Essay Writing Skills

·        Why Essay writing is Important:

Being able to write a strong academic essay is a critical skill for college and university students. It is also a skill that will continue to serve you if you plan to go into an academic career or any field that involves persuasive or analytical writing. Essays serve as a tool to test the students' knowledge by assessing their arguments, analyses, and specific examples, as well as the conclusions they draw regarding the material covered in the course. When the students write an essay, they are actually trying to express themselves.

Constructing Your Academic Essay

1.     Create a clear thesis statement.

A thesis statement is one sentence that expresses the main idea of a research paper or essay, such as an expository essay or argumentative essay. It makes a claim, directly answering a question. 

Your thesis statement is the most important part of your essay. This is where you get to explain, in clear, concise terms, the main argument that you are planning to make in your essay. State your thesis in 1-2 sentences, then work on building an outline and essay that supports your thesis.

The thesis should be included toward the end of your introduction along with a brief outline of the evidence you will use to support your thesis.

 

2.     Make an Outline.

An outline provides a map of where to go with the essay. A well-developed outline will show what the thesis of the essay is, what the main idea of each body paragraph. Write a list of the most important points that you would like to touch on, in the order in which you plan to address them. The basic structure of your outline could look something like this:

Ø  Introduction

Ø  Body

Ø  Point 1, with supporting evidence

Ø  Point 2, with supporting evidence

Ø  Point 3, with supporting evidence

Ø  Counter-argument(s)

Ø  Your refutation of the counter-argument(s)

Ø  Conclusion

 

3.     Body of the Essay

Present your argument in detail. After the introduction comes the “body” of the essay. This is the main part of the essay, consisting of several paragraphs in which you present the major arguments and evidence in support of your thesis.

The content of this central part will probably contain ideas; explanations; evidence; relevant referencing; and relevant examples. It will be characterized by:

Ø  appropriate academic style;

Ø  interesting and engaging writing;

Ø  clarity of thought and expression,

Ø  sensible ordering of material, to support and the development of ideas and the development of argument.

 

4.     Supporting Details

Support each statement with examples, evidence, and an analysis. It’s not enough to simply make a claim. In order to make your argument convincing, you must provide concrete evidence and an analysis of the evidence. In each body paragraph, include a topic sentence (which is the main idea), evidence that supports the topic sentence, and an analysis of the evidence that links back to the thesis of the essay and the topic sentence of the paragraph. 

5.     Write an Introduction. 

Before you present the main body of your essay, you will need to provide a little background on the topic. It is often easiest to write the introduction after you have already drafted the rest of your essay. The intro doesn’t have to be an exhaustive overview – just enough information to help set the stage and tell the reader the basics of what they need to know. Your introduction should also include a clear summary of the main point of your essay, and a breakdown of how you plan to approach the topic

6.     Use Transitional Sentences.

Transition words are words like 'and', 'but', 'so' and 'because'. They show your reader the relationship between phrases, sentences or even paragraphs. Transition words make it easier for your readers to understand how thoughts and ideas are connected. Look for ways to segue from one paragraph to another in a smooth, logical way. You might accomplish this by starting each paragraph with a brief sentence that connects it with the topic of the previous one (or ending each paragraph with a sentence that links it to the next). 

 

7.     Cite your Sources

Cite your sources clearly and correctly. Any time you present information from another source, whether it’s a direct quote or a summary of someone else’s idea, it is vital that you identify the source. Follow the rules of the citation style that you are using to determine how to format each citation (e.g., with inline references, footnotes, or endnotes).

8.     Address Counter-Arguments.

In reasoning and argument mapping, a counterargument is an objection to an objection. Addressing alternative interpretations of the evidence will show that you have researched your topic thoroughly and allow you to present your case in a fair and balanced manner.

9.     Write a concluding paragraph. 

Once you have presented your arguments and evidence, tie everything together with a concise summary. State, in a clear and confident way, why you think that your argument successfully supports your thesis, and summarize a few of the key points or discoveries that you made.  A generic structure that you may find useful is:

Ø  a brief recap of what you have covered in relation to the essay title;

Ø  reference to the larger issue;

Ø  evaluation of the main arguments;

Ø  highlighting the most important aspects.

 

10.                       Create a bibliography.

 Your bibliography should contain a list of every source that you made reference to in the paper, however briefly. While the format of the bibliography will vary depending on the citation style you are using, each citation should include (at minimum):

Ø  The name of the author.

Ø  The title of the work.

Ø  The name of the publisher, and (usually) the place of publication.

Ø  The date of the publication.

 

2.   Types of Essay:

There are various opinions on how to categorize essays and how many types of essays there are. The simplest interpretation says that there are only four types of essays:

1. Narrative essays
2. Descriptive essays
3. Expository essays
4. Persuasive essays

I personally think this is a bit of an oversimplification. I also think there are overly complicated classifications of essays, so to keep things relatively simple, we’ll stick to these further types. Feel free to disagree with me if you like!

Descriptive Essays

The descriptive essay is a genre of essay that asks the student to describe something—object, person, place, experience, emotion, situation, etc. This genre encourages the student's ability to create a written account of a particular experience.

