Academic Writing II: Fundamentals

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Lesson 1: What Is a Process Essay?

Academic Writing II: Fundamentals Week 5: Process Essay Lesson 1: What Is a Process Essay?

Estimated Time: 35 minutes

Lesson Objective: At the end of this lesson, you will be able to describe the different types of process essays

Process Essay Definition

In this week’s lesson we will talk about process essays, but before we understand the definition of the process essay, let’s define the word “process”. Process is defined as a series of commands for action that leads to results. A process paper either tells the reader how to do something – this is the “how-to” essay, for example how to change oil in a car; and the other type is when we describe how something is done . Both types of process analysis will present steps chronologically, but otherwise, the resulting papers will be quite different because the purpose of the papers differentiate fundamentally.

Kinds of Process Essays

There are two main types of process essays: the instructional (or directional process) and the informational (or descriptive process).

Instructional/Directional Process Essay

In instructional process essays, the process can be directly performed. In this kind, you have to explain to the reader how to accomplish the task or how to do or make something that can be directly performed. So you are giving the reader some instructions to follow and you are expecting that they will be able to perform the task after they read your essay. In this case, you are speaking directly to the reader, you are using words like “you” or you are using the imperative. Example topics for this type of process essays are  How to operate a machine, How to make a pancake, How to change a flat tire, etc.

Informational/Descriptive Process Essay

The other type is the informational or descriptive process. This form of the informational process is more common in the academic world. Here you are not giving the reader instructions to follow, you are simply describing a process in order for the reader to understand it. In the informational process, the stages or steps can be described. But the process cannot be done or shown to others. You can describe them, you can understand them, but you cannot do or show them. These are examples of processes in nature.

The stages of childbirth or How tornadoes form are examples of essays characteristic of this type. You cannot start a tornado from beginning to end and tell someone how you did it. So the process that you cannot do with real evidence but you can describe is an informational or descriptive process in the process essay.

What to consider when developing a process essay

To give you practice in process analysis, your instructor may ask you to write about a process you know well. In such a case, select and limit your topic carefully. If a topic is too complex such as rewiring an old house, you cannot discuss it fully in the space of a typical writing-course paper. On the other hand, a topic is too simple for example making a sandwich, and no instructions are required. An appropriate topic would meet all four of these criteria:

  1. First, the process should be one you do well and often, such as a procedure that you do daily in school, on the job, or at home.
  2. Second, the process should be suitable for its intended audience. For example, instructions on tying shoelaces would be inappropriate for children too young to follow written instructions.
  3. Third, the process should be one whose instructions are not easily found elsewhere. For example, instructions on baking a cake mix would be useless because readers could follow the instructions on the box more easily than they could read a paper on the process. 
  4. And lastly, the process should be one that can be discussed fully in the required length of the paper.
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