Essays

Rationale for Essays

• Developing writing skills; express your views about a topic; engage in critical
debates about your topic.
 What is an Essay?

• An essay is a piece of writing that explores a topic in

detail. Essays usually answer a given question.
• An essay is a short literary composition dealing with a
single subject.
• An essay is made up of several paragraphs.
• In developing paragraphs into essays you need to
realize that there are similarities between the basic
organization of a paragraph and that of an essay.
 Foundation for developing Essays
• Starts at the word level- good choice of words.
• Sentence level-construction of grammatically correct
sentences.
• Paragraph level-construction of a good paragraph:
should have a topic sentence: a sentence that has the
main idea, it identifies the paragraphs main idea.
• Essay level- Thesis statement: the main point of the
whole essay. It is usually composed of a group of topic
sentences.
• Both topic sentence and thesis statements are used by
writers to focus their ideas and express the main point
of their writing.
• Clincher: A sentence or limited group of sentences at
the end of the concluding paragraph.
• An effective clincher leaves the audience/reader with
a strong final impression of the essay.
• The clincher should relate to the overall purpose or
thesis (thesis statement) of the essay.
Types of essays
1. Descriptive essay
• Describes something (object, place,
experience, situation, subject, someone, etc.
by appealing to the readers’ senses: sight, feel,
taste, smell and sound.
• It gives readers the ability to vividly imagine
the situation or scene and feel as if they are
experiencing it first-hand.
• A descriptive essay can also describe what
something is, or how something happened
using many sensory details -keeping the reader
interested in the plot (what happens in a story)
and theme (the message he writer is trying to
convey) of the event described.
• Topic examples could be “The Lilongwe Flood
Disaster”, “LUANAR Innovation Day;” “The
Lecture Hall 3 at LUANAR City Campus.”
 Guidelines for Writing Descriptive
Essays
• Create a dominant impression (overall feeling about
the subject), such as causing the readers to
sympathize with you about a sad event that
happened or to agree with you strongly on a certain
controversial topic.
• Choose the details and descriptions that will help
accomplish the impression.
• Use comparisons. In order to help make the
descriptions even more vivid to the reader.
Similes/metaphors are more powerful
• Examples of Similes (comparison by using like
or as: “His emotional state was like a roller
coaster”; “Her smile was like a ray of sunlight
in the dark sea of unfamiliar faces.”
• Example of metaphors (directly compares one
thing to another for rhetorical effect): “All the
world’s is a stage, and all the men and women
merely players”. (William Shakespeare)
 2. Persuasive/argumentative Essay
• An argumentative essay makes a claim and then
gives examples and evidence to prove that point.
• It attempts to persuade the reader to the writer’s
point of view.
• The writer must choose a side and defend their side
of an argument, consider and refute alternative
arguments with examples or supporting evidence.
• Topic examples: “Money cannot buy love or
happiness”; “Anyone under 16 should not be
allowed to date”. “Advertising is a mind game.”
Guidelines for Writing Persuasive Essays
• Tell your reader what you believe about the
issue very clearly and specifically in your thesis
statement or controlling idea (it contains your
opinion about the topic).
• Use convincing details as evidence to support
your claim. These should be from credible and
reliable/reputable sources.
• Choose the most appropriate way of arguing
your point (inductive or deductive).
• Inductive - start with stating all the evidence
(data) and then move on to one conclusion.
• Deductive - start with one basic statement of
belief and move on to the supporting points of
evidence.
• Acknowledge opposing viewpoints to prove you
have thought about the topic thoroughly yet still
find that your point is correct. Dismissing them
completely will weaken the argument.
The graphic difference
 Inductive / Deductive Reasoning Quiz
• Generally, when food consumed contains more calories than
needed, the excess calories are stored as fat. Many
teenagers eat far more high calorie foods than their bodies
need. Consequently, many teenagers are overweight.
• All numbers ending in 0 or 5 are divisible by 5. The number
35 ends with a 5, so it must be divisible by 5.
3. Narrative Essays
• Narrative essays tell a story with a purpose of
creating a sense of shared history, providing
entertainment, insight and offering instruction.
• It allows you to express yourselves in a creative
and moving ways.
• For example: “My experience of using
SPSS/Moodle/Ms Excel at LUANAR.
Guidelines for Writing Narrative
Essays
• State the purpose in your thesis statement, or
controlling idea, and build upon it throughout the
essay by using examples, stories, and other details
that all relate back to the main idea.
• Involve readers in the story and create a visual
picture by using dialogue and physical
description.
• Make the story interesting and heighten suspense:
Use chronology (the order in which events
happened)
Flashbacks (interruption in story sequence, taking
the reader back to an earlier time/past/history)
flash-forward (interruption in story sequence,
taking the reader to the future.
Foreshadowing : Is used to give clues on what is to
