ESSAY

Definition of Essay
Essay, an analytic, interpretative, or critical literary composition usually much
shorter and less systematic and formal than a dissertation or thesis and usually
dealing with its subject from a limited and often personal point of view.

Types of Essay
The Expository Essay
These are probably the most common types of essays you will come across and
are a common format of essay required in exams. If you’re writing an expository
essay you will find yourself digging into a theme or topic and then coming up with
an idea, you’ll also be analyzing evidence, and then structuring an "exposition"
(hence the name) about the idea.
The Argumentative Essay
These essays are similar to expository essays but are usually a lot more in-depth
with well-researched qualitative and quantitative data (found via primary or
secondary sources) to back up the points you want to present. In most cases, an
essay like this will also require you to address main points which may oppose your
stand on an issue or topic.
 
THESE ARE BY FAR THE MOST COMMON ESSAYS YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF ASKED
TO WRITE. They may be long; they may be short, but they all try to persuade the
reader about the soundness of your argument about a given topic.

The Descriptive Essay

As the name suggests, this essay is all about the language - adjectives, similes, and
metaphors. These kinds of essays are about describing as vividly as possible
anything you are asked to write about. An example assignment would be to write
an essay about your most recent holiday experience. This would be an ideal time
to use a descriptive essay.
 
But structure here is just as important as any other essay because you are still in
charge of leading the reader into, through, and then back out of your world of
description without waffling on too much. So, similar to an expository essay, you
will require an introduction, body, and conclusion.
 
But what makes it different? A descriptive essay is more like a creative writing
assignment where you describe something in detail. Description may be a part of
the other types of essays, but generally, they need a little bit more - an argument
- while a descriptive essay merely describes something in detail and the thing
being described is the central focus, rather than an argument about something.
The Narrative Essay
Again, as the title suggests, a narrative essay is a more personal piece of writing
with your point of view being made clear for your reader. These essays can be
stories or sometimes called "creative non-fiction." The use of the first person
pronoun ‘I’ is not uncommon in these essays.
 
Narrative essays also require a clear structure introduction, body, and conclusion
populated with concise language. We are working on developing some custom
templates for narrative writing, where you can clearly build up the suspense in
your introduction, bring your reader to the crux or climax of the story in your
body, and then bring them back down again in the conclusion.
 
We have one narrative essay template in EssayJack,  Short Narrative, which you
can use to practice getting into the flow of a good story. 
 
Narrative essays are often the closest thing to pieces of journalism. If you master
the narrative essay, then you are likely well on your way to being a successful
journalist.

Elements of Essay
Unity of an Essay
Unity means that each paragraph has only one main idea (expressed in the topic
sentences) and that all other sentences and details in that paragraph revolve
around that main idea. If a sentence or detail does not adhere closely to the
central idea expressed in the topic sentence, it does not belong in that paragraph.
If a new main idea comes up, a new paragraph is needed.
Coherence of an Essay
Coherence in a piece of writing means that the reader can easily understand it.
Coherence is about making everything flow smoothly. The reader can see that
everything is logically arranged and connected, and relevance to the central focus
of the essay is maintained throughout.
 Logical Order of an Essay

Ideas that must be explained in a certain order — for example, one point must be
explained before another point — are in logical order. Cause-and-effect essays are
often written in logical order as one point must be explained before the next
point can be understood.

The points must be told in the correct sequence; otherwise, the readers may be
confused.

For example

The steps described in this paragraph must be in logical order, otherwise, it makes
no sense.

Insert your ATM card into the machine. Then, punch in your personal
identification number. Next, push the button for “withdrawal”. After you have
entered the amount of cash you want, push the button for the account that you
want to use. Then, collect the cash and take your card and your receipt. Finally,
count the money to make sure that the amount is correct.

