Part One An Overview of the Essay......................................................................1 I What Is an Essay?.............................................................................................. .............2 1 The Basic Structure of an Essay....................................................................................2 2 Essays in Different Types of Writing.............................................................................4 1) Narration and the narrative essay...............................................................................4 2) Description and the descriptive essay........................................................................8 3) Exposition and the expository essay..........................................................................9 4) Argumentation and the persuasive essay.................................................................10 II What Is a Research Paper?......................................................................................... 11 Part Two Writing an Essay.......................................................................................21 I Planning and Shaping the Essay................................................................................22 1 Choosing and Limiting a Topic....................................................................................22 1) Choosing a topic............................................................................................... ........22 2) Limiting the topic............................................................................................... ......28 2 Determining Our Purpose and Audience.....................................................................29 1) Determining our purpose and writing a statement of purpose................................29 2) Identifying our audience and adjusting o