Essay Form Review

As there are many different types of essay forms such as expository, persuasive, compare/contrast, critical/evaluative, descriptive, or even cause/effect (Kaplan University Writing Center, 2010).  Therefore, researching these essay forms within, “The Kaplan Guide to Successful Writing”, before reading the required article seemed to be the best course of action.  The many different types of essay forms available allow writers the ability to express researched information or opinions in various methods.  After reading and reviewing the required article, “Organizations' information security policy compliance: Stick or carrot approach?” by (Yan Chen, Winter 2012 - 13), I found it to be quite a heavy read.  Although, the article did contain very informative information that I may use in the future to come.  Throughout reading the article there were many keys towards the essay form expository and I plan to explain further.

An expository essay form utilizes facts instead of opinions and its overall purpose is to inform the audience about the subject matter.  Also, it is not utilized for argumentative usage of any kind and it is a great way to learn about different perspectives.  This type of essay is used by many students as it is great to explore a large variety of topics.  Audiences for an expository essay is a very general one as it can depend on the chosen topic.  As with most essays it is always best to assume the audience does not have any prior knowledge within the topic (Kaplan University Writing Center, 2010).

As we all fully understand the basics of an expository essay form, relating the essay and form together can be quite easy if its laid out for you.  For example, an expository form utilizes research during the beginning of the essay and will apply any type of facts throughout without persuasion.  Just as the beginning paragraphs within the article of, “Organizations' information security policy compliance: Stick or carrot approach?” (Yan Chen, Winter 2012 - 13), provides an introduction of the authors, an abstract, then facts from research found within another article about an information security concern. Therefore, they move forward with discussing information security policy compliance and its organization.  The author Yan Chen, utilizes a list of facts and explains the research found for each piece of information within the information security policy compliance option.

The fact of the matter is that the entire essay of thirty-three pages contains a numerous amount of information in many different depictions.  All the way from words/sentences, pictures/figures, tables/spreadsheets, and even graphs/modes.  To further explain the examples of an expository essay form these would show the following.  Figures and research models are provided throughout the essay along with hypothesis.  As the research progresses for the information security compliance essay there are test results available for others to view.  Along with many other tables that compare results between the punishments, rewards, and enforcement.  Overall, with the amount of research data shown it provides enough evidence to be an expository.

In conclusion, I honestly had a slight feeling that it could be two essay forms but I stuck with one essay form to play it on the safe side.  The entire article itself is full of research and information, Organizations' information security policy compliance: Stick or carrot approach?, and not once does it have any persuasion, cause/effect, critical/evaultive, but could be considered a bit descriptive considered the length.  Overall, the article is a great read and will be very beneficial to my future.  With the recent problems and issues lately, I may change my Master’s major and look into Information Security.

References

Jennifer Propp, J. T. (2010). Essay Forms. In The Kaplan Guide to Successful Writing (pp. 349-388). New York: Kaplan Publishing, a division of Kaplan, inc.

Yan Chen, K. (.-W. (Winter 2012 - 13). Organizations' information security policy compliance: Stick or carrot approach? Journal of Management Information Systems, 29(3), 157 - 188. doi:10.2753/MIS0742-1222290305