Tips for a perfect Essay
-by
Thota Srinivas
Writing is a skill and requires us to sharpen it regularly
through practice. This skill is important not just to the students but to all
those who cannot imagine their life or career or profession or vocation or
passion without it.
Any field or sphere of activity necessitates at
some point or the other a proper and formal written communication with our
colleagues or our subordinates or our superiors or some officials.
It is then we wish we could have polished our
essay writing skills. Even before something like this befalls us, let’s learn
the step-by-step guide to writing a good essay.
1. Understand the topic
Comprehending the topic thoroughly assumes importance if we want to add relevance, completeness, and clarity to our essay.
In most cases, we just get so carried away by the literal meaning of the topic that we ignore the real intention of it and thus deviate from the primary objective and purpose of the topic.
Therefore, an attempt to understand the topic well shall help us in
brainstorming it properly.
To
illustrate, let’s say the topic is…” Contribution of Technology in Education”
A
superficial understanding of the topic shall make us write about how technology
is affecting our lives and how important it is to have technological
advancement in the world. (This sort of exposition seems right but it deviates
from the intention of the topic)
A
relevant exposition could be….
‘Technology has impacted the world and the
way it functions. It has spread its wings to every field including the field of
education. This tremendously transformed the teaching-learning process which
takes place within the classroom.’
2. Understand the type of Essay
The most common mistake curious writers do is to attempt to write without even ascertaining the sole purpose of writing the essay. To be able to understand the purpose of writing the essay, we must first understand the type of essay.
An essay can be descriptive, narrative, persuasive, or expository. Each of these four types of essays has a different writing style, aim, and language. An attempt to understand the type of essay gets half of our work done and can guide us to brainstorm or mind map appropriately.
· Expository writing is meant to state facts; it exposes
facts rather than opinions.
· Descriptive
writing uses figurative language, expressions, and words to evoke
sensory images in the mind of the reader. It is meant to describe persons,
places, things, and situations in a vivid and colorful way.
· Persuasive
writing is meant to persuade the reader to agree or disagree with
something or someone. It is more opinion-based and is all about the
writer’s point of view.
· Narrative
writing is meant to tell a story. It can be fiction or non-fiction
and has characters and a plot.
3. Brainstorm for ideas
Brainstorming is a creative technique used to form ideas that are the basis of writing paragraphs or providing information for an essay.
It helps us to dig out our
previous knowledge and the awareness we have about the topic. It involves
thinking deeply about the topic from various perspectives.
For instance, (for the topic ”
Contribution of Technology in Education” ) we can form ideas about……
· Technology affecting lives
· Technology impacting education
· Technology transforming teaching
· The benefits of digital teaching
· Technology-operated teaching aids
· Teaching-learning process using technology
Education reaching remote areas through technology
4. Mind map and jot
down the related points
Brainstorming can be exhausting when we are excited about the topic. We are flooded with so many ideas and points that it becomes a bit difficult for us to sort them under the various parts of the essay.
The way out here is to jot down the points or
ideas using a mind map or word web or tree diagram or flow charts etc. These
methods can help us in organizing the information to suit the requirements of a
good essay.
To illustrate, let’s say the
topic is “Better Habits” The word web representation could be….
5. Organize your ideas.
An effective essay is a well-organized essay. The main purpose of an essay is to communicate information. This purpose might not be served if our ideas are crammed up or unrelated or confusing or unconnected.
To avoid this we should be
able to decide which ideas shall introduce the topic, which ideas shall lead
the topic, and which ideas shall conclude the topic. Thus the structure of an
essay includes …Introduction, Body/Content, and Conclusion.
For
instance, for the topic, “Better Habits”, a statement like……………..
‘ Life
is our making and how we wish it should be, depends on certain activities or
things we do as a routine which are commonly termed as ‘Habits’.
This
statement qualifies to be an introductory sentence as it introduces the topic. The introduction of the essay is important as it does not just introduce the topic
but tells what the writer’s perspective is and what he wants to convey through
it. We can use a quote or rhetorical question or a saying or a fact or just the
summary of the essay in the introduction to grab the attention of the reader.
A
statement such as………
’ Habits can be better nurtured if one
understands the importance of them in one’s life.‘
Such a
sentence which talks about the importance of understanding habits can be a part
of the content paragraph.
A
statement such as …………..
