Difference between persuasive essay and narrative essay

What is the difference between persuasive essay and narrative essay?

An essay is a piece of writing which allows readers to know about something, have an opinion about something. There are several ways of communicating information for different types of subjects. It is either through informal way or a formal way. Few of the examples of essays are expository essay, narrative essay, argumentative essay, critical essay etc.

Here we will discuss the differences between two types of essays; persuasive essay and narrative essay.

Persuasive essay: Persuasive essay is a category of formal essay which places opinions, facts, and information with strong arguments and thesis statement(s).As the name suggests, persuasive essay persuades the readers with the strong opinions.

Narrative essay: Narrative essay is a category of informal essay which describes any personal experience, a story or any real life events. This kind of essay involves interesting plots and a touch of reality so that it can make it more interesting to read.

8 differences between persuasive essay and narrative essay 

Here are 8 differences that are brought out of the persuasive essay and narrative essay.

1.Objective:

Narrative essay:  The objective of writing a narrative essay is to narrate a story to the readers. The story can be any personal experience, real life event or an interesting plot.

Persuasive essay: The objective of writing a persuasive essay is to convince readers with the essay written. It rather persuades readers with the opinions that are formed.

2.Presentation:

Narrative essay: Narrative essay must be presented in an informal manner with lots of content and emphasis on the description of the plot.

Persuasive essay: Persuasive essay must be presented in a formal manner with a thesis statement and supportive arguments. Emphasis must be given to the point that is to be proven.

3.Type of language:

Narrative essay: In order to convey a story or narrate a plot, a conversational tone must be adopted. Use of informal language is encouraged.

Persuasive essay: In order to persuade the readers with the opinions formed in an essay, formal language must be adopted.

4.References and citations:

Narrative essay: As it is a type of an informal essay, it is not necessary to have references or citations in a narrative essay. More focus should be given to the description of a plot or story.

Persuasive essay: As it is a type of a formal essay, it is necessary to have references and citations in a persuasive essay. More focus should be given to the content which is being written and its source. 

 5.Grammatical person:

Narrative essay: It must make use of first person such as I, me and also third person if required.

Persuasive essay: It must use only third person and avoid first person in its writing.

6.Elements of essay:

Narrative essay: The elements of a narrative essay are plot, story, climax, sensory details.

Persuasive essay: The elements of persuasive essay are facts, arguments, logical reasoning and interpretation on the data.

7.Hooking the readers:

Narrative essay: Emotions and sensory details are necessary to make readers read it.

Persuasive essay: In persuasive essay, arguments, facts, and appropriate theory must be used to prove the point.

8.Purpose:

Narrative essay: The purpose of writing a narrative essay is to entertain or narrate a story to the readers.

Persuasive essay: The purpose of writing a persuasive essay is to inform readers and present facts, with the help of strong arguments.

These are the differences between a narrative essay and a persuasive essay