The most common patterns are:
NARRATION
Narration uses a sequence of events — a story — to make a point. The following excerpt from a narrative essay tells the story of one man’s experience with the police.
| EXAMPLE | Friday for me usually means a trip to the bank, errands, the gym, dinner, and then off to the theater. On this particular day, I decided to break my pattern of getting up and running right out of the house. Instead, I took my time, slowed my pace, and splurged by making strawberry pancakes. Before I knew it, it was 2:45; my bank closes at 3:30, leaving me less than 45 minutes to get to midtown Manhattan on the train. I was pressed for time but in a relaxed, blessed state of mind. When I walked through the lobby of my building, I noticed two light-skinned Hispanic men I’d never seen before. Not thinking much of it, I continued on to the vestibule, which is separated from the lobby by a locked door. |
| — Alton Fitzgerald White, “Right Place, Wrong Face” (para. 5) |
When to use it. Use narration when you want readers to learn something by experiencing an episode or sequence of events from your life. In the Writing Quick Start, you could use narration to tell a story of how the people in the photos got to their location. You might begin with their trip to the airport and end at the moment the photo was taken.
DESCRIPTION
Description uses words that appeal to the five senses to create a word-picture for readers. The following excerpt from a descriptive essay introduces readers to the kitchen of a busy diner, using specific details to emphasize how tightly everything is crammed in.
| EXAMPLE | The kitchen space I spend eight hours a day in is about the size of my one-room apartment, which is slightly larger than your average prison cell. Three people, and more on horribly busy days, work in that space, crammed in with four fryers, a massive grill, a griddle, an oven, a microwave, two refrigeration units with prep counters, bins of tortilla chips, a burning-hot steam table bigger than the grill, and vast tubs of bacon. If I put both arms out and rotated, I’d severely injure at least two people. |
| — Ted Sawchuck, “Heatstroke with a Side of Burn Cream” (para. 3) |
When to use it. Use description when you want to emphasize the sensory aspects of an object or experience. In the Writing Quick Start, you could use description to convey in detail what the winter landscape or the rain forest looked, smelled, or felt like.
ILLUSTRATION
Illustration uses examples to explain unfamiliar topics, concepts, or terms. In the following excerpt from an illustration essay, the author provides a specific example (illustration) to support his thesis that road rage represents a decline in civilized society.
| EXAMPLE | A most amazing example of driver rage occurred recently at the Manhattan end of the Lincoln Tunnel. We were four cars abreast, stopped at a traffic light. And there was no moving even when the light had changed. A bus had stopped in the cross traffic, blocking our paths: it was a normal-for-New-York-City gridlock. Perhaps impatient, perhaps late for important appointments, three of us nonetheless accepted what, after all, we could not alter. One, however, would not. He would not be helpless. He would go where he was going even if he couldn’t get there. A Wall Street type in suit and tie, he got out of his car and strode toward the bus, rapping smartly on its doors. When they opened, he exchanged words with the driver. The doors folded shut. He then stepped in front of the bus, took hold of one of its large windshield wipers and broke it. |
| — Martin Gottfried, “Rambos of the Road” (para. 8) |
When to use it. Use illustration when you want to provide specific, sometimes extended, examples to support your thesis statement. In the Writing Quick Start, in an essay about how rain forests are threatened by development, you might provide examples of the plants and animals whose habitats are endangered.
PROCESS ANALYSIS
Process analysis explains step by step how something works, is done, or is made. In the following how-to essay, the writer describes the process of writing a second draft.
| EXAMPLE | The next day, I’d sit down, go through it all with a colored pen, take out everything I possibly could, find a new lead somewhere on the second page, figure out a kicky place to end it, and then write a second draft. It always turned out fine, sometimes even funny and weird and helpful. I’d go over it one more time and mail it in. |
| — Anne Lamott, “Shitty First Drafts” (para. 8) |
When to use it. Use process analysis when you want to provide step-by-step instructions or a part-by-part analysis. In the Writing Quick Start, you might discuss rain forest exploration as a sport and provide instructions on how to prepare for a strenuous climb.
COMPARISON AND CONTRAST
Writers compare or contrast to examine closely what two things have in common or what their differences are. Many essays use both comparison and contrast. In the following excerpt from a comparison-contrast essay, the author compares the satirical newspaper The Onion with other newspapers.
| EXAMPLE | It’s easy to see why readers connect with The Onion, and it’s not just the jokes: Despite its “fake news” purview, it’s an extremely honest publication. Most dailies, especially those in monopoly or near-monopoly markets, operate as if they’re focused more on not offending readers (or advertisers) than on expressing a worldview of any kind. The Onion takes the opposite approach. It delights in crapping on pieties and regularly publishes stories guaranteed to upset someone: “Christ Kills Two, Injures Seven, in Abortion-Clinic Attack.” “Heroic PETA Commandos Kill 49, Save Rabbit.” “Gay Pride Parade Sets Mainstream Acceptance of Gays Back 50 Years.” There’s no predictable ideology running through those headlines, just a desire to express some rude, blunt truth about the world. |
| — Greg Beato, “Amusing Ourselves to Depth: Is The Onion Our Most Intelligent Newspaper?” (para. 9) |
When to use it. Use comparison and contrast to provide an in-depth analysis that explores the similarities and/or differences between two things. In the Writing Quick Start, there is opportunity to explore the differences between the two activities shown, but an essay that examines the similarities among participants might be just as revealing.
