Essay

Essay
Did you know the word ‘essay’ is derived from a Latin word ‘exagium’, which roughly translates to presenting one’s case? So essays are a short piece of writing representing one’s side of the argument or one’s experiences, stories etc. Essays are very personalized. So let us learn about types of essays, format, and tips for essay-writing.

An essay is generally a short piece of writing outlining the writer’s perspective or story. It is often considered synonymous with a story or a paper or an article. Essays can be both formal as well as informal. Formal essays are generally academic in nature and tackle serious topics. We will be focusing on informal essays which are more personal and often have humorous elements.


Types of Essays
The type of an essay will depend on what the writer wants to convey to his reader. There are broadly four types of essays. Let us see.

Narrative Essays:
This is when the writer is narrating an incident or story through the essay. So these are in the first person. The aim when writing narrative essays is to involve the reader in them as if they were right there when it was happening. SO make them as vivid and real as possible. One way to make this possible is to follow the principle of ‘show, don’t tell’. So you must involve the reader in the story.



Descriptive Essays:
Here the writer will describe a place, an object, an event or maybe even a memory. But it is not just plainly describing things. The writer must paint a picture through his words. One clever way to do that is to evoke the senses of the reader. Do not only rely on sight but also involve the other senses of smell, touch, sound etc. A descriptive essay when done well will make the reader feel the emotions the writer was feeling at the moment.

Expository Essays:
In such an essay a writer presents a balanced study of a topic. To write such an essay, the writer must have real and extensive knowledge about the subject. There is no scope for the writer’s feelings or emotions in an expository essay. It is completely based on facts, statistics, examples etc. There are sub-types here like contrast essays, cause and effect essays etc.

Persuasive Essays:
Here the purpose of the essay is to get the reader to your side of the argument. A persuasive essay is not just a presentation of facts but an attempt to convince the reader of the writer’s point of view. Both sides of the argument have to presented in these essays. But the ultimate aim is to persuade the readers that the writer’s argument carries more weight.
Learn more about Letter Writing here in detail.

Format of an Essay

Now there is no rigid format of an essay. It is a creative process so it should not be confined within boundaries. However, there is a basic structure that is generally followed while writing essays. So let us take a look at the general structure of an essay.

Introduction
This is the first paragraph of your essay. This is where the writer introduces his topic for the very first time. You can give a very brief synopsis of your essay in the introductory paragraph. Generally, it is not very long, about 4-6 lines.

There is plenty of scopes to get creative in the introduction of essays. This will ensure that you hook the reader, i.e. draw and keep his attention. So to do so you can start with a quote or a proverb. Sometimes you can even start with a definition. Another interesting strategy to engage with your reader is to start with a question.

Body
This is the main crux of your essays. The body is the meat of your essay sandwiched between the introduction and the conclusion. So the most vital and important content of the essay will be here. This need not be confined to one paragraph. It can extend to two or more paragraphs according to the content.

Usually, we have a lot of information to provide in the body. And the mistakes writers generally make is to go about it in a haphazard manner which leaves the reader confused. So it is important to organize your thoughts and content. Write the information in a systematic flow so that the reader can comprehend. So, for example, you were narrating an incident. The best manner to do this would be to go in a chronological order.

Learn more about Story Writing here in detail.

Conclusion
This is the last paragraph of the essay. Sometimes a conclusion will just mirror the introductory paragraph but make sure the words and syntax are different. A conclusion is also a great place to sum up a story or an argument. You can round up your essay by providing some moral or wrapping up a story. Make sure you complete your essays with the conclusion, leave no hanging threads.

Tips for Essay Writing
• Give your essays an interesting and appropriate title. It will help draw the attention of the reader and pique their curiosity
• Keep it between 300-500 words. This is the ideal length, you can take creative license to increase or decrease it
• Keep your language simple and crisp. Unnecessary complicated and difficult words break the flow of the sentence.
• Do not make grammar mistakes, use correct punctuation and spellings. If this is not done it will distract the reader from the content
• Before beginning the essay organize your thought and plot a rough draft. This way you can ensure the story will flow and not be an unorganized mess.

Solved Question for You
Q: What is a thesis statement of essays?

