| Basically, the essay is a piece of creative writing in prose on any subject in which the writer purpose to give his or her personal view of facts. The term 'essay' is originated from a French word meaning 'act of weighing' and came to denote 'attempt, effort or its product'. Thus, the essay signifies a trial or attempt of a writer to present on paper any point containing general ideas of an author on a subject. Essays are believed to be endevors of authors to digest their own ideas and to communicate their ideas to others. A lot of essays have been published on every subject-matter in the press. Besides, the essay is the most common type of advanced writing practice at school.
Essays may vary in size. nonetheless, a school essay averages out at 500 words. According to the manner in which the subject-matter is treated, essays may be classified into the following: argumentative, narrative and descriptive.
The argumentative essay is a piece of writing in which authors put across their views or opinions and provide straightforward arguments for or against a particular idea.
The narrative essay is a description of events as they follow one another. Facts are arranged in keeping with the actual course of happenings.
The descriptive essay is different from the narrative type in the order in which thoughts and facts are set up. It does not depend on the actual sequence of events but rather on typical characteristics of events or the writer's arrangement of the presentation.
The essay has three major obligatory structural parts: the introductory part, the main body and the conclusion. It is worth remembering that coherence, clarity, consistence and logic are features of a perfect essay.
Here are a few useful tips on how to write a clear-cut essay. Before you start writing an essay it is necessary to collect, observe, analyse and combine facts related to the subject-matter of an essay. To put it differently, data-base and a good pattern of the future work are the prerequisites for an excellent essay.
As soon as you have decided on a subject-matter, organise facts available in an order appropriate for the purpose of your essay and choose the method of your data arrangement (comparison, contrast, analogy on facts, classification). Make a detailed outline that will help you keep to your scheme as you write. Keep to the specified limits of space and learn not to exceed them. Define your aims in writing by making a thesis statement which will express a subject. Note down a preliminary draft to ensure that you have set up your essay logically and that your introductory part and conclusion are clear-cut to make your piece of writing more effective. Format your final draft in line with the specified requirements.
As seen from the above mentioned, to develop the skill of writing an essay one should be well aware of its basic principles, types and features and keep practising, for practice makes perfect. |
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