essay writing

Essay Writing: Everything you need to know

Essay writing: Introduction

Essay writing can be difficult sometimes and this is exactly why most students seek helps from professional thesis, essay writing service providers like thesismind. In essay writing, the way you arrange your thoughts in while creating an essay can be of a great help. Knowing the purpose of the essay helps to identify the essay that is being written. The importance of knowing how to write a good essay cannot be overemphasized, students are supposed to know how to write nice essays because it equips them with the necessary writing skills that can be used in different areas of life; it helps in thesis writing memos, business letters, thesis, project, proposals etc. Writing of an essay outline the writer’s point of view on the topic he or she is writing. Knowing the type of essay to be written and its outline renders a great help in writing of an essay.

What Is An Essay?

An essay is an article, piece of work or short story that sketches out a writer’s point of view. It reviews what the writer understands about a particular idea and his ability to explain, argue and support his view on the idea. An essay can be in form of, argument, discussion, narration, literature genre, academic tool etc. An essay can be formal or informal; formal essay deals with academic general topic, they are usually serious topics, while informal essay deals with personal interest mainly, it is more entertaining than formal essay. Writing of an essay can be very challenging but when the three elements of composition; content, structure, and mechanics are properly tackled, it makes essay writing very easy. An essay has to flow sequentially for proper understanding, it should move from the introduction, main body and the conclusion.

Features Of A Good Essay

  • A good essay focal point should be on the reader; to be able to convince the reader.
  • It should be specific and concise with a clear-cut thesis.
  • A good essay has an introduction, the body and the conclusion.
  • It has a strong introduction and conclusion.
  • It has a well organized structure.
  • It uses a clear, relevant and understandable language

 Types Of Essay Writing

Generally, they are four different types of essay writing. They include;

  • Narrative essay
  • Persuasive essay
  • Descriptive essay
  • Expository essay.

Narrative Essay

Narrative essay is in form of telling story, a narrative essay writer or the narrator could be first person narrator or second person narrator.  The story could be from past incident or experience, about an unforgettable person or ongoing incident. It is the type of essay writing that uses first person, or second person to tell story. The writer uses the first person pronoun to address himself, he uses the second person pronoun to address the reader and he uses the third person pronoun to addresses a person involved in the story. The story could be fact or fiction.

The narrative essay is made of four elements; the theme, the plot, the characters and the setting. The theme is the central idea of the story, the characters are those involved in the story, the plot is the way the story progresses, the goals of the characters and the problem they encounter. The setting is the location in which the event took place.

When writing an essay, you should make show it flows from the introduction to the body, then to the conclusion of the story. in order to write a good narrative essay, your story should be first prewritten, draft it, write and revise your story and finally, proofread your essay and effect necessary corrections.

Features of narrative essay

  • A narrative essay should use a vibrant verb.
  • It includes all the four elements; the theme, plot, characters and the setting.
  • The story is created in such a way that the reader feels involved.
  • The essay is well organized.
  • It should use an exact modifier.
  • Its last chapter reflects on lager meaning or importance of the story.
  • A narrative essay should be presented in such a way that it links the past and the present.
  • It has a clear thesis statement.

Persuasive Essay

Persuasive essay is the type of essay that the writer tries to convince the reader on his or her point of view. The writer tries as much as he can to influence the readers opinion. Persuasive essay should not just present a fact or facts, but should also back up the fact with the aim of making the reader side your point of view on the issue. The persuasive essay should be written in such a way that it captures the reader’s attention. A narrative essay tends to build a connection between the writer and the reader, it also build tension and shows a way which the tension can be resolved. When writing a persuasive essay the writer’s should back up his opinion by strong supporting facts. Persuasive essay should be able to convince the reader, it should persuade the reader to agree with an opinion.

The main purpose of persuasive essay is to convince a reader to agree with the writer’s point of view. Narrative essay is selfish because it only try to convince the reader, it does not give room for others opinion. Narrative essay can be in form TV commercials or print ads, newspaper editorials, political speeches, songs and poems, personal opinions etc.

