FORMAL and INFORMAL ESSAY

 essays fall into two broad categories: formal & informal

 informal essay is often called the familiar or personal essay.

it is useful to see the similarities between informal & formal essays, as shown in the comparison chart below:

characteristic Informal essay Formal essay

author’s viewpoint usually uses first person; usually uses third-person pronoun
directly addresses the reader

subject / content frequently drawn from life of the more commonly drawn from shared
sources of evidence writer and everyday events historical events or literature or other
forms of knowledge.

tone frequently more personal and
subjective;
may be ironic, amusing,
thoughtful, angry, or serious;
conversational and casual
tends to be removed from the subject
and appears to be objective; tends to
hold emotions in check and express
concerns through strong arguments and
powerful rhetorical devices;
academic and often instructional

structure appears to be more loosely follow a fairly rigid structure that focuses
structured on the development of one clear
argument at a time to support a clearly
stated thesis
location of thesis may appear anywhere in the usually stated explicitly, generally
essay; may not be explicitly located in the first or second paragraph
stated of the essay
vocabulary everyday words; slang and technical words according to subject;
colloquialisms; contractions; no slang or contractions;
uses “you” and “I”
avoids “you” and “I”
purpose entertainment; gentle reflection provokes thought and sometimes action