Where We Are Re: College Writing
Some questions I still have about college writing are how I can conclude an essay without sounding as if I am constantly repeating myself. I catch myself doing this all the time where in my conclusion I tend to connect it with my thesis and in hopes get my point across but I seem as if I’m just summarizing my whole essay and it tends to bore the audience. Also what are some other types of essays that we will experience writing in the future? We learned about personal essays and for our midterm we learned about argumentative essays. Are there other different types that we will come across?
Zam, These are great questions! I’m wondering if you’ve come across an example of a conclusion that you like. If so, I hope you will share that with us. Regarding conclusions, I recommend thinking of them as a place to consider what you have learned in writing your essay and for reflecting on where you might go next. Ultimately, your conclusion will vary depending of the genre of the essay. In addition to personal essays and argumentative essays, there are research essays and creative non-fiction essays and lyric essays. There is actually little agreement overall on how to divide up the genre of the essay. Some people like to categorize them by purpose (compare/contrast, inform, explain, persuade), while others use categories like exploratory, reflective, explanatory, persuasive. I think it is best to think rhetorically about the essay as genre. What is its purpose? Who is the audience? Where will it be published? Every essay, it seems to me, is always informing, explaining, reflecting, and persuading, so I recommend thinking about why it is being written and where it will be published/what purpose it will serve in trying to figure out what kind of essay it is.