Writing style, or genre, defines your paper and how it will be presented. This can clue your audience in on what they can expect from your paper. It can also act as a guideline for your research and can help you when it is time to structure your paper.
You cannot always tell from the assignment just what sort of writing style your instructor expects. The instructor may be really laid back in class but still expect you to sound formal in writing. Or the instructor may be fairly formal in class and ask you to write a reflection paper where you need to use “I” and speak from your own experience.
Try to avoid false associations of a particular field with a style (“art historians like wacky creativity,” or “political scientists are boring and just give facts”) and look instead to the types of readings you have been given in class. No one expects you to write like Plato—just use the readings as a guide for what is standard or preferable to your instructor. When in doubt, ask your instructor about the level of formality she or he expects.
No matter what field you are writing for or what facts you are including, if you do not write so that your reader can understand your main idea, you have wasted your time. So make clarity your main goal. For specific help with style, see our style guides below:
Some commonly used verbs used or tasks in assignment prompts are:
| Genre of Assignment | Task | Definition |
| General | ||
| These terms can be used for any genre. | Compose | Write. |
| Craft | Write, with attention to detail. | |
| Create | Produce something original or new. | |
| Produce | Write. | |
| Respond | With a text or idea in mind, write. | |
| Write | Write. | |
| Relation | ||
| Ask you to demonstrate how things are connected. | Cause | show how event(s) made something else happen |
| Compare | Write about the similarities of two ideas. | |
| Consider | Deeply think about a topic. | |
| Contrast | Write about the differences of two ideas. | |
| Relate | Show or describe the connections between things. | |
| Information | ||
| Ask you to demonstrate what you know about the subject, such as who, what, when, where, how, and why. | Define | Give the topic's meaning |
| Describe | provide details such as who, what, when, where, how, and why | |
| Explain | give reasons why or examples of how something happened | |
| Illustrate | give descriptive examples and how each is connected with the topic | |
| Research | gather material from outside sources about the topic and analyze what you have found. | |
| Summarize | briefly list the important ideas you learned about the topic | |
| Trace | outline how the topic has changed or developed from an earlier time to its current form. | |
| Interpretation | ||
| These words ask you to take a stance on a topic, and then explain why. | Analyze | Examine topic methodically. |
| Argue | Pick a side and offer evidence for it. | |
| Assess | Estimate the nature or quality of topic. | |
| Evaluate | Decide and discuss the value of the topic. | |
| Examine | Inspect in great detail. | |
| Justify | Take a stance and explain why you are right. | |
| Persuade | Try to convince the audience your side is right. | |
| Prove | Provide evidence to convince the audience. | |
| Reflect | Think about the topic and your own experiences. | |
| Show | Give details to illustrate your argument. | |
| Support | Write with specific facts to prove your claim. | |
| Synthesize | put two or more ideas together that have not been considered together in class or in your readings before | |
| Expository | ||
| These words ask you to explain a topic or idea further, with many details. | Apply | Show how an idea, theory, or concept works in a specific situation. |
| Describe | Provide lots of details about the topic. | |
| Discuss | Talk about topic and different opinions in detail. | |
| Explore | Consider different ideas about the topic. | |
| Illustrate | Explain or make clear by using examples. | |
| Interpret | Explain the meaning of topic. | |
| Narrate | Tell the story of the topic. | |
| Relate | Discuss the topic alongside another experience. | |
| Review | Write about the important parts of the topic. | |
| Summarize | Provide the important parts of the topic. |
*Genres adapted from Genre, Style and Writing (Purdue OWL).