An essay generally is a piece of writing done from a writer’s perspectives and opinion along with various bits of research information. Essays come in various forms as there are some in form of literary criticism, observations, arguments, investigative research, reflections etc.
Essays come in structured form while focusing on a single topic of discussion.
Aldous Huxley, a leading essayist stated that essays exist within a three-poled frame of reference;
– The personal and the autobiographical: The essayists that feel most comfortable in this pole “write fragments of reflective autobiography and look at the world through the keyhole of anecdote and description”.
– The objective, the factual, and the concrete-particular: The essayists that write from this pole “do not speak directly of themselves, but turn their attention outward to some literary or scientific or political theme. Their art consists on setting forth, passing judgement upon, and drawing general conclusions from the relevant data”.
– The abstract-universal: In this pole “we find those essayists who do their work in the world of high abstractions”, who are never personal and who seldom mention the particular facts of experience.
The word ‘essay’ derives from the French word ‘essayer’ which means ‘to try’ Thus writing good essays is a product of trying your hands with initial attempts. Generally the more you read and write the better you become.
How to Write Good Essays
Here are several tips to help you master the art of essay writing
1. Research: Before ever writing an essay on any topic you will do well to conduct an effective research on the topic. Using the internet, offline libraries and consulting relevant journals are some of the ways you can quickly get vital information regarding the topic you are to write on.
2. Outline: As you gather ideas and pieces of information on what you intend writing about it is good you equally begin to note these ideas and sketch an outline of the shape your essay will take. While your outline may not be cast in stone it will be a helpful guide to helping you structure your essay when you finally start writing. An outline sketch of your essay will involve the introduction, body and conclusion. The body will be subdivided into major paragraphs each highlighting a seperate aspect of the work.
3. Conclusion: Depending on the nature of your essay this is where you outline the summary of what you are to write about and note the end point and call to action (if any).
4. Writing Your Essay: Keep it Simple
Some of the best writers are those who know how to convey information in a powerful yet simplistic manner. No need putting in big words and crafting extra long sentences that end up not conveying clear lucid meaning to your reader(s).
5. Citation/Reference: Depending on the requirements you can use any of the generally accepted styles for citing references such as the MLA style
6. Edit: Writing the essay is certainly not the end of it. You want to be sure you do not have too much noticeable errors, punctuation and grammar-wise. So going over your essay two or three times will help you get to know if there are areas that should be corrected or totally removed.
It also will help if you have a senior colleague or friend that will help you critic the essay and make notes on areas of improvement.
Knowing how to write a good essay helps even outside the school environment and in your work life as you will regularly (depending on your work) have to create little pieces of writing; memos, letters, notes etc where you will find your essay writing skills handy.
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