Example of an Argumentative Essay

Can Death Penalty Be Effective?
The death penalty is the ultimate punishment. There is no harsher punishment than
death itself. Currently fifty-eight nations practice the death penalty. Our nation, the
United States of America, is one of the fifty-eight nations that practice the death
penalty. Currently the United States will only use the death penalty, if one commits first-
degree murder. Individuals that believe in the death penalty believe that capital
punishment will deter murderers. In this paper, I will be arguing that the death penalty
does not deter criminals and that the United States should outlaw the practice.
Before I make my argument, I would like to provide some background information
regarding the death penalty to the readers. The idea of capital punishment was brought
over from Britain, when the founding fathers declared independence. Our ancestors
loved the idea of the death penalty, since it was a common part of life. Europeans gave
the death penalty for various crimes. The first recorded execution in America occurred
in Jamestown, 1608. A man named George Kendall was executed for treason. In the
earlier colonial days, laws regarding capital punishment varied area to area.
During the nineteen century, the death penalty changed dramatically. Around this time
the death penalty started to lose popularity. States no longer committed public
executions. All executions were done in private. Pennsylvania was the first state to
adopt this trend. Eventually some states abolished the death penalty all together. In
current times, fourteen out of fifty states no longer carry out the death penalty. These
states are Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North
Dakota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhone Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and
Wisconsin.

In addition, a series of cases regarding the death penalty went to the Supreme Court.
Many tried to argue that the death penalty violated the eighth amendments and that
capital punishment is cruel and unusual. In 1972, Furman v. Georgia successfully
brought an temporary end to the death penalty for ten years. Eventually the death
penalty was reinstated with the execution of Gary Gillmore on January 17, 1977.

As of today, the United States still practices capital punishment. However there are
limitations. For example, the government cannot execute the mentally handicap and is
not supposed to execute juveniles. The United States currently has six ways to execute,
lethal injection, electrocution, lethal gas, a firing squad and hanging. Methods will vary
state by state. Although the United States still practices the death penalty, executions
are declining, compare to the past, according to statistics.

Those that are for the death penalty claims that the death penalty will serve as a
deterrence and is the only way for retribution against murderers. Both issues are highly
debatable and have been a subject of criticism.

Punishment as a deterrence has been a goal for ages. This concept does work, but it
should not be applied to all criminals, in my opinion. Pro capital punishment individuals
claims that it is an efficient deterrence against criminals. In the article “Death penalty is
a deterrence”, the authors claims that by practicing the death penalty, violent crimes
will decrease. “violent crime has declined 11 percent, with murder showing the largest
decline at even more than 22 percent. We believe that this has occurred in part because
of the strong signal that the death penalty sent to violent criminals and murderer. [1]
These statistics taken from this article may be inaccurate and should be closely
examined. There is a huge amount of conflicting evidence from similar studies done
currently and in the past.

Retribution has also been a goal for punishment. Logically if a killer is put to death then
there would be no more killings. American society seems to favor retribution. An eye for
an eye has been a law for ages. In a pro death penalty article, the author believes that,
“When someone takes a life, the balance of justice is disturbed. Unless that balance is
restored, society succumbs to a rule of violence. Only the taking of the murderer’s life
restores the balance and allows society to show convincingly that murder is an
intolerable crime which will be punished in kind.” [2] This ideology has many flaws,
mainly with morality issues. For example, if the country is punishing one for killing, what
gives the country the right to kill?

Both articles’ fail to present any solid evidence that supports their thesis. “Death
penalty is a deterrence” had statistical information, but fail to present how the
information was obtained. Depending on the researcher’s information gathering
methods, the statistical information could have been different. For example “In an
article in the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, Dr. Jeffrey Fagan of Columbia
University describes numerous serious errors in recent deterrence studies, including
improper statistical analyses and missing data and variables that are necessary to give a
full picture of the criminal justice system. Fagan writes, “There is no reliable,
scientifically sound evidence that [shows that executions] can exert a deterrent
effect…. These flaws and omissions in a body of scientific evidence render it unreliable
as a basis for law or policy that generate life-and-death decisions.” [3] There needs to be
solid evidence in order to prove a theory. Those who claim that the death penalty is an
efficient deterrence fail to submit conclusive evidence, therefore as a critic, we should
dismiss the claim that the death penalty works as deterrence.

In addition, many studies seem to disprove the theory that the death penalty is a good
deterrence against violent crimes and murders. According to the Death Penalty
Information Center, states without the death penalty have had lower murder rates. In
their seventeen-year old study, states without the death penalty showed a 40%
decrease in murder rates. In regards to the article “Death penalty is a deterrence”, New
York has now abolished the death penalty and their murder rate has gone down
significantly compared to when the state was still practicing capital punishment. In fact,
in the first year that New York abolished the death penalty they saw a four percent
decrease in their murder rates.

