Essays

Guidelines for Successful Essays © Essays Essays express opinions, develop ideas in a coherent fashion in order to inform readers, entertain them or simply to discuss a topic. The name derives from ‘essayer’ in French which means ‘to try,’ therefore, it means ‘deneme’ in Turkish. The name implies a rather personal and informal kind of writing but academic essays are always expected to be quite formal in tone and language. So, don’t use contractions, abbreviations, slang or very colloquial words in your essays. Don’t start sentences with ‘but’,’because’, and ’and.’ Other stylistic issues will be dealt with in the following paragraphs. Paragraphs are not independent units of writing. That is to say, they do not exist on their own, but together they make up an essay. A paragraph is supposed to explain only one idea. That comprises the unity and cohesion in a paragraph. Every paragraph has a topic sentence. The topic sentence expresses the main idea of the paragraph. The topic sentence is generally found in the first sentence of the paragraph. Organization and structure of an essay. A standard essay consists of five paragraphs. Introduction, three body (or developmental) paragraphs and the conclusion. The introduction should introduce the topic directly, without beating around the bush. There should be a thesis statement giving the main idea of the whole essay in the introductory paragraph. The thesis statement may consist of more than one sentence and it is usually found at the end of the introduction. The thesis statement ought to be stated clearly and, if possible, with because clauses in order to make it complete. Each body paragraph needs to illustrate and support one point expressed in the thesis statement in the order they are given in the thesis. Specific and representative examples that support what you are saying are essential to body paragraphs. Also, it is very important to make a connection between each point in order to have a cohesive and coherent essay. To do that, you should use transition words and linking sentences at the end of paragraphs as well as at the beginning of the next one. The conclusion serves the purpose of wrapping things up, summarizing what has been said in slightly different terms to avoid repetition. However, it is also terribly important not to introduce any new ideas or offer solutions or so-called ‘opinions’ all of a sudden. Remember, it is too late to start a new discussion at this point. Here, you just want to give a sense of closure to your readers as well as present a fully-developed, cohesive, independent unit of writing, called an essay. The language, tone and style of your essay are as important as the organization and structure. These are usually set by factors such as audience, purpose and type of the essay. The audience can be real or imaginary, your peers or only your teacher (especially in essay exams). They may be assumed to be educated or laymen, academic or general. The purpose of the essay can be to inform or entertain the reader, to discuss an idea from different perspectives, to share experiences, or persuade people about a topic. Depending on the purpose, there are many different types of essays, which will be explained below. First, let me point out a few general stylistic rules of thumb that might be helpful. Always avoid generalizations and cliches. Don’t use pat phrases like, ‘since the dawn of history’, or ‘all throughout the history of makind’, or ‘since the beginning of time’, or ‘since the industrial revolution’ or ‘recently’, or ‘nowadays’, or ‘in today’s world’, or ‘lately, there has been much heated debate’. Don’t forget that they are so general that they have lost all meaning and they only serve to annoy the overworked writing teacher/corrector who heard it all before for the zillionth time. Use simple, clear, direct, to-the-point and short sentences. The aim is to communicate your meaning in the most succinct and economic way possible. Don’t use passive voice unless it is really necessary. Go right in to the topic you want to discuss. Don’t forget, there are time and space limitations in writing essays, unlike longer types of writing assignments such as reports, projects or research papers. So, use your time and space efficiently. Employ concrete and specific language. Stay away from generic adjectives like ‘good’, ‘nice’, ‘bad’. Choose specific verbs instead of forms of the verb ‘to be’ or ‘do’ or ‘say’. Don’t use abstractions such as human beings, mankind or humankind. These abstractions cannot perform acts. They are concepts, so when you use them as the subject of a sentence like ‘mankind has always communicated with different tools’, it sounds very awkward and meaningless. Use ‘people’ instead. This solves the sexism issue as well. You always need to be wary of sexist, discriminatory, biased language against women, ethnic minorities, other religions and all sorts of other types of differences in order to be an objective, credible, responsible and politically correct writer, all of which is very important to establish your own voice as an independent, critical thinker/writer writing in a foreign language. Also, maintain a focused and narrow viewpoint throughout the essay. Don’t get side-tracked. Be consistent in your perspective. Use a logical sequencing of ideas. Some very common types of essays are narration, description, process, classification, definition, problem-solving, comparison and conrast, cause and effect, and argumentation. These types can be found integrated into one essay, too. Especially, as they become more complicated in structure, essays tend to incorporate one, two or three easier types in them. For instance, narrations and descriptions often go together. Problem-solving, or definition essays can make use of narration, description, process or classification. Comparison-contrast, cause and effect, and argumentative essays can use all of the above. Especially arguments, being the most complicated type of essay, can employ comparison and causal relationships in order to make a persuasive argument. 