TYPES OF WRITINGS

(Anker, 2017; part 2-3)

Writing different kinds of paragraphs
and essay (Anker, 2017; part 2-3)
■ Narration ■ Comparison and Contrast
■ Cause and Effect
■ Illustration
■ Argument
■ Description ■ Summary and Reports
■ Process Analysis ■ Research Essay
■ Classification
■ Definition
 Narration

■ is a writing that tells the story of an event or an experience

■ For example: Write your experience in voting for Governor /
President
WHEN?
■ COLLEGE
1.You explained what happened in an experiment or project.
2.You are asked to tell, in your words, the basic story of a pieces of
literature.
■ WORK
1.You need to explain about problem that occurred in writing.
■ EVERYDAY LIFE
1.You need to tell what happened that upset you in a letter of
complaint.
Basics of good NARRATION:
■ Main point: something of importance to you
■ Primary support: major events of the story
■ Secondary support: details about major event
■ Clear order: when it happened
Main Point in Narration
■ Main Point is what is important about the story – to you and to your
readers.
■ Topic: A fight I had with my sister.
■ Important because: it taught me something.
■ Main point: learned It is better to stay cool
■ Topic sentence/thesis: After a horrible fight with my sister, I learned
the value of staying calm.
Exercise 1
■ Topic: A strange or interesting incident that you witnessed.
Important because: __________________________________________
Main Point: _________________________________________________
Topic sentence/Thesis: _______________________________________

■ Topic: An embarrassing experience.

Important because: __________________________________________
Main Point: _________________________________________________
Topic sentence/Thesis: _______________________________________
Support in Narration
■ Support consists of the major events you include (primary support)
and the details (secondary support) you give the reader about those
events.
■ Support demonstrate your main point --- What’s important about story.
Be careful to describe events in a way that
will tell the story you want to tell.

■ Choosing Major Events

■ Giving details about the Events.
Choosing Major Events

■ When you tell a story to a friend by phone, you can include events that
are not essential to the story or go back and fill in any gaps in the
story.
■ When you are talking, keeping your story focused and advancing in a
straight line is not overly important.
■ HOWEVER, when you are writing a narration, You need to give more
careful thought to which events to include, selecting only those that
most clearly demonstrate your main point.
Choosing Major Events

EXAMPLE :
■ Topic: A fight I had with my sister.
■ Topic sentence/thesis: After a horrible fight with my sister, I learned
the value of staying calm.
■ Events: We disagree about who was going to have family party. She
made me so mad that I started yelling at her, and I got nasty. I hung
up on her, and now we are not talking.
Exercise 2

■ Topic: A strange or interesting incident that you witnessed.

Topic sentence/Thesis: _______________________________________
Events: ____________________________________________________

■ Topic: An embarrassing experience.

Topic sentence/Thesis: _______________________________________
Events: ____________________________________________________
Giving details about the Events

■ When you write a narration, include examples and details that will
make each event more realistic and specific to your reader.
■ If you want your readers to get your point of view, you need to give
them helpful information by adding details that make each event
easier to visualize and understand.
Giving details about the Events
EXAMPLE :
■ Topic: A fight I had with my sister.
■ Topic sentence/thesis: After a horrible fight with my sister, I learned the value of
staying calm.
■ Events: We disagree about who was going to have family party.
Detail: Even though we both work, she said she was too busy and that I would
have to do it.
■ Events: She made me so mad that I started yelling at her, and I got nasty.
Detail: I brought up times in the past when she had tried to pass
responsibilities off on me, and I told her I was sick of being the one who did
everything
■ Events: I hung up on her, and now we are not talking.
Detail: I feel bad, and I know I will have to call her sooner or later because she
is my sister. I do love her, even though she is a pain sometimes.
Exercise 3
■ Topic: A strange or interesting incident that you witnessed.
Topic sentence/Thesis: _______________________________________
Events: ____________________________________________________
Detail: _____________________________________________________

■ Topic: An embarrassing experience.

Topic sentence/Thesis: _______________________________________
Events: ____________________________________________________
Detail: _____________________________________________________
Organization in Narration
■ Narration usually presents events in the order in which they happened,
known as time order.
■ Narration starts at the beginning of the story and describes as they
unfolded. Then, after main point is explored, narration draws to the end.
 DESCRIPTION

■ is writing that creates a clear and vivid impression of the

topic.
■ Description translates your experience into words, often by
appealing to the physical senses (ie. sight, hearing, smell,
taste and touch)
WHEN?
■ COLLEGE
– On a physical therapy test, you describe the symptoms you
observed in a patient.
■ WORK
– You write a memo to your boss describing how the office
could be arranged for increased efficiency.
■ EVERYDAY LIFE
– You have to describe something you lost to the lost-and-
found clerk at a store
Basic of good DESCRIPTION:
1. It creates a main impression — an overall effect, feeling, or image —
about the topic.
2. It uses specific examples to support the main impression.
3. It supports those examples with details that appeal to the five
senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.
4. It brings a person, place, or physical object to life for the reader.
Main Point in Description
■ Main Point is main impression you want to create for your
readers (eg. how it smells, sounds, looks, tastes, or feel)

Main point: What is most vivid and important to me

about this topic is…

Topic: A vandalized car

Impressions: wrecked, smashed, damaged, battered
Exercise 4: finding a main impression
■ Topic: The room you are in
Impressions: ___________________________________________________

■ Topic: An old person

Impressions: ___________________________________________________
Topic sentence/thesis statement in a description

■ To be effective, topic sentence/thesis statement should be specific

(ie. add details/use descriptive words)

■ More specific: Even in the middle of the night, New York City is alive
with the noises of people at work and at play.
Exercise 5: writing statement of your main impression
■ Topic: A vandalized car
Impressions: battered
Statement: The vandalized car on the side of the highway was battered.
More specific: The shell of a car on the side of the road was dented all over,
apparently from a bat or club, and surrounded by broken glass.

■ Topic: The room you are in / An old person

Impressions: _____________________________________________________
Statement: ______________________________________________________
More specific: ____________________________________________________
Support in Description
■ Support is the specific, concrete details that show the insights,
sounds, smells, tastes, and textures of your topic.
■ Sensory details can bring your description to life. Some qualities to
consider:
Organization in Description
■ Description can use any orders – time, space or importance –
depending on the purpose.
■ Use transitions to move your readers from one sensory detail to the
next. Usually, use transitions that match your order of organization.