As you can see in the chart above, different styles of non-fiction writing serve different purposes.
It’s quite possible that a single text
—or even a single paragraph—will contain multiple rhetorical modes, each used to serve a distinct purpose in support of the
article’s thesis.
1. Narration
The purpose of narration is to tell a story or relate an event. Narration is an
especially useful tool for sequencing or putting details and information into some kind
of logical order, usually chronological.
Literature uses narration heavily, but it also can be useful in non-fiction, academic
writing for strong impact.
2. Description
The purpose of description is to recreate, invent, or visually present a person, place,
event, or action so that the reader can picture that which is being described. It is
heavily based on sensory details: what we experience through our five senses.
3. Example
It’s common to see examples used in all kinds of situations—an idea can be
considered too general or abstract until we see it in action. An exemplification
essay extends this idea even further: it carries one or more examples into great
detail, in order to show the details of a complex problem in a way that’s easy for
readers to understand.
4. Definition
In the vocabulary section we talked about word definitions in depth. A definition
essay takes the concept of “definition” more broadly, moving beyond a dictionary
definition to deeply examine a word or concept as we actually use and understand it.
5. Process Analysis
Analyzing a process can also be thought of as “how-to” instruction. Technical writing
includes a lot of process analysis, for instance. Academic writing can incorporate
process analysis to show how an existing problem came to be, or how it might be
solved, by following a clear series of steps.
6. Division/Classification
Classification takes one large concept, and divides it into individual pieces. A nice
result from this type of writing is that it helps the reader to understand a complex
topic by focusing on its smaller parts. This is particularly useful when an author has a
unique way of dividing up the concepts, to provide new insight into the ways it might
be viewed.
7. Comparison/Contrast
Comparison focuses on similarities between things, and contrast focuses on
their differences. We innately make comparisons all the time, and they appear in
many kinds of writings. The goal of comparison and contrast in academic essays is
generally to show that one item is superior to another, based on a set of evaluations
included as part of the writing.
8. Cause/Effect
If narration offers a sequence of events, cause/effect essays offer an explanation
about why that sequence matters. Cause/effect writing is particularly powerful when
the author can provide a cause/effect relationship that the reader wasn’t expecting,
and as a result see the situation in a new light.
9. Problem/Solution
This type of academic writing has two equally important tasks: clearly identifying a
problem, and then providing a logical, practical solution for that problem. Establishing
that a particular situation IS a problem can sometimes be a challenge–many readers
might assume that a given situation is “just the way it is,” for instance.