1. Narration—Tells a story or anecdote to illustrate a point or to report events. A significant account of events is very useful to give insight to the readers about yourself or about your subject matter. It is an elementary form of writing that is incorporated in most other forms of essays. Usually a chronological narration is preferred as it is the easiest. Point of view, context and selection of details in the descriptions are important elements of narrative essays. 2. Description—It conveys our perceptions of the outside world through words. The words should be carefully and specifically chosen to depict something in its entirety, to create a picture in the readers’ minds. There are two types of descriptions: objective description and subjective description. Generally, they are both employed to paint an overall picture. The aim can be to inform, to entertain or give pleasure to readers. Creating a mood or atmosphere, that is to say, to make a dominant impression, is as important here as it is in narration. 3. Process Analysis—A process is a series of specific and definite stages or steps that lead to a certain finished product or event. This process is told in clear, precise steps so that the reader can understand the making of something in order to either repeat it himself/herself or be informed about it. There are two types of processes: directional process analysis, and informational process analysis. Directional process is usually a set of simple and short instructions to lead the reader to do it. User manuals, handbooks are examples of this type of process. Informational processes aim to give information on complex subjects like how the brain functions, how the electoral system works, how weather patterns change and so on. Use of transitional words and sequencers like first, second, then, next, finally, during, after, etc. is very important. 4. Classification—It sorts items into groups or categories in order to make it easier to understand them. Here, the most important thing is finding a principle of classification according to which individual items are grouped together. It aims to make complex subjects more manageable, help readers make choices. 5. Definition—It tries to define controversial ideas or terms difficult to define because of their evasiveness, worn-out usage and subjectivity such as freedom, friendship, democracy, courage and so on. Types of definition used here are: formal or dictionary definition, synonymous definition, negative definition, etymological definition and stipulative definition that defines a term in a rather unexpected or special sense. Also extended definition can be used in this type of essay by giving examples, descriptions, processes, and comparisons. 6. Problem-Solution—There are three types: 1.Stresses the problem, 2. Stresses the solution, 3. Equally stresses the problem and the solution. The first type is preferred when the problem is too complex to offer a solution in an essay. The second type is used when you want to propose a solution or set of solutions to a problem that you feel strongly about. The third type is employed when they are equally important and weighty. 7. Comparison-Contrast—It points out similarities and differences between two things, places, people or phenomena. It is important to choose two related items in order to find a basis of comparison (controlling idea) and three points to compare them according to. There are two methods of comparison: Block method (Intro, A (1,2,3), B (1,2,3), Conclusion) and point by point method (Intro, 1 (A, B), 2 (A, B), 3 (A, B), Conclusion). Use transitional words to express similarities and dissimilarities. 8. Cause/Effect—Tries to establish a causal relationship between events. It is important to create a causal chain so that they are all connected and do not stand out on their own as unrelated reasons or effects. Usually, either the causes or the effects are dealt with in one-page essays. Transitional words are important here, too to provide the link between causes/effects and to make a smooth transition between paragraphs. 9. Argument—It is the most important and most complex type of essay, because it involves reasoning and developing ideas logically, supporting them emotionally and being a credible writer by using objective, unbiased language. The aim is to persuade the readers, so the subject matter is always something controversial and the writer always takes a side to make a claim about. It is important to add an additional body paragraph (so you have 6 paragraphs in total) to summarize and refute opposing viewpoints. (Argumentation/For/Against, Pro/Con, Persuasive). These are some other names by which this type of essay is known. Suggested Topics 1. narrate an experience that gave you a new awareness about yourself/tell about your greatest success./tell about your biggest failure. 2. describe your earliest childhood memory you have of your bedroom./describe your most treasured childhood possession and tell why it was significant for you. 3. describe how to make it to class or to work on time in the rush hour./describe how to work with a difficult person./ describe how to bungee jump. 4. classify yadyok reading materials./ classify Turkish pop music./classify tv programs. 5. define patriotism./ define morality./ define pornography./ define love. 6. propose solutions to bigotry in the society./ discuss the problem of and propose solutions to globalization and the cultural erosion it brings. 7. compare two presidents of Turkey./ compare knowledge and understanding. 8. discuss the effects of staying up too late./ discuss the causes of teen suicides. 9. agree or disagree: should children be disciplined by physical punishment?/ should sex education be taught in public schools?/ should government employees such as police officers or firefighters have the right to strike? Pre-Writing Techniques They are used in order to generate ideas, clear your mind about the topic and narrow it down for the scope of an essay. 1. Brainstorming 2. Classical Invention 3. Cubing 4. Clustering (Idea Mapping/ Branching) 5. Freewriting 6. Looping 7. Journal Writing 8. Listing 9. Reporter’s Formula (Wh- Questions) 10. Outlining 11. Synthesizing