ESSAY WRITING

Dear Friends,
You have been writing essays for many years. Yet, it
would not be out of place to recapitulate what you
have learnt so far about an essay.
What is an essay?
The word essay means an attempt. It is an attempt
to write in a single prose-piece one's own ideas,
impressions, thoughts, feelings or opinions on a
given subject. It may be in the form of Information,
narration, description, exposition or argument.
Difficulties faced by students: Usually students
face two difficulties in writing an essay: (1) What to
write and (2) How to write it.
What to write is the difficulty related to the subject
matter. Students may not have sufficient ideas,
Information, experience or thinking about the
subject of an essay. This difficulty can be overcome
by a lot of reading, by observing things around us,
by coming into contact with people from various
walks of life and by doing things. Students will be
able to write well on what they have read, seen,
heard or done.
The difficulty of how to write results from lack of
sufficient vocabulary and power of expression.
Students may not have enough and proper words to
express what they want to and they may not have
mastery of different sentence structures to say how
they want to say. Here also reading will help them
Immensely. Extensive reading will provide them
with a sufficient and rich fund of words on various
subjects and familiarise them with various sentence
structures. Intensive reading will fix the structures
and main ideas in their minds.
How to write an essay:
1. You can't write an essay unless you have
sufficient knowledge of the subject. If you don't
have sufficient knowledge of the subject. read the
necessary books, consult your teachers and elders
and get the necessary information from them. This
information will provide you with the necessary
vocabulary also, since it is expressed in language.
2. Don't start writing the essay straightaway. First
think about the subject and jot down the ideas as
they come in the form of point. Arrange the point
under proper headings. All the related ideas must
be put together under the same heading. Now you
will have an outline of essay which should be
followed while writing the essay.
3. Once the outline is ready, you can start writing
the essay. An essay has three main parts:
(1) Beginning (2) Middle (3) End.
(1) In the beginning the subject is introduced
or defined. Introduction should be brief,
striking and interesting. Because the first
Impression is the last impression. The topic
may be introduced directly or through
appropriate quotation, proverb, anecdote,
brief story, personal remark or reminiscence,
reflection or a question. Good beginning is
essential because well-begun is half done.
 (2) The middle is in fact the heart of the essay. It
is here that the main ideas are developed.
They are discussed and illustrated. This is the
main body of the essay. If necessary, this
section may be divided into paragraphs. Each
paragraph must be built up round a single
idea or point and all the paragraphs must be
connected in a continuous and logical
sequence.
(3) The end is the conclusion. All the ideas and
the discussion in the body are summed up
here. The end must be effective and
satisfying. It must not be abrupt but must
come naturally as a logical conclusion.
4. There must be unity and continuity in an essay.
All the ideas or thoughts must be built round the
main idea or thought and must be arranged in a
logical order in their proper sequence, so that the
whole essay reads like one continuous piece.
Each sentence must lead to the next. All the
paragraphs should be so connected as to develop
the ideas in a logical order.
5. Avoid unnecessary words and phrases. Never use
any word or phrase, the meaning of which is not
known to you.
6. Be brief, simple and clear. Say what you want to
say directly and in a simple, unambiguous way.
Avoid long, complicated sentences. Use small,
simple sentences. Avoid high-sounding words and
phrases.
7. Let there be balance and proportion in the
development of Ideas.
8. Do not use unnecessary illustrations or figures of
speech. Illustrations and figures of speech must
come naturally in the presentation.
9. Do not imitate anybody. Say what you want to
say in your own words, in your own way. Gradually,
after sufficient practice you will develop your own
style.
10. Remember that writing a good essay requires
good practice. As the poet Pope says:
“True case in writing comes from art. Not chance. As
those move easiest who have learnt to dance.”