuses on telling either a fictional story (one that is made up) or a real-life story where the author follows a plot structure
• Narrative essays have a structure including introduction, body with the chronology of events, and a conclusion that provides a moral, prediction, or revelation
• The introduction of a narrative essay serves to engage the reader, provide essential information, and create interest in the story that follows
• The body of a narrative essay contains transition sentences that connect events and guide the reader through the story
• The conclusion of a narrative essay must declare the resolution of events in the story, providing a moral, prediction, or revelation
• Descriptive writing describes or states the qualities or characteristics of something or someone, appealing to the reader's senses like sight, touch, hearing, smell, taste, movement, and heat
• Vivid descriptions in descriptive writing make the writing livelier and more interesting, allowing the reader to create a mental picture of what is being described
• Objective description in descriptive writing is unbiased, not colored by personal feelings, equivalent to facts, informative, and verifiable
• Description can be objective or subjective:

  • Objective description is unbiased, equivalent to facts, informative, and verifiable
  • It appeals to the intellect and is used in science books, tourism brochures, police records, official files, and classified advertisements
• Subjective description, used in creative writing, blends exposition or narration, stimulates the imagination, appeals to emotions, and gives pleasure
• Descriptive writing follows spatial order, organizing items according to their physical position or relationship, explaining or describing objects as they are arranged around you in your space
• As a writer, you create a picture for your reader in descriptive writing, with their perspective being the viewpoint from which you describe what is around you
• The structure of a descriptive essay includes:

  • Introduction
  • Body/Description
  • Conclusion/Summary of main points
• In a descriptive essay, the introduction must be catchy, presenting the subject, drawing attention, and appealing to the readers
• The body of a descriptive essay further explains the subject discussed in the introduction, providing describing details on the main topic using adverbs or adjectives
• The conclusion of a descriptive essay sums up the important details from the previous parts, showing the reader what has been done and providing closure on the topic
• The elements of descriptive writing include:

  • Topic Sentence: concise and clear, focusing on the topic of the text
  • Supporting Sentences: provide meaningful direction to the text
  • Paragraph Unity: each paragraph must discuss a single idea focusing on the main topic
• Classification essay:

  • Definition: the act or process of classifying something according to shared qualities or characteristics
  • Example: universities grouping people with similar degree goals and interests in one curriculum program
  • Purpose: to showcase skills in categorizing and generalization
  • Writer's task: organize things into groups, offer examples for each group, decide on classification criteria, and explain/justify reasoning
• How to Write a Classification Essay:

  • Brainstorm ideas
  • Choose categories
  • Develop a thesis statement
  • Write the essay
  • Edit, revise, and proofread
  • Write a final draft
• Exemplification essay:

  • Definition: the act of giving an example of something
  • Purpose: aims to support a general statement by narrowing details or giving examples that relate to the readers and help them understand the main point
• Structure of an exemplification essay:

  • Introduction: introduce the topic, outline the topic and thesis statement
  • Body: topic sentence, describe examples, prove with facts
  • Conclusion: rephrased thesis statement, final thoughts, sum up the essay with included examples
• Comparison and Contrast Essay:

  • Compare: to tell, enumerate, and examine similarities, how things are alike and what they have in common
  • Contrast: to tell the differences of two or more things, how they are NOT alike, or what they have in contrary
• Comparison and Contrast Essay analyzes two subjects by either comparing them, contrasting them, or both, aiming to illuminate subtle differences or unexpected similarities between the subjects
• Comparison is used when only the similarities are given, while contrast is used when only the differences are included
• Different methods/structures in writing a Comparison and Contrast Essay:

  1. Basis of Comparison: requires a specific basis, a common point of comparison or contrast, justifying similarities and differences based on a common point of reference

  2. Alternating Method: allows taking turns in discussing the characteristics of the first topic, followed by the second one

  3. Block Method: involves developing ideas in chunks, discussing the characteristics of each topic in separate paragraphs

  4. Combination Method: combines alternating and block methods for a more structured essay
• Definition Essay: Provides an extended and comprehensive explanation of a particular term, concept, or idea
• The primary objective of a definition essay is to present a clear and detailed definition of the chosen subject, often going beyond the standard dictionary definition
• Definition essays typically involve analyzing the concept's origins, history, variations, and applications to offer a nuanced understanding to the reader
• Structure of a Definition Essay:

  • Introduction
  • Body (Statement, Function, Location, Physical Description, Further Definition, Causation, Comparison, Contrast, Exemplification, Etymology, Analysis, Basic Principle, Negation)
  • Conclusion
• Introduction of a Definition Essay:

  • Start with a hook
  • Provide background information
  • Write a thesis statement to preview the body paragraphs
• Conclusion of a Definition Essay:

  • Summarize key points from the body paragraphs
  • Restate the thesis in a slightly different way
  • Offer a final reflection on the significance or implications of the definition