The thesis statement is a clear, one-sentence explanation of your position that leaves no doubt in the readers’ mind about which side you are on from the beginning of your essay.

The Five Parts of an Essay
Learning to write an essay is a skill you will use throughout your life. The simple organization of ideas you use when writing an essay will help you write business letters, company memos, and marketing materials for your clubs and organizations. Anything you write will benefit from these simple parts of an essay:

• Purpose and Thesis
• Title
• Introduction
• Body of Information
• Conclusion

Purpose/Main Idea
Before you can start writing, you need to have an idea to write about. If you haven t been assigned an idea, it s easier than you might think to come up with one of your own.
Your best essays will be about the things that light your fire. What do you feel passionate about? What topics do you find yourself arguing for or against? Choose the side of the topic you are "for" rather than "against," and your essay will be stronger.

Do you love gardening? sports? photography? volunteering? Are you an advocate for children? domestic peace? the hungry or homeless? These are clues to your best essays.

Put your idea into a single sentence. This is your thesis statement, your main idea.


Title
Choose a title for your essay that expresses your main idea. The strongest titles will include a verb. Take a look at any newspaper and you ll see that every title has a verb.
You want your title to make someone want to read what you have to say. Make it provocative.

Here are a few ideas:
The Use of the Mentor Archetype in_____.
Who Is the She-Conomy?
Why DJ Is the Queen of Pedicures
Melanoma: Is It or Isn t It?
How to Achieve Natural Balance in Your Garden
Expect to Be Changed by Reading...
Some people will tell you to wait until you have finished writing to choose a title. I find a title helps me stay focused, but I always review mine when I m finished to ensure that it s the most effective it can be.

Introduction
Your introduction is one short paragraph, just a sentence or two, that states your thesis (your main idea) and introduces your reader to your topic. After your title, this is your next best chance to hook your reader. Here are some examples:

Women are the chief buyers in 80 percent of America s households. If you re not marketing to them, you should be.
Take another look at that spot on your arm. Is the shape irregular? Is it multi-colored? You could have melanoma. Know the signs.
Those tiny wasps flying around the blossoms in your garden can t sting you. Their stingers have evolved into egg-laying devices. The wasps, busying finding a very specific place to lay their eggs, are participating in the balance of nature.

Body of Information
The body of your essay is where you develop your story or argument. You have finished your research and have pages of notes. Right? Go through your notes with a highlighter and mark the most important ideas, the key points.
Choose the top three ideas and write each one at the top of a clean page. Now go through again and pull out supporting ideas for each key point. You don t need a lot, just two or three for each one.
Write a paragraph about each of these key points, using the information you ve pulled from your notes. Don t have enough? Maybe you need a stronger key point. Do more research to support your point of view. It s always better to have too many sources than too few.

Conclusion
You re almost finished. The last paragraph of your essay is your conclusion. It, too, can be short, and it must tie back to your introduction.
In your introduction, you stated the reason for your paper. In your conclusion, you want to summarize how your key points support your thesis.

By observing the balance of nature in her gardens, listening to lectures, and reading everything she can get her hands on about insects and native plants, Lucinda has grown passionate about natural balance. "It s easy to get passionate if you just take time to look," she says.
If you re still worried about your essay after trying on your own, consider hiring an essay editing service. Reputable services will edit your work, not rewrite it. Choose carefully. One service to consider is Essay Edge.

How to Write an Essay: 10 Easy Steps
It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.
Why is writing an essay so frustrating?
Learning how to write an essay can be a maddening, exasperating process, but it doesn t have to be. If you know the steps and understand what to do, writing can be easy and even fun.
"How To Write an Essay: 10 Easy Steps," offers a ten-step process that teaches students how to write an essay. Learning how to write an essay doesn t have to involve so much trial and error.
Brief Overview of the 10 Essay Writing Steps.
1. Research: Begin the essay writing process by researching your topic, making yourself an expert. Utilize the internet, the academic databases, and the library. Take notes and immerse yourself in the words of great thinkers.

2. Analysis: Now that you have a good knowledge base, start analyzing the arguments of the essays you re reading. Clearly define the claims, write out the reasons, the evidence. Look for weaknesses of logic, and also strengths. Learning how to write an essay begins by learning how to analyze essays written by others.

