Miami University

Different Modes of Writing

Carolyn Haynes
Director of Windate Writing Center
Miami University (Ohio)

Printable Version

Writing can come in many different modes. Below is a table of various types of writing you can assign in your classes:

Academic Modes Of Writing

• Analytical essay
  
  
• Argument paper (position paper)
  
  
• Comparison and contrast essay
  
  
• Book review
  
  
• Research essay
  
  
• Lab report
  
  
• Brief
  
  
• Personal essay (exemplification paper)
  
  
• Proposal
  
  
• Report
  
  
• Evaluation and progress report

Non-Academic Expository Modes Of Writing

• Letter (informational, personal, to editor, to elected officials, to other classmates, to you)
  
  
• Editorial or opinion piece
  
  
• Feature article
  
  
• Memo
  
  
• Minutes
  
  
• Environmental Impact Statement
  
  
• Popular article
  
  
• Fact sheet
  
  
• Press release
  
  
• Film, television, book review
  
  
• Guides (how-to)
  
  
• Dictionary entry, lexicon
  
  
• Evaluation and progress report

Creative Modes Of Writing

• Edited journal and diary
  
  
• Biographical sketch
  
  
• Short story or narrative (autobiographical, historical, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, detective)
  
  
• Poem
  
  
• Play
  
  
• Script (radio, television, documentaries, slide shows)
  
  
• Cartoon
  
  
• Fairy tale
  
  
• Tall tale
  
  
• Song lyrics

Five-Minute In-Class Writing Assignments

• State the major point or thesis of a course reading in 1-2 sentences.
  
  
• Outline one reading (using phrases or key words).
  
  
• Outline one reading (using complete sentences).
  
  
• Summarize one reading in two paragraphs.
  
  
• Explain how the course reading relates to the course topic.
  
  
• Connect a point made in a course reading or lecture to an experience in your life.
  
  
• Compare or contrast a point made in the current reading to a point made in an earlier reading in the course.
  
  
• Compare or contrast a point made in a course reading to a text in another course.
  
  
• Connect a point in a course reading to a current event in the news.
  
  
• Connect a point made in a course reading to a Miami University community incident.
  
  
• Connect the lecture to the readings for the week or day.
  
  
• Generate an open-ended (divergent) discussion question about the reading.
  
  
• Generate an empirical question about the reading.
  
  
• Generate a theoretical or speculative question about the reading.
  
  
• Cite one claim in the reading and the evidence that was used to support it.
  
  
• Take one major concept discussed in the reading, and come up with an explanation for it--and use a metaphor in your explanation.
  
  
• Respond to one of the following prompts. Complete the sentence and then explain your answer.

  
  The part about the reading that was most confusing was….
  The part about the reading that I disagreed with was….
  The part about the reading that interested me the most was….

• Come up with a thesis statement about the course reading(s).
  
  
• Write a paragraph that discusses the reading's purpose (or intended audience or organizational plan or use of evidence).

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