happen later in the story (giving a hint that
something is going to happen).
• Examples of foreshadowing: ‘The boy noticed a dark spot
in the ceiling, but ignored it”. “ I told myself this is the end
of my trouble, but I didn’t believe myself”.
• Example of flashback: A mother remembers her murdered
child. While going to church, she remembers her child’s
birth, growing up and death.
• Example of flash forward: “She could not wait to become a
graduate, a Director of an NGO, establish a trust to pay
school fees for all needy students from her school…..”
 4. Critical Essay
• Analyses a book, film, article, or work of art, e.g. a painting,
etc.
• The goal is to offer an interpretation of some aspect. For
example, critical analysis of a book might focus on the tone
of the text, methods used to collect or analyze data (their
strengths and weaknesses).
• Example topics: “The strengths and weaknesses of the
Shannon’s Model of Communication;” “A critical review of
the Sustainable Development Goals”.
Guidelines for Writing Critical Essays
• A critical essay should include an argumentative thesis
about the text and plenty of textual evidence sources
to help support your interpretation of the text.
• An argumentative thesis takes a position, asserting
the writer’s stance. For example, Peanut butter and
jelly sandwiches are the best type of sandwich
because they are versatile, easy to make, and taste
good.
• Get to know the text/piece of art etc. inside and out
by reading and rereading it, observing (in case of a
piece of art), etc.
• Take notes of what is puzzling and provide solutions
that are research based.
 5. Compare and Contrast Essay
• Compares and contrasts two or more subjects and
show their similarities (comparisons) and their
differences (contrasts).
• One way to write this type of essay would be to
choose two or more objects, events, experiences, or
ideas and compare and contrast them according to a
few specific points.
Guidelines for Writing Compare and
Contrast Essays
• Have a clear purpose and a main point (to express
ideas, to inform, to persuade, etc.).
• Make sure your subjects have something specific on
which you can base your comparison and contrast.
• Your thesis statement, or controlling idea, should
identify whether you will be talking about similarities,
differences, or both.
• Decide the order that best suits your essay. The two
main ways you can choose to organize a comparison
and/or contrast essay are:
 • Point – by – point organization: Switching back and forth
between the subjects (comparing/contrasting them)
according to several main points within each paragraph.
• Subject – by – subject organisation: Writing about all the
main points of one subject in one paragraph and then
writing about all the main points of another subject, in
the subsequent paragraph and so on, referring back to
the other subject(s) in a comparing/contrasting way.
• Have a sufficient number of significant characteristics
and details. Give an equal amount to all sides
Reference: Lecture Notes p.45
Examples
• Point by point:
Paragraph 1: (Compare) Apples and oranges are both
tree fruits often grown commercially in large orchards.
(Contrast) However, apples grow in every climate and
oranges need tropical temperatures to produce fruit.
Paragraph 2: (Compare) Although both fruits can be
juiced, (contrast) apples are pressed and only the juice
is bottled while both pulp and juice is squeezed from
oranges.
Example:
• Subject by subject
Paragraph 1: Apples are a tree fruit that is often grown
commercially in large orchards. As well as eaten from
the tree, apples are also pressed in to apple juice or
crushed and processed in to applesauce.
Paragraph 2: Oranges are also a tree fruit, often grown
commercially in large orchards. Like apples, they can be
eaten from the tree, squeezed into juice or processed in
to orange sauce.
• The first paragraph the subject is apples and the
second is oranges.
Last paragraph: Compare and contrast points discussed
in paragraphs one and two). One big difference
between apples and oranges is the way they are
processed. Notice that while apples are pressed for
juice, orange juice is squeezed from the orange.
Another difference is that while apple juice contains
only the liquid pressed from the apple, orange juice
may also contain the pulp form of the orange.
Although applesauce contains the pureed pulp of pared
apple, orange sauce may contain bits of orange rind as
well as the pulp of the fruit.
6. Expository/ Process Essay
• Essays that explain or describe something with facts.
• They present facts and not opinions.
• The process essay explains to the audience how to do
something or how to complete a task.
• It generally explains actions that should be done in a
series. It can explain in detail how to accomplish a
specific task, it can show how an individual came to a
certain personal awareness.
• The assay could be in form of systematic (step-by-
step) instructions, or in a story form, with the
instructions/explanations subtly given along the way.
7. Cause/Effect essays: Are concerned with
why things happen (causes) and what happens as
a result (effects).
8. Definition Essay: Defines a word, term, or
concept in depth by providing a personal
commentary on what the specific subject
means.
Organisation of an Essay
I. Parts of an Essay
A. Title (topic):
• It is the name of your written work that you as a
writer normally chooses, but sometimes it is assigned
to you
• A title is used to identify the work,
• to place the work in context,
• To convey a minimal summary of the contents of the