CLASSIFICATION AND DIVISION
Classification groups things into categories; division breaks a single item down into its component parts. In the following excerpt from a classification essay, a college instructor groups the types of excuses she receives into several categories (the family, the best friend, the evils of dorm life, the evils of technology, and the totally bizarre).
| EXAMPLE | Taped to the door of my office is a cartoon that features a cat explaining to his feline teacher, “The dog ate my homework.” It is intended as a gently humorous reminder to my students that I will not accept excuses for late work, and it, like the lengthy warning on my syllabus, has had absolutely no effect. With a show of energy and creativity that would be admirable if applied to the (missing) assignments in question, my students persist, week after week, semester after semester, year after year, in offering excuses about why their work is not ready. Those reasons fall into several broad categories: the family, the best friend, the evils of dorm life, the evils of technology, and the totally bizarre. |
| — Carolyn Foster Segal, “The Dog Ate My Flash Drive, and Other Tales of Woe” (para. 1) |
When to use it. Use classification or division when you want to look closely at the subcategories or parts of a particular topic. In the Writing Quick Start, you might classify activities by seasons, pointing to the top photo as an example of a winter activity and the bottom photo as an example of a summer activity.
EXTENDED DEFINITION
An extended definition explains in detail how a term is used or differentiates among its shades of meaning. The following excerpt from an extended definition begins the process of explaining what the word dude means by showing how it is used and how its meaning has changed over time.
| EXAMPLE | Originally meaning “old rags,” a “dudesman” was a scarecrow. In the late 1800s, a “dude” was akin to a dandy, a meticulously dressed man, especially in the western United States. Dude became a slang term in the 1930s and 1940s among black zoot suiters and Mexican American pachucos. The term began its rise in the teenage lexicon with the 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Around the same time, it became an exclamation as well as a noun. Pronunciation purists say it should sound like “duhd”; “dood” is an alternative, but it is considered “uncool” or old. |
| — Mike Crissey, “Dude, Do You Know What You Just Said?” (para. 2) |
When to use it. Use an extended definition when you want to conduct a close analysis of a complicated word, phrase, or phenomenon. In the Writing Quick Start, you might use the photos as a jumping-off point to define the word ecotourism, which means environmentally friendly tourism that has limited impact on the land and local communities.
CAUSE AND EFFECT
Causes are the reasons that an event or phenomenon happens and effects are what happen because of the event or phenomenon. Often, causes and effects are discussed together. The following excerpt points to a single cause (a diet rich in vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids) leading to a single effect (psychological health).
| EXAMPLE | The best way to curb aggression in prisons? Longer jail terms, maybe, or stricter security measures? How about more sports and exercise? Try fish oil. How can children enhance their learning abilities at school? A well-balanced diet and safe, stimulating classrooms are essential, but fish oil can provide an important extra boost. Is there a simple, natural way to improve mood and ward off depression? Yoga and meditation are great, but — you guessed it — fish oil can also help do the trick. A diet rich in vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids like omega-3 is the basis for physical well-being. Everybody knows that. But research increasingly suggests that these same ingredients are crucial to psychological health too. And that’s a fact a lot of people seem to find hard to swallow. |
| — Juriaan Kamp, “Can Diet Help Stop Depression and Violence?” (para. 1) |
When to use it. Use cause and effect to show how one (or more) thing(s) leads to another or many other things. In the Writing Quick Start, you might use the bottom photo as inspiration for writing about what causes deforestation or what is lost as a result of it.
ARGUMENT
Writers use arguments to persuade readers to adopt (or at least to consider) their position on an issue. In the following excerpt from an argument essay, the author tries to persuade readers that the size of the tip does not correspond to the quality of service a customer receives. This is one reason that tipping, which is supposed to motivate wait staff to provide good service, should be abolished.
| EXAMPLE | Tipping does not incentivize hard work. The factors that correlate most strongly to tip size have virtually nothing to do with the quality of service. Credit card tips are larger than cash tips. Large parties with sizable bills leave disproportionately small tips. We tip servers more if they tell us their names, touch us on the arm, or draw smiley faces on our checks. Quality of service has a laughably small impact on tip size. According to a 2000 study, a customer’s assessment of the server’s work only accounts for between 1 and 5 percent of the variation in tips at a restaurant. |
| — Brian Palmer, “Tipping Is an Abomination” (para. 3) |
When to use it. Use argumentation when you are trying to convince your readers that your point of view is correct or when you want them to take action. In the Writing Quick Start, you might use the bottom photo to convince people to become more active in rain forest conservation and preservation efforts.