Types Of Writing Techniques: A Guide For College Students

One of the main factors to success as a college student is to learn to communicate convincingly and effectively through writing. You’ll be required to write and submit essay papers, assignments, research papers, dissertations, and all types of writing during your stay in college. 

So, it’s crucial that you not only know how to do research on subjects but write essays on topics given. The first step to achieving this is understanding the different writing styles and techniques. 

In many cases, your audience and writing purpose determines your writing style. However, without understanding the different ways to express yourself in writing, you won’t communicate effectively. This may also put you at risk of receiving low grades in your assignments and essays. 

According to brillassignment, there are four main writing techniques: narrative, persuasive, descriptive, and expository. Understanding all four helps you determine the right time and conditions to use each one. In this article, we discuss all four writing techniques. 

Descriptive Writing Technique

The descriptive writing technique is often used when the writer wants to depict an image in the reader’s mind to give them a clear idea of what their writing is about. With this method, the readers can feel a stronger bond or connection with the writing because it appeals to their senses. This type of writing also uses literary techniques like allegory, metaphors, simile, and so on to keep their audience better engaged. 

With descriptive writing, the readers are immersed in what they’re reading as the writer creates a clear picture of the story’s settings, events, and characters. This makes the reader feel a stronger connection with the story, and it feels as though they are experiencing it by themselves. Most descriptive writings aren’t long, including poems, music lyrics, personal journals, fictional plays or novels, memoirs, etc. 

Narrative Writing Technique 

The narrative writing technique is mainly used for longer writing samples. It is used when the writer is looking to share information within the context of their story. This style is devoted to storytelling and often includes characters and dialogues. 

 The narrative style is an expansion of the descriptive style. It tells the whole story from the start to the middle and the end. This type of writing usually follows a clear plot and storyline. Typical examples include memoirs, screenplay, or fictional novels. Writers that use the narrative writing technique also use other literary tools such as flashbacks and foreshadowing in their writing. 

Persuasive Writing Technique

The persuasive writing style requires the writer to try and convince their audience about the validity of their argument, viewpoint, or position about a subject matter. This type of writing is about the writer’s opinions, and it provides evidence and justifications for the claims they make in writing. 

The purpose of persuasive writing is to influence and convince the readers to believe what the writer wants them to believe or do what the writer wants them to do. To be successful with this writing technique, the writer has to combine logical reasoning with research and add an emotional connection to the readers. This is how they persuade the reader to believe and adopt the same beliefs and opinions that the writer has. Some examples of this writing include historical accounts, cover letters, editorial newspaper articles, argumentative essays, and letters of recommendation. 

Expository Writing Technique

This writing technique is used for explaining a concept and sharing information with a wider audience. This writing style provides statistics, results, or evidence. The focus is on specific facts about a particular topic. Personal opinions are not allowed. It is similar to journalism because it is purely fact-based and doesn’t include personal opinions. 

Writers use this writing style to inform, describe or explain something to their audience. It is a prevalent type of writing, and the goal is to answer questions posed to the writers by readers. It seeks to answer the why, how, and what questions readers have. 

With this type of writing, writers have to learn to separate their opinions from the facts they are expected to share. This writing style is seen in textbooks, how-to articles, news stories, scientific writing, technical writing, and business writing. 

Tips for Using the Writing Techniques

Knowing when to use these techniques is as essential as knowing the techniques. Here are a few tips:

Conclusion 

Being a good writer is essential to being successful in college, and you can’t be a good writer without understanding the different writing techniques and how to use them.