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What is an Essay?
Most people don’t take the time to understand why they think the way they do—they often speak without really thinking about why they believe the things they say. In fact, many people, when they stop to examine why they believe what they believe, they often find out that they really don’t believe that thing.
Kids especially have this problem because they have been taught over the years certain things, so that’s what they believe. This is natural. But now is the time to start finding out why you believe what you believe. That’s the purpose of the essay.
An essay is a type of writing where the author explores thoughts, ideas, beliefs, hopes, concerns, etc. The purpose behind an essay is to help the author clarify (make clear) their own thoughts, and also to help the reader think about their own thoughts. Sometimes an essay is to try and persuade others to think, feel or believe something.
The four main types of essays:
- The Expository Essay
- The Argumentative (Persuasive) Essay
- The Descriptive Essay
- The Narrative Essay
We will mainly be concerned with the first two types.
The Expository Essay
The expository essay is a genre of essay that requires the student to
investigate a topic evaluate evidence about the topic explain the topic
The structure of the expository essay is held together by the following:
A clear, concise, and defined topic sentence that occurs in the first paragraph of the essay.
It is essential that this topic sentence be narrow enough to follow the guidelines given in the assignment. If you don’t master this portion of the essay, it will be difficult to compose an effective essay. The topic sentence
should notify the reader what the topic of the essay is and what the writer thinks/feels about that topic.
Clear and logical transitions between the introduction, body, and conclusion.
Transitions are the mortar that holds the foundation of the essay together. Without logical progression of thought, the reader is unable to follow the essay’s argument, and the structure will collapse.
Body paragraphs that include support.
Each paragraph should be limited to one general idea that supports the topic sentence. This will allow for clarity and direction throughout the essay. What is more, such conciseness creates an ease of readability for one’s audience. It is important to note that each paragraph in the body of the essay must have some logical connection to the thesis statement in the opening paragraph.
Support/Proof (whether factual, logical, statistical, or story-like).
As much proof should be gathered to present the author’s thoughts/ideas about the topic. However, often times, students are required to write expository essays with little or no preparation; therefore, such essays do not typically allow for a great deal of statistical or factual evidence to be researched or gathered. In such cases, the student should use good reasoning/thinking to support their position.
A bit of creativity!
Though creativity and artfulness are not always associated with essay writing, it is an art form nonetheless. Try not to get stuck on the formulaic nature of expository writing at the expense of writing something interesting. Remember, though you may not be crafting the next great novel, you are attempting to leave a lasting impression on the people evaluating your essay.
A conclusion that does not simply restate the topic sentence, but readdresses it in light of the evidence provided.
It is at this point of the essay that students usually struggle. This is the portion of the essay that will leave the most immediate impression on the mind of the reader. Therefore, it must be effective and logical. Do not introduce any new information into the conclusion; rather, synthesize and come to a conclusion concerning the information presented in the body of the essay.
get across to the reader. Take as many paragraphs as you need to cover this information (it should be at least three paragraphs).
When writing an essay, there is a main topic, but that main topic is usually divided into several smaller subtopics or ideas that deal with the main topic. Each different idea or subtopic should get its own paragraph if it is different enough from the other ideas and subtopics.
If you are trying to convince the reader about something (like in a persuasive piece), this is where you include facts, figures and examples that support and prove your position.
End (also called the “Conclusion”)
This is where you wrap up everything you had to say and explain why it is interesting or important. It is nice if you can tie it in with your beginning paragraph somehow, to bring it full circle.
One suggestion is to pick the most interesting or important thing from the body of the essay and say it again. You can also explain again why the topic is (or should be) so interesting or important to everybody.
Don’t tell the reader that you’ve just told them something: “That’s my essay on air pollution,” or “Now you know all about air pollution,” or “I hope you learned something from my essay.” Instead, just end it by including one of the important pieces of information about your topic: “As we reduce the amount of pollution in the air, we can help save thousands of lives,” or “Steve Martin continues to entertain millions of people through his life-long love of humor.”
Writing a Good Topic Sentence Written by: Trent Lorcher • Edited by: S Forsyth & S Carles
What is a Topic Sentence? A topic sentence contains the central idea around which a paragraph is developed. A good one has the following six characteristics:
- It introduces the specific topic of a paragraph without announcing it.
- It hooks the reader.
- It plants questions in the readers' mind.
- It uses thought-provoking words.
- It is usually the first sentence; however, it can occur anywhere in the paragraph or it can be implied.
- It provides a transition from the previous paragraph. Not all topic sentences will contain every single characteristic.
Examples
1) Original : Columbus was an explorer in the 1400s. Revision : Travel has changed since the days of Columbus. 2) Original: People waste time Revision: Some pass time moving from one incomplete task to another, spending too little time with loved ones, investing too little time in physical and mental self- improvement, and treading water financially. 3) Original : I don't like diapers even though I love my children. Revision: I love my children, but I hate changing their poopy diapers (especially when my dog runs off with it), but there's one diaper I didn't mind changing; ironically, it was the most difficult diaper-change ever, requiring 17 wipes and a blow torch. 4) Original : I had a very bright student long ago. Revision: Even linguistically gifted geniuses struggle with self-esteem.
