The 4 Main Writing Styles: Definitions, Examples, and Techniques
The majority of written work is classified as explanatory, descriptive, narrative, or persuasive.
Don’t worry if you don’t recall taking a quiz on them in fifth grade. You’ve probably already assimilated some of their most important qualities without even recognizing it.
A brief overview of these styles and their tactics will help you improve as a writer while also helping you become a more aware reader.
The 4 Writing Styles
Before you start typing, you should ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” Is it to clarify? Describe Teach? Persuade? Entertain?
You can achieve multiple of these objectives in a single work, but focusing on one may help you find the best style and approach.
You’ll be a more productive writer and a more mindful reader if you understand the distinctions between these four styles and their most popular tactics. For example, you’ll be able to recognize persuasive strategies in commercials and distinguish between facts and views with ease.
In this article, we’ll go through the four primary writing styles, their characteristics, typical examples, and strategies for improving your practice of each.
Style 1: Expository Writing
Expository writing is a kind of writing that aims to explain or describe something. (This may be easy to mix up with descriptive writing, but we’ll explain why in the following section.)
If you’re writing an expository essay, you’ll nearly entirely rely on facts to answer the what, why, and how questions.
Because the writing is designed to “reveal” the facts, most types of journalism, for example, come into the expository group. It’s also the style utilized in this piece, since the goal is to educate you about the four different writing styles and their characteristics, not to urge you to prefer one over the other.
Other expository writing examples include:
- News articles
• Manuals
• How-To/Self-Help books
• Textbooks
• Research journals and articles
• Instructional guides
• Cookbooks
• Encyclopedia articles
• Historical research
If you want to write in an expository manner, avoid introducing your own thoughts, which is known as “editorializing.” Unfortunately, this step might be difficult at times.
Articles named “5 Great Benefits of Meditation” or “10 Reasons You Should Start the Keto Diet” have positive implications, for example. Even if you provide hundreds of facts to back up your argument, such pieces are still called persuasive writing.
Expository writing may also be found in self-help books, but only when they include studied facts. Someone may provide an outstanding sales presentation for their newly devised diet plan, but if they use persuasive language to embellish their facts, we can’t call their book an informative article.
Use neutral phrasing like “Studies suggest that meditating five minutes a day is associated with a decrease in blood pressure” to avoid this mixture of explanatory and persuasive approaches.
You may still list the “benefits” of anything this way, but it’ll be up to your audience to judge if that’s the correct title.
Tips for Solid Expository Writing
• Present facts, not opinions
• Answer a what, why, or how question
• Reference experts or trusted sources when possible
• Leave your personal bias at the door
• Include descriptive details, but use neutral adjectives
Style 2: Descriptive Writing
Because authors are able to employ innovative language to explain a topic, descriptive writing provides for much greater creative flexibility than explanatory writing.
The basic goal of descriptive writing is to create a mental image of a person, location, or object in the reader’s mind. Imagery and other literary techniques, such as similes, metaphors, and personification, are the most effective ways to do this.
While authors have greater leeway in selecting adjectives, certain words, such as “beautiful,” may not be the most appropriate descriptions. Instead, attempt to provide more sensory descriptions to help your readers visualize your story.
What, for example, makes a female “beautiful”? Is it because of her thick, raven locks? Her beautiful laughter? What about her loping gait? These specifics, rather than basic adjectives that are up to interpretation, serve to build a more vivid picture in the reader’s mind.
Descriptive writing may draw readers into an event by being as thorough as possible. This makes it an excellent choice for a variety of genres, including poetry and songwriting.
Other descriptive writing examples include:
Tips for Solid Descriptive Writing
• Use sensory details: don’t just tell readers how something looks; when possible, tell them how it feels, sounds, smells, moves, or tastes
• Use literary devices, such as similes and metaphors
• Don’t overdo it — sometimes a little can go a long way
Style 3: Narrative Writing
Most novels and works of fiction fall under the category of narrative writing. In contrast to most poetry and other forms of descriptive writing, narrative style incorporates a considerably more developed story and characters.
Many things must be considered while creating a plot: the place, the characters, the major conflict, the resolution, the timeframe, and the connection between them all.
Unlike descriptive writing, which may be thought of as a window through which we can see a character or object, narrative writing should usually give us the whole image.
Other narrative writing examples include:
- Novels
• Film or television screenplays
• Epic poems
• Memoirs
• Short stories
• Fables
It’s important to note that narrative writing isn’t simply for fictional stuff. Even true tales, memoirs, and biographies, as long as they convey a story with a plot, character(s), and place, may be called narrative writing.
While it would take another essay to cover all you need to know about writing a great book, here are some things to keep in mind as you begin your story:
• Take time to develop your storyline and characters, complete with a conflict, resolution, and setting
• Think about the sequence of events and how everything will flow
• Determine the point of view — whose story will it be?
Style 4: Persuasive Writing
Politicians, salesmen, critics, and most likely you, if you’ve ever needed to persuade someone of anything, employ persuasion strategies.
Persuasive writing, unlike explanatory writing, may reveal the writer’s prejudices and ideas. Using facts to back up your thoughts and statements, on the other hand, may be a highly powerful strategy.
Persuasive writing’s purpose is to persuade the reader to act — by agreeing with you, voting a particular way, purchasing a product, or giving you what you’re asking for.
Persuasive writing examples include:
- Editorials
• Policy proposals
• Advertisements and marketing
• Cover letters
It’s not enough to just tell readers what you want and believe; you’ll need to appeal to them on a deeper level unless you’re their customer.
Persuasive Writing Tips and Techniques
Appeal to ethics (aka ethos): Refer to an expert or respected authority in the field to demonstrate credibility in your argument.
Appeal to emotion (aka pathos): Use a powerful anecdote or passionate plea to get an emotional response from your audience.
Appeal to logic (aka logos): Use reason to appeal to your audience through indisputable facts or statistics.
Cite your sources: Prove that your information is reliable and give your readers access to more information.
Consider your audience’s needs and wants: By appealing to their needs and wants, they will feel personally invested in the issue.
Learning to master these persuasive techniques can help you with your writing, as well as your professional goals. Try using them in your next cover letter or marketing proposal!
Practice These Writing Styles
While you may favor some of these styles over others, excellent writers benefit from practicing all of them. Check out some of our helpful writing tasks to stay on top of your game!