3. Brainstorming: Your essay will require insight of your own, genuine essay-writing brilliance. Ask yourself a dozen questions and answer them. Meditate with a pen in your hand. Take walks and think and think until you come up with original insights to write about.

4. Thesis: Pick your best idea and pin it down in a clear assertion that you can write your entire essay around. Your thesis is your main point, summed up in a concise sentence that lets the reader know where you re going, and why. It s practically impossible to write a good essay without a clear thesis.
5. Outline: Sketch out your essay before straightway writing it out. Use one-line sentences to describe paragraphs, and bullet points to describe what each paragraph will contain. Play with the essay s order. Map out the structure of your argument, and make sure each paragraph is unified.

6. Introduction: Now sit down and write the essay. The introduction should grab the reader s attention, set up the issue, and lead in to your thesis. Your intro is merely a buildup of the issue, a stage of bringing your reader into the essay s argument.
(Note : The title and first paragraph are probably the most important elements in your essay. This is an essay-writing point that doesn t always sink in within the context of the classroom. In the first paragraph you either hook the reader s interest or lose it. Of course your teacher, who s getting paid to teach you how to write an essay, will read the essay you ve written regardless, but in the real world, readers make up their minds about whether or not to read your essay by glancing at the title alone).

7. Paragraphs: Each individual paragraph should be focused on a single idea that supports your thesis. Begin paragraphs with topic sentences, support assertions with evidence, and expound your ideas in the clearest, most sensible way you can. Speak to your reader as if he or she were sitting in front of you. In other words, instead of writing the essay, try talking the essay.

8. Conclusion: Gracefully exit your essay by making a quick wrap-up sentence, and then end on some memorable thought, perhaps a quotation, or an interesting twist of logic, or some call to action. Is there something you want the reader to walk away and do? Let him or her know exactly what.

9. MLA Style: Format your essay according to the correct guidelines for citation. All borrowed ideas and quotations should be correctly cited in the body of your text, followed up with a Works Cited (references) page listing the details of your sources.

10. Language: You re not done writing your essay until you ve polished your language by correcting the grammar, making sentences flow, incoporating rhythm, emphasis, adjusting the formality, giving it a level-headed tone, and making other intuitive edits. Proofread until it reads just how you want it to sound. Writing an essay can be tedious, but you don t want to bungle the hours of conceptual work you ve put into writing your essay by leaving a few slippy misppallings and pourly wordedd phrazies..
You re done.



9 steps for writing a great essay
I bet some people become dentists just to avoid having to write essays. Essays and research papers can invoke massive amounts of stress and anxiety. So can dentists. But no matter what classes you take in high school or college, you re going to have to write an essay at some point. Whether you love or hate them, following these nine steps can improve your essays, reduce your stress, and possibly save you from an expensive dentist degree.

1. Analyze the essay prompt
The most important step in writing an essay or research paper is to fully comprehend the essay question. An essay can be wonderfully articulated and thought out, but will still result in a poor grade if it doesn’t adequately answer the prompt provided. Break the prompt down into two parts.

What is the prompt directly asking?
What is the essay topic?
What research do I need to do to fully understand the topic?
How long does the essay need to be?
What is the prompt indirectly asking?
Is the prompt asking for my opinion, the opinion of credible scholarly sources, or facts?
How can I relate this essay topic to what we have covered in class?
Once these questions have been answered, you can begin constructing your essay.

2. Create a thesis statement
Start your essay with a thesis statement that will guide your entire paper. Based on the prompt, what do you want to argue in your essay? Your thesis statement should be concise, but incorporate all the main points you d like to address in your paper. Continually refer to your thesis statement when writing your essay and make sure to never stray from your main points. A good thesis statement can be the difference between an A and a B.

3. Make an outline
Use an outline to plan out your essay/research paper before writing it. Working from your thesis statement, plot out how you want your paper to flow and what information you want to include. This will make writing the full draft of your paper much easier

4. Begin with the body, not the introduction
Don t start with the introduction. The introduction is where some students struggle the most, so to avoid getting bogged down, create the introduction later. This will allow you to fully form your thoughts and ideas and come back and integrate the main ideas into your introduction.

5. Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence
Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence, which expresses the main idea of the paragraph. Each paragraph should contain quotes or contextual information to defend your topic sentence and thesis statement.