Characteristics of persuasive essay

  • It builds an emotional connection with the reader.
  • It builds up pressures that are important to the reader and explains how to resolve it
  • Its focus is on the reader, it uses suitable language to communicate with the reader.
  • Its main purpose is to convince the reader to support the writers view point.
  • It addresses the reader directly.
  • It has persuasive assertions and also supports them strongly.
  • It uses plea to convince the reader, pleas like, emotional plea, personal plea, logical plea or stylistic plea.

Descriptive Essay

Descriptive essay is the type of essay that paints a picture with words, it describes and gives every detail of a person, place, object or event. This type of essay does not just describe but also converses a profound meaning through the description. Descriptive essay can be used to paint the picture of how somebody feels. The descriptive essay writer uses similes, analogies and metaphors to enable them paint the picture on their mind so that it can appeal to the reader’s emotions. Descriptive essay does not depend solely on the sense of sight but also relies on other senses. It uses a precise language to communicate to the reader.

 A descriptive essay has five elements, these elements are; sensory details, figurative language, dominant idea, a well defined language and careful organization

Descriptive essay can be arranged according to time (chronological arrangement), according to the location (spatial) or according to the order of importance. The component of descriptive essay includes; the introduction of the essay, the body of the essay and the conclusion.

Characteristics of descriptive essay

  • Descriptive essay uses a clear-cut language.
  • It uses figurative languages.
  • It uses sensory details to paint a picture.
  • It is well organized either by chronological, spatial or order of importance.
  • It gives a clear description of a person, place, event etc.

Expository Essays

Expository essay is the types of essay that the writer explains the topic or subject matter to the reader using facts, data (statistics) and example in a clear manner. It is passes information to the audience. To write a good expository essay, the writer have to do a serious research and dig deep to get the need information on the topic. The writer’s personal view is not needed in expository essay because everything is based on facts, statistics and example, and this makes expository essay unbiased. Just like every other types of essay, descriptive essay flows from the introduction, the middle (the body), and the end (conclusion).

 The main purpose of an expository essay is to provide a reasonable and uncomplicated explanation of an object or phenomenon.

Expository essay are of six types, they are; the process essay, the compare and contrast essay, the problem and solution essay, the cause and effect essay, the classification essay and the definition essay.

The process essay gives the detail of how to perform a certain task. It explains the necessary steps one will take in doing something. For instance; write an essay on how to bake cake. The compare and contrast essay deals with the similarities and differences between two ideas, concepts etc. The problem and solution essay; the writer comes up with a certain problem and recommend the best solution to the reader. The cause and effect essay; this type of essay explains the reason for a circumstance and also explain what the circumstance will result to. The classification essay; this type of essay classifies the topic or subject matter into different groups, characterizes the group, includes everything within each of the group, and explain the importance of those classification. The definition essay; this type of essay is written to clarify a concept that is confusing.

Characteristics of expository essay

  • Expository essay is used to pass information to the reader.
  • Expository essay in impersonal, the writer is explaining already existing statistics and not a personal experience.
  • Expository essay is well organized in such a way that it focuses on the topic
  • It is unbiased.

Parts of an Essay

Different people has different opinion about the parts of an essay, some classify it into three, while some classify it into five. It is classified into three by; the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. Those that classify it into five normally divide the body into three parts, that is; the introduction, the first body paragraph, the second body paragraph, the third body paragraph and the conclusion.

Here it is classified into three, they are;

  • Introduction
  • The body
  • conclusion

Introduction

The introduction is the first part of an essay. It is the foundation of the essay, it is the part where the writer initiates his topic. The introduction should not be too long, the introduction should contain an opening statement or a question, a backup statement and a problem statement. The opening statement can be a question that will be able to hook the reader, the reason is to grab the reader’s attention. This part of the introduction helps to determine whether the reader will continue or not. The backup statement connects to the opening statement, writers call it the bridge, this is because it tries to give explanation about the hook and make the topic more relevant. The problem statement is the claim that is either supported or kicked against, this part of the introduction explains if the claim will be argued for or against. The problem statement or thesis should be clear, specific, short and snappy.

