Three essays, one week, three sets of expectations. The title page looks the same, the word count is identical, yet an argumentative essay, a discursive essay and a reflective essay ask you to do three separate jobs. Do the wrong one well and you still lose marks.

Read the instruction before the title

The task verb tells you which mode is wanted. Argue, to what extent do you agree and evaluate point to an argumentative essay. Discuss, consider and examine both sides point to a discursive one. Reflect on, what have you learned from and using your experience of point to reflective writing.

Some briefs mix the modes — "discuss and reflect" appears often on nursing, teaching and social work courses. When that happens, check the learning outcomes and the marking rubric, and email your tutor early if it is still unclear. A short question now is cheaper than a rewrite in week nine.

Argumentative essays: take a line and defend it

The purpose is to persuade. You are not surveying a topic; you are making a case and dealing with the strongest objection to it. A reader should be able to state your position after finishing your introduction.

1. Introduction: two or three sentences of context, then a thesis that actually claims something.
2. Body paragraphs: one claim each, supported by evidence, followed by your analysis of what that evidence shows.
3. Counterargument: state the opposing case at its most reasonable, then explain why it does not overturn your position.
4. Conclusion: restate the case in the light of what you have argued. No new evidence.

Take a title like "School uniforms improve behaviour". A workable thesis might read:

Compulsory uniforms do not improve behaviour; they mainly make existing discipline problems harder to see.

That is a claim you can defend and an opponent can attack. "Uniforms have advantages and disadvantages" is neither, and it will not survive a rubric that rewards a clear line of argument. Your language should sound committed: this claim is difficult to sustain because, the stronger reading of the evidence is, the objection proves too much.

Discursive essays: hold two ideas at once

The purpose is to explore. You show that you can weigh competing positions fairly and then say something intelligent about the tension between them. Balance is not the same as neutrality — you can end with a considered view, as long as you have earned it.

Introduce and define the contested ground, present the first position with its best evidence, present the second in the same spirit, then compare where they actually clash: definitions, timescales, contexts, values. A question like "Should university tuition be free?" turns on economics, fairness, quality and international comparison, and those arguments do not all answer the same question.

Your connectives carry the analysis. One reading is that, this argument is more persuasive when, the disagreement is partly about definitions. If every paragraph begins with "on the other hand", you are signalling balance without doing any of the work.

Reflective essays: analyse your own thinking

Here the purpose is to show development. You take one or two concrete experiences and examine them: what you assumed, what you did, what you would do differently and why. First person is expected, but this is not a diary. "I felt nervous" has to go somewhere — why it happened, what it changed, what you will do with that insight.

Most UK programmes recommend a framework. Gibbs' reflective cycle is widely used (description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, action plan), and Driscoll's "what, so what, now what" does the same job more briefly. Use whichever your course names, because markers often look for it.

Shift tense deliberately: past for the event, present for the analysis. At the time I assumed, looking back, the turning point was, what this reveals about my practice is. On health, social work, teaching or law placements, anonymise people and settings, and follow your programme's confidentiality rules about what can appear even in an appendix.

Side by side

• Purpose: persuade / explore / learn from experience
• Stance: committed thesis / balanced weighing with an optional verdict / honest personal position
• Evidence: sources, data, theory / sources from more than one side / your own experience linked to theory or module content
• Voice: third person / third person / first person
• Ending: restates the case / weighs the arguments / states what changes next
• Rubric language: "clear line of argument" / "balanced consideration" / "critical self-awareness"

Language and tone: small words that reveal the mode

Argumentative writing earns authority from verbs: argues, demonstrates, undermines, outweighs. Discursive writing lives in qualifiers and connectives: whereas, nonetheless, more convincingly, in some contexts. Reflective writing uses the language of change: I assumed, I noticed, I would now.

Mixing them is the commonest slip. A stray "I believe" weakens an argumentative essay. A discursive essay with no however is two mini-essays stapled together. A reflective essay that hides behind "it could be argued" sounds evasive rather than objective.

Choosing the right mode before you write

Five minutes of planning saves hours of editing. Underline the task verb, then write the purpose in your own words at the top of your notes: "I am persuading a sceptical reader that…", "I am weighing two accounts of…", "I am analysing what this placement taught me about…".

Sketch the shape while you are there. For an argumentative piece, that means your thesis and the objection you must answer. For a discursive piece, the two strongest positions and the point where they collide. For a reflective piece, the moment you are analysing and the change it produced. Holding that shape in view keeps your language consistent from the first paragraph to the last.

Then read the marking criteria again in that light. If the rubric rewards critical evaluation and your draft summarises, start arguing. If it rewards balance and your draft campaigns, widen it. If it rewards self-awareness and your draft explains a theory, bring yourself back into the room.

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