Four Essential Essay Types
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The University Writing Seminar teaches four essay types designed to address and enhance students’ analytical writing skills.
Close-Reading Essay
The close-reading essay requires students to slow down and read their given text(s) carefully, whether those texts are a work of art, a public space, or another piece of writing. The goal is to recognize the move from observation to analysis in their writing process.
- Pre-Draft Assignment for Close Reading
- Close Reading of Work of Art
- Close Reading of a Public Space
- Close Reading of a Fictional Text
- Close Reading of a Satirical Article
Lens Essay
With the lens essay, students will take a piece of critical or theoretical writing and use it to examine another text in order to create an analytical dialogue between the two texts. See example assignments.
Position Essay
The position essay asks students to craft an argument-driven paper that assumes and defends a particular stance on a given topic. Some instructors have given assignments that require students to write an actual op-ed piece for a local newspaper.
Research Essay
The longest and most involved writing assignment is the research essay. Students choose a topic, use library resources to find primary and secondary sources, and craft a thesis and an argument. Using skills acquired in the previous essay assignments, including careful close-reading, analyzing texts through a given theoretical or critical lens, and crafting a strong argument, students integrate their researched sources to create a polished and thesis-driven final research essay.
- Pre-Draft Assignment for Research
- Film Analysis in a Researched Context
- Thesis-Driven Essay Requiring Research
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