Essential Writing Styles: Essay, Exposition, and Argumentation

Understanding Essay Writing

An essay is a written piece where the author presents a personal view on any subject, addressing a non-specialist reader.

Characteristics of an Essay

• Its length is highly variable.
• The essay topic can be anything, often tending towards social, political, historical, or literary themes.
• Sometimes, essays are used to disseminate findings or conclusions reached by thinkers, researchers, scientists, and so on.
• The author presents the essay from a personal viewpoint.
• The author often aims to make their work suggestive and entertaining, at least to a degree sufficient to engage the reader. Therefore, the essay often emphasizes suggestion, providing new and original perspectives on things.
• The essay is designed for an average, non-specialist reader, so simplicity is usually emphasized in its presentation.

The Art of Exposition

Exposition (similar to the essay, these two can be considered together) is intended to convey information about any subject. It is a very important type of text in academic life. Exposition is very often combined with argumentation.

Types of Exposition

• Informative Exposition: Aimed at a non-specialized audience. It reports clearly and objectively, in easy-to-understand language, on a topic of general interest.
• Specialized Exposition: Addresses a subject specialist and is characterized by the use of highly specialized vocabulary.

Phases of Exposition

• Documentation: The author collects and selects data.
• Elocution: Clarity and proper order predominate. Proper elocution ensures each new idea builds upon what has been previously presented, allowing the reflection to advance without logical breaks.
• Disposition: This refers to the structure and organization of the text. There are three types:
  1. Deductive: Presents the main issue first, then explains it in detail with examples.
  2. Inductive: Begins with the enumeration of particulars, then explains the presentation of the theme.
  3. Frame: First introduces the subject, then develops it, and then summarizes.

Nature of Exposition

Key characteristics of expository writing include:

1. Clarity
2. Order
3. Objectivity: The author must demonstrate mastery of the subject. The referential function of language predominates.
4. Abundance of examples
5. Use of specific adjectives to present information objectively

Mastering Argumentation

Argumentation involves convincing the receiver of the truth of our opinion, for which we provide reasons.

Structure of an Argument

1. Introduction: Presentation of the topic to be argued.
2. Thesis: The main idea defended in the writing.
3. Body: Comprises all reasons, ideas, data, etc., that reaffirm the thesis.
4. Conclusion: Recalls the thesis and the most representative parts.

Types of Arguments

• Argument from Authority: Citing the opinion of experts on the subject.
• Proverbs and Sayings: Can be based on proverbs and sayings that reflect popular wisdom.