6. Use credible sources
Quotes and contextual information are important for establishing credibility and supporting your argument, so make sure that the quotes and information are coming from credible scholarly sources. Examples of scholarly sources include academic journals, peer-reviewed articles, textbooks, books by accredited authors, and NPR articles. Examples of unacceptable scholarly sources are magazine articles, open forum submissions, encyclopedia entries, and unverified online sources. If you’re looking for credible sources to use within your essay, check out Google Scholar.

7. Don t fake it
Teachers aren’t dumb. They know when you don’t fully understand the essay topic and when you’re rambling to make it longer. Don’t use fluff to bulk up your essay. Instead, make sure that every sentence adds substance to your work. If it isn’t absolutely necessary, cut it out. Most teachers would rather have a well-written essay that doesn’t quite meet the length requirement than a paper that meets the requirement, but is 80 percent fluff.

8. Conclude your essay
Your conclusion should always begin by restating your thesis statement. This is your chance to tie all of your main points together and go out with a bang. A good conclusion will address the main arguments of each body paragraph in a succinct way and thoroughly prove your thesis statement.

9. Proofread, then proofread again
Reviewing is critical to composing a great essay. Some teachers won t even finish reading essays if they re not grammatically sound or riddled with spelling errors. Here are a few ways to make your essay/research paper more academically acceptable and better overall.

• Take out all conjunctions (aren’t, don’t, couldn’t, etc.). This will make your paper longer and is more appropriate for academic writing.
• Print out your paper, read it, and mark it up. You will notice more errors when reading it this way than on a computer screen.
• Have friends or parents read it. A second set of eyes can catch any mistakes you missed.
• Read it out loud. This will help with grammar mistakes. If it sounds wrong, it probably is.
Essays and research papers can be a challenge for writers of all skill levels, but these writing tips can make the process a little easier and a lot less daunting.

There are four main types of essays: narrative, descriptive, expository, and argumentative. Each has a unique purpose. Some tell a story, some are descriptive, and others attempt to alter opinions. One of the best ways to understand each type is to review a batch of essay examples.

Narrative Essays
Narration means you re telling a story from a certain viewpoint, and there is usually a reason for the telling. All narrative essays have characters, setting, a climax, and most importantly, a plot.

The plot is the focus of the story and is usually revealed chronologically, but there are sometimes flash-forwards and flashbacks. If you re looking to write a personal narrative essay, here are some tips to get you started.

When writing a narrative essay, remember to:

Include sensory and emotional details, so the reader will experience the story, not just read about it.

Allow the story to support the point you re making, and make reference to that point in the first sentence.

Write in the first or third person.

Examples of Narrative Essays

Ready for a little storytelling? Here are four excerpts to light your creative fire.

"Looking back on a childhood filled with events and memories, I find it rather difficult to pick one that leaves me with the fabled "warm and fuzzy feelings." As the daughter of an Air Force major, I had the pleasure of traveling across America in many moving trips. I have visited the monstrous trees of the Sequoia National Forest, stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon and have jumped on the beds at Caesar s Palace in Lake Tahoe."

"The day I picked my dog up from the pound was one of the happiest days of both of our lives. I had gone to the pound just a week earlier with the idea that I would just "look" at a puppy. Of course, you can no more just look at those squiggling little faces so filled with hope and joy than you can stop the sun from setting in the evening. I knew within minutes of walking in the door that I would get a puppy… but it wasn t until I saw him that I knew I had found my puppy."

"Looking for houses was supposed to be a fun and exciting process. Unfortunately, none of the ones that we saw seemed to match the specifications that we had established. They were too small, too impersonal, too close to the neighbors. After days of finding nothing even close, we began to wonder: was there really a perfect house out there for us?"

The following is an example of a famous narrative written by John Updike, Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu.

"The afternoon grew so glowering that in the sixth inning the arc lights were turned on--always a wan sight in the daytime, like the burning headlights of a funeral procession. Aided by the gloom, Fisher was slicing through the Sox rookies, and Williams did not come to bat in the seventh. He was second up in the eighth. This was almost certainly his last time to come to the plate in Fenway Park, and instead of merely cheering, as we had at his three previous appearances, we stood, all of us, and applauded."