The Best Guide on the Types of Academic Papers

Academic writing teaches students to distinguish four main types of papers that are frequently assigned in college. Learning more about them will enhance your writing techniques without any difficulties.

Exposition Papers

Writing exposition papers aims to inform the audience about an important issue or explain something. The most common types include:

• Compare and contrast essays
• Technical and business papers
• Response and reaction essays
• Process essays
• Research papers

Narrative Writing

A narrative paper aims to inform the audience about a certain event that has already happened. Narrative writing covers the following types of papers:

• Poetry
• Personal essays
• Novels
• Short stories

Descriptive Writing

The purpose of descriptive writing is to describe something using vivid language so that the audience can clearly imagine the place, person or process illustrated in the paper. Descriptive writing usually encompasses poetry and fiction.

Persuasion Papers

They aim to persuade a reader of the truthfulness of a certain idea. Your task is to adopt a strong viewpoint and argue its accuracy by providing reasons, facts, data, and examples. Persuasion papers that are frequently assigned in college are called argumentative essays.

Important tips to remember about kinds of academic papers:

1. While your assignment usually falls into one category, effective writing includes techniques for several academic papers. For instance, a narrative essay is successful when an author uses descriptions.
2. Exposition and persuasion writing require extensive research. If you are assigned these types of papers, make sure to consult several meaningful resources.
3. Narrative and descriptive writings are usually personal and emotional. They require you to incorporate your ideas and thoughts.

Memorize these characteristics of academic papers, and you will make your writing look more professional.