work
• And to arouse the readers curiosity
Analysing the Title
• Core question: should contain the question the
essay should answer.
• Issue of debate: a title that allows you to
debate issues relevant to your subject.
• Research evidence: availability of published
research to support the topic
• Simple: avoid long; complex; using several
questions; quotations must be short followed
by a typical assignment question.
• Some Tips:
• Avoid general topics: such as “Malawi”
• Avoid abbreviations
• Avoid repetition of words (short and catchy)
• Punctuations: Avoid full stops, double or more
question marks; explore use of a colon.
Characteristics of a good title
• It should predict the contents of the essay/ work
• It should be interesting to the reader
• It should reflect the tone of the writing
• It should contain important keywords
• It should be short enough (not more than 15 words)
Practice: What are the weaknesses or strengths of
these titles?
• Reptiles
• ‘The world is a safer place than it has ever been.’ J.K. Moody
(2008). Is this really true?
• The negative effects of violence on television.
• Describe how ICTs work?
• What are the main changes in the use of technology within the
British home during the twentieth century/ What was the
incentive behind the innovation? Who promoted change? Did
these affect women differently from men? What forces have
hindered change.
• Dead Aid: Why aid is not working and how there is a
better way for Africa.
• Winner Takes it All: China’s race for resources and
what it means for the world.
• Dr. Dambisa Moyo
• The Earthquake that Occurred in Karonga in the Year
2010
• Describe the House in which You Grew up
• A dream
• In the dark world
• In the dark world: A book review
• Wonders of the Ancient World
• Nyika the Most Beautiful Plateau
• The Nyika Plateau of Malawi
• Mother Teresa Vs. Osama Bin Laden
• Improved cattle Breeds have more benefits over local
breeds
• The benefits of improved Cattle Breeds over Local
Breeds
• The road accident
• The 2017 Lilongwe Market Fire Accident
• Comparing northern region and southern region tree
availability
• Comparing the value of Miombo Trees in the Northern and
Southern Regions of Malawi
• Gender based violence on women
• Causes of Gender Based Violence on Women: A case of
Mitundu.
• Analysis of Malawian Wedding
• Analysis of Malawian Ngoni Traditional Wedding Ceremony
• It is better to insure the mandasi business to be safe
from risks.
• Insurance of Mandasi Business in Zomba: A
necessity?
• My experience of having multiple partners
• My Experience of Poultry Business Partnership
• Compare and contrast note taking and note making
• A Comparison of Notetaking and Note making in
Study Skills
 B. Introduction
• The introduction establishes the context and gives
the reader background information necessary for
undertaking meaning, relevance and importance of
the topic.
• Some guidelines on how you can make the
beginning of your essay interesting to your readers:
1. Begin with an attention grabber: this helps to take
the pressure off from the reader; attracts the
attention of the reader; hooks the reader; and gives
him/her some context for the essay. Attention
grabber can be more than one sentence.
2. If the attention grabber was only a sentence or two,
add one or two more sentences that will lead the
reader from your opening to your thesis statement.
3. Finish the paragraph with your thesis statement.
 Attention Grabbers:
• Startling information- This information must be true
and verifiable (fact) and it does not need to be totally
new to your readers. It could simply be a pertinent fact
that explicitly illustrates the point you wish to make.
• If you use a piece of startling information, follow it with
a sentence or two of elaboration.
• For example: Patience obviously pays. After standing in
the queue for almost four hours, I contemplated about
leaving the audition hall as many people left. Suddenly,
a man came and announced that they had hired a
number of judges in order to speed up the interviews.
• An Anecdote- is a story that illustrates a point. Be sure your
anecdote is short, to the point and relevant to your topic.
This can be a very effective opener for your essay, but use it
carefully.
• E.g. John felt confused! Many times, he failed to understand
why he does not perform well during examinations when he
is always very attentive in class. Many students who make
noise or play with their phones in class do well. Fortunately,
one day he got the answer. Jane told him that he does not
read his notes throughout the semester, but waits until
examination time because he is over confident.
• Dialogue- An appropriate dialogue does not have to
identify the speakers but the reader must
understand the point you are trying to convey.
• Use only two or three exchanges between speakers
to make your point. Follow the dialogue with a
sentence or two of elaboration.
 Dialogue…
• “You cannot afford two girl friends.” He said to his
friend. “Why not? I have money and a good car. I
have also completed my studies.” He retorted to
his friend. “I think you are misled.” Many young
men these days lead reckless lives because of
money. However, they forget that having more
than one sexual partner can expose them to HIV.
• Other attention grabbers :
• Quote “No challenge poses a greater threat to future
generations than climate change” (Obama, 2015).
• Definition:
• Question: Why have there been no great women artists?

Refer to the LDC 121 Lecture notes for further reading on

this topic