‘ A better life depends on better habits and
better habits depend on the better attitude we keep so it becomes essential for
us to change our perspective to life for a better living.’
This
sentence qualifies to be a concluding statement as it seems to emphasize what
has already been said in the preceding paragraphs. Conclusion marks the closure
of the topic and so it has to summarize and accentuate the content and the intention
of the writer in a way that shouldn’t be like repeating the points but should
be like highlighting the objective of the topic.
To sum up, in a precise way, tell the readers briefly what you want to say in the introduction;
tell the readers elaborately what you want to say in the content paragraphs;
tell the readers succinctly what you have already said in the conclusion.
6. Develop the
sentences into paragraphs
Ideas we
form out of brainstorming shall help us in forming sentences and the sentences
shall help us in forming paragraphs. The content of the essay should be led by
the thesis statement which is
the heart of the essay and tells the purpose and aim of the essay. It controls
the flow of ideas and depends on the type of essay.
For
instance, a thesis statement for the topic, ‘The pen is mightier than the
sword’ could be….
‘Sword is a symbol of violence and surely results in death and bloodshed
whereas pen which is a symbol of enlightenment paves the way to knowledge and
civilization. Hence we cannot deny the fact that the pen is mightier than the
sword.’
Generally, the introduction and conclusion can be limited to a paragraph while the content
paragraph of the essay can be further divided into two or more than two
paragraphs depending on the type and the requirement of the information.
7. Add supporting statements and logical connections
A statement that is not backed up by supporting information is baseless and cannot help in serving the purpose of achieving the aim of the essay nor help in communicating effectively.
Bear in mind that every sentence we write should somehow have a logical or critical connection to the core argument or the topic of the essay. If every sentence has a different argument, the aim of the essay is lost.
Therefore, logically connecting the sentences becomes imperative to
add coherence and unity to the essay. Never forget that the tone of the essay
must be formal and appropriate but not informal and casual.
For
instance, for the topic, “ Contribution of technology in Education”, if we
want to say that technology in education is helpful, we should also be able to say
the various ways the technology helps the students and teachers. This way we
can add more meaning, value, and clarity to the topic sentence.
Conjunctions and connectors can be used to add
supporting statements and connections.
Conjunctions like but, so because, if, though, as, etc connect two ideas in the same sentence whereas connectors like moreover, nevertheless, similarly, therefore, etc connect two related ideas in two separate sentences.
However, both are used to show the relationship between the ideas which is quite an important feature in an essay.
They add coherence, flow, unity, logic, clarity, and completeness to the essay.
8. Reinforce with evidence and statistics
Evidence and statistics become essential to mention when we write an expository essay. Other types of essays also require the supplement of information which acts as pieces of evidence to what has been said in the statements which go before them.
Evidence can be in the form of numbers or
situations or happenings or facts or experiences. Such information is
quintessential when we write a persuasive essay as it aims to persuade the
reader.
For
instance, let’s say the topic for an expository essay is ‘Wastage of food’ and
the topic sentence is….
‘India, which is densely populated and has a
problem of poverty, also suffers from food wastage ironically.’
This is a
topic sentence and becomes weak and baseless without evidence or statistics.
A suitable statement that provides evidence to this sentence could be…….
‘India, which is densely populated and has a
problem of poverty, also suffers from food wastage ironically. About 40
percent of food produced every year is wasted due to improper food systems
and inefficient supply chains.’
However,
when we are not aware of the exact statistics or facts, a reasoning-based
statement can rescue us.
‘Food wastage only seems to be increasing
every year as people are getting attracted to leading a lavish and careless
life. The amount of food we personally throw in a wedding or a party serves as evidence.’
9. Edit and Proofread
The
concluding paragraph itself does not mark the end of an essay. In fact, it is
only half-done without editing. No written piece of work in its very first
attempt must be treated as the final work if it isn’t proofread and edited.
What seems appropriate during the brainstorming shall seem inappropriate in its content stage and what seems complete in the content stage might actually be incomplete after ending the essay with a conclusion.
Therefore, it is important
to revise and check errors of grammar, language, spelling, unity, and intention to
make sure the information we have written is what we are expecting to convey.
We often
get so overtaken by our own thoughts that we either underperform or overperform
than is required especially in a writing task. Editing the draft can make us understand
whether our essay is in harmony with the parameters of an effective essay.
Hope this
information will be useful to you. Thank you!