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."