| Basically, the ESSAY is a piece of creative writing in prose on any subject in which the author purpots to give his or her personal view of a subject. The term 'essay' is originated from a French word meaning 'act of weighing' and denotes 'attempt, effort or its product'. Hence, the essay is a trial or effort of an author to express on paper any point of view containing general thoughts of a writer on a certain subject-matter. Essays are thought to be attempts of authors to comprehend their own ideas and to express their thoughts to others. Countless essays have been written on every subject-matter in the press. Besides, the essay is a preferred form of advanced writing exercise at school.
Essays may differ in size. Nevertheless, the average size of a school essay is approximately five hundred words. According to the manner in which the subject is treated, essays may be divided into the following: ARGUMENTATIVE, NARRATIVE and DESCRIPTIVE.
The argumentative essay is a piece of writing in which authors put across their opinions or views and provide arguments for or against a certain idea.
The narrative essay is a description of happenings following one another. Facts are organized in keeping with the real sequence of happenings.
The descriptive essay is different from the narrative essay in the order in which ideas and facts follow one another. It does not depend upon the actual sequence of events but rather upon typical characteristics of happenings or the author's arrangement of the presentation.
The essay has three major compulsory structural parts: the introductory part, the main body and the conclusion. It is worth remembering that a perfect essay is characterised by coherence, clarity, logic and consistence.
Here are some valuable recommendations on how to write a good essay. Before you get down to writing an essay it is necessary to find, observe, analyse and combine facts relevant to the topic of an essay. To put it differently, data-base and a good scheme of the future work are essential for creating a good essay.
As soon as you have decided on a subject, organize facts in an order appropriate to the purpose of your essay and decide on the type of your data set-up (comparison, contrast, analogy on facts, classification). Make a detailed outline that will help you keep to your pattern as you write. Keep to the specified limits of space and learn not to exceed them. Determine your purpose in the written form by making a thesis statement that will express a topic. Jot down a preliminary draft to make sure that you have organized your essay logically and that your introductory part and conclusion are clear-cut to make your piece of creative writing more effective. Format your final draft in accordance with the specified requirements.
Thus, to acquire the skill of writing an essay an author should be well aware of its structural peculiarities, types and features and keep practising, as practice makes perfect. |
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