Process

Process essays come in two types: Directions and Descriptions.

Directions
Direction process essays are written as instructions. This is one essay where second person pronouns (you, yours, and so on) are acceptable. The body paragraphs of a process essay begin with topic statements that give the individual steps/instructions for the process. The remaining sentences in each paragraph generally add necessary details, give warnings of potential problems, or provide illustrations as support. The introduction and conclusion focus on why the reader should use this process. The most common danger students fall into is writing about a process which is too simplistic, for instance, directions for baking a cake.

Descriptions
Description process essays are often more complex. The essays are written with third person pronouns (he, she, they, and so on) and describe the action of some process. The body paragraphs generally focus on stages or steps in the process with appropriate transitions. These kinds of essays are very common in scientific writing where scientists are describing some natural or experimental process. The introduction and conclusion of descriptive process essays provide some justification for describing the process--why the reader should know of it.

Method of Support
Again, depending on the paper's topic, a writer may find that a description of a process or instructions may be helpful in supporting an argument or for laying the foundation for an argument. For example, a writer arguing for a better voting system might need to clearly describe both the process currently used for elections and the proposed, more efficient, more effective process. In this way, process would be used as a method of support to help validate the argument.

ENGL1010 Composition I