The body

The body of an essay is the central part of the essay. It stands in between the introduction and the conclusion. The body of the essay, is the part of an essay that contains the crucial contents of the essay.  It is important to arrange your essay very well, make it flow sequentially so as to avoid confusion on the side of the reader. The body of an essay should have three paragraphs with at least five sentences in each paragraph, and each paragraph should contain a particular main idea. The first paragraph of the body of an essay tries to prove the thesis statement, the last statement of this paragraph should be transitional. The second paragraph supports the thesis statement with a convincing argument. The first statement here should be able to connect to the last statement of the first paragraph, its last statement should also be transitional. The third paragraph of the body also has a transitional statement that connects it with the second paragraph, supports the thesis statement but with a weaker argument this time, it shouldn’t be too weak, it should be like the first and the second paragraph.

The Conclusion

This is the last part of an essay, it marks the completion of the essay writing with understandable and correct signal. The conclusion should be very strong and very crucial. Sometimes a conclusion will just reflect the introductory paragraph but make sure the words and sentence structure are not the same. The conclusion is the last paragraph that summarizes all the arguments and points made in the essay.

Steps Of Essay Writing

  • Decide the type of essay to write; make a decision on the type of essay you want to write. Your essay could be to tell story, persuade a reader about your point of view, to give details of how to do something, or describe a certain thing. The essay writing could be a narrative essay, descriptive essay, persuasive essay or expository essay.
  • Choose a topic; come up with a topic and evaluate it on time, choose a good topic (if you are meant to choose), a topic you will be able to write very well. You can make a list of topics and choose the best topic from our list. Understand the topic given (if the topic is given). If the topic is well understood, you will have clearer point of view to propose and defend.
  • Do some research; the next step after choosing a topic is to dig deep about the topic, some research has to be done concerning the topic, this research will help to equip you with the existing knowledge of your topic. During your research, use a reliable source to gather your information. Your research can be from anywhere, you can consult the library, internet, read some books concerning the topic or interviewing experts on that field.
  • Build up a proposal; the proposal is the one sentence that tells what the essay is talking about, it summarizes the whole essay in one sentence, it is the main point of the essay. The proposal should be clear enough, easy to understand, short and snappy, so that it can capture the reader’s attention well.
  • Draft out your essay; the next to take after developing a proposal is to draft out the essay. Draw a sketch of how your essay writing will be, make sure it flows very well, there should be no jumping and mix ups. Drafting out your essay helps to organize your essay, makes it logical and flows properly.
  • Start writing your essay; after outlining your essay, the next step is to start writing the essay using the already drafted outline. Your essay should be consistent and clear. When writing the essay, it should be logical and flow properly. Start each paragraph with a topic sentence that will communicate the thought of the paragraph. The paragraph should also contain information that will back up the idea of the paragraph. Make sure your introduction and conclusion is very strong.
  • Proofread and edit your writing; once you finish writing your essay read the essay that you have written, look out for the spellings, punctuations, and the grammars. Read it out to detect errors easily.

Tips For Writing A Good Essay

  • Choose a good topic that you will be able to write.
  • Give it an interesting title.
  • Sketch out your ideas.
  • Keep your language straightforward.
  • Write the thesis statement.
  • Write the introduction, body and the conclusion.
  • Proofread and edit.

Dos And Don’ts Of Essay Writing

  • Obey the rules given in an essay, do not go beyond the limit you are asked to write.
  • Be straightforward in your essay writing, your essay should not be complicated in any way.
  • Remember the essay is supposed to outline your idea, do no not copy someone else’s work.
  • Give yourself time, take brakes when necessary but, do not waste unnecessary time to avoid being choked or last minute rush.
  • Review your essay and also give someone else to review it too.
  • Back your essay up with fact from your research on each paragraph.
  • Your essay writing should be unique and not too common.
  • Your essay writing should not be in form of listing it should be more than that.
  • Do not mix up too many thoughts in each paragraph to avoid confusion on the side of the reader.
  • Make sure you have a good transition so that the essay can flow well.

Reference

Tala (2012), professional development to support academic writing.

Read more about literature review, problem statement, research methodology, journal publication, project writing guideline.

Best-custom-writings.co (2018)

Essays, UK. (November 2018). What is an Essay. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/resources/undergraduate/essay/what-is-an-essay.php?vref=1

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