The reason why the death penalty does not serve as deterrence is that offenders do not
believe they will be caught. Logically, no one would commit a murder, if one knew
he/she was to be executed. Deterrence is a psychological process. Therefore, if an
offender does not believe that a real risk is present, there will be no deterrence.

The death penalty as retribution no longer makes sense in our current society. By
executing an offender, our government, is sending subliminal messages regarding
murder. The point of capital punishment is because the United States government
wants to express that killing is an intolerable crime. By killing, an offender the
government is contradicting itself. In addition, the death penalty can be seen as
revenge. We are simply taking an eye for an eye. Two wrongs will not make a right.
Killing a murderer will not bring back the murdered. In the 21th century our criminals
laws should now reflect a higher standard that an eye for an eye.

In current times, the death penalty can no longer be claimed as an efficient form of
retribution. There are huge delays in carrying out the executions of an inmate. Statistics
show that there is over an eight-year wait before an execution can take place. In fact,
most death row inmates die of old age, before their execution sentence. California’s
death row is a great example. Since 1976, only thirteen inmates have been executed.
Currently there are around seven hundred inmates in California’s death row. If the trend
continues, that would mean most of the inmates would die of natural causes before
their execution sentence can be carried out.

Those that claim the death penalty as retribution fail to take notice of the execution
process in our criminal justice system. Legally an inmate is allowed to appeal his/her
case. Appealing is needed in the American criminal justice system because the process is
designed to protect against human errors. An average appeal can take over ten years.
There are simply not enough judges to response to all case reviews. For example, the
United States Supreme court receives thousands of case reviews annually, but because
there are only nine judges in the Supreme Court, only a handful of cases are reviewed.
For these reasons, the death penalty cannot be claim as an efficient form of retribution.

Since the death penalty is no longer an affected punishment, I purposed that we abolish
the practice in the United States. Throughout America’s history, many have tried to
abolish the death penalty. Many were successful in temporary abolishing the death
penalty, but most states reinstated the death penalty after judicial review. The most
current issue regarding the abolishment of the death penalty was Baze v. Rees. Baze V.
Rees, was an attack on the process of execution, specifically lethal injections. Baze
argues that lethal injections is a form of cruel and unusual punishment and went against
the constitution. That debate ultimately failed, since the judges ruled in favor of the
death penalty. “The trial court held extensive hearings and entered detailed Findings of
Fact and Conclusions of Law. It recognized that “[t]here are no methods of legal
execution that are satisfactory to those who oppose the death penalty on moral,
religious, or societal grounds, but concluded that the procedure “complies with the
constitutional requirements against cruel and unusual punishment”. [4] Baze V. Rees
was a good attempt in trying to abolish the death penalty, but ultimately was
unsuccessful because they were attacking the process not the problem. In addition, Baze
fail to show any solid evidence that lethal injections may cause pain.
In order to abolish the death penalty in the United States successfully, one would need
to make a case to the United States Supreme Court. One would need to submit a writ of
either certiorari, mandamus, or prohibition. In addition, one can appeal against the
death penalty. If the case were selected, then one would need to argue that the death
penalty is no longer a form of justice. The key to winning this case, in my opinion, is to
present solid and conclusive evidence. Show the nine justices, that the death penalty is
a waste of resources and unconstitutional.

Some may criticize that by abolishing the death penalty, crime rates will increase.
Studies have already shown that the death penalty will not deter criminals. Currently
there is no solid evidence that proves that the death penalty will deter criminals;
however, there is evidence showing that states with no death penalty has a lower
murder rate than states with the death penalty. In a recent examination, “researchers
concluded that the estimates claiming that the death penalty saves numerous lives are
simply not credible. In fact, researchers stated that using the same data and proper
methodology could lead to the exact opposite conclusion: that is, that the death penalty
actually increases the number of murders” [5] . Conclusive evidence such as the fact
should dispel any criticism regarding the death penalty and murder rates.

The death penalty should be abolish. Those that believe in the death penalty, failed to
make their case. There is no conclusive evidence that supports their claims. There is
evidence however that the death penalty is failing. Executing a death row inmate is no
longer an easy task. There can be long delays in the execution process. Inmates are
dying before their execution sentence can be carried out. For all the reasons stated
above, the United States of America should abolish the death penalty.