·         My favorite movie. Describe its plot and your favorite episode in the movie.

·         My favorite movie character. ...

·         The book I love the most. ...

·         The house of my dreams. ...

·         My best friend. ...

·         My first trip overseas. ...

·         My first memory

 

Definition Essays

A definition tells you what something is. Therefore, the definition must be extended to include examples, details, personal experience, description, causes, effects, analysis, etc. Above all, a definition essay must demonstrate a detailed account of your own opinion about the word or concept.

·         Kindness.

·         Sense of Humor.

·         Love.

·         Charisma.

·         Team Player.

·         Optimism.

·         Natural Beauty.

·         Respect.

Compare and Contrast Essays

 Compare and contrast essays are multi-paragraph compositions that explain ways in which two (or occasionally more) subjects are similar and different. In these essays, compare means describing similarities between the subjects.

·         Qualities of bad and good teachers;

·         Public vs private colleges;

·         Being famous or being wealthy;

·         Compare your current home and a house of your dreams;

·         Traditional vs online education;

 

Cause and Effect Essays

A cause and effect essay look at the reasons (or causes) for something, then discusses the results (or effects). For this reason, cause and effect essays are sometimes referred to as reason and result essays. They are one of the most common forms of organization in academic writing.

·         Parents' attitudes cause sibling rivalry.

·         An inferiority complex makes some women repeatedly get into destructive relationships.

·         Homelessness is caused by low morale.

 

Narrative Essays

When you write a narrative essay, you are telling a story. Narrative essays are told from a defined point of view, often the author's, so there is feeling as well as specific and often sensory details provided to get the reader involved in the elements and sequence of the story.

·         Something for the first time in your life. Everybody had this kind of shocking new experience.

·         My hero. ...

·         Hobbies. ...

·         Problem-solving. ...

·         Memorable journey. ...

·         Once-in-a-lifetime experience. ...

·         What if. ...

·         A funny real story.

 

Argumentative Essays

An argumentative essay is a type of essay that presents arguments about both sides of an issue. ... Counterargument: An argument to refute earlier arguments and give weight to the actual position. Conclusion: Rephrasing the thesis statement, major points, call to attention, or concluding remarks

·         Are girls too “mean” in their friendship? ...

·         Is competition really good? ...

·         Is buying a lottery ticket a good idea?

·         Is religion the cause of war?

·         Is fashion really important?

 

Expository Essay

An expository essay is a genre of writing which tends to explain, illustrate, clarify, or explicate something in a way that it becomes clear for readers. Therefore, it could be an investigation, evaluation, or even argumentation about an idea for clarification.

·         Compare and contrast.

·         Cause and effect.

·         Problem and solution.

·         Extended definition.

Persuasive Essays

A persuasive essay, also known as an argumentative essay, is a piece of academic writing where you use logic and reason to show that your point of view is more legitimate than any other. You must expose clear arguments and support them by convincing facts and logical reasons.

·         Effects of Pollution.

·         The Changes in the Ocean.

·         The Civil Rights Movement and the Effects.

·         Causes and Effects of the Popularity of Fast Food Restaurants.

·         Internet Influence on kids.

·         The popularity of Sports in US.

3.   The Seven Cs of Communication

According to the seven Cs, communication needs to be: clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete and courteous. In this article, we look at each of the 7 Cs of Communication, and we’ll illustrate each element with both good and bad examples.

1. Clear

When writing or speaking to someone, be clear about your goal or message. What is your purpose in communicating with this person? If you’re not sure, then your audience won’t be sure either. To be clear, try to minimize the number of ideas in each sentence. Make sure that it’s easy for your reader to understand your meaning. People shouldn’t have to “read between the lines” and make assumptions on their own to understand what you’re trying to say.

2. Concise

When you’re concise in your communication, you stick to the point and keep it brief. Your audience doesn’t want to read six sentences when you could communicate your message in three. Are there any adjectives or “filler words” that you can delete? You can often eliminate words like “for instance,” “you see,” “definitely,” “kind of,” “literally,” “basically,” or “I mean.”

3. Concrete

When your message is concrete, then your audience has a clear picture of what you’re telling them. There are details (but not too many!) and vivid facts, and there’s the laser-like focus. Your message is solid.

4. Correct

When your communication is correct, it fits your audience. And correct communication is also error-free communication.

·         Are all names and titles spelled correctly?

5. Coherent

When your communication is coherent, it’s logical. All points are connected and relevant to the main topic, and the tone and flow of the text are consistent.

6. Complete

In a complete message, the audience has everything they need to be informed and, if applicable, take action.

·         Have you included all the relevant information – contact names, dates, times, locations, and so on?

7. Courteous

Courteous communication is friendly, open, and honest. There are no hidden insults or passive-aggressive tones. You keep your reader’s viewpoint in mind, and you’re empathetic to their needs.

Note:

There are a few variations of the 7 Cs of Communication:

Credible – Does your message improve or highlight your credibility? This is especially important when communicating with an audience that doesn’t know much about you.

Creative – Does your message communicate creatively? Creative communication helps keep your audience engaged.

 

Conclusion:

All of us communicate every day. The better we communicate, the more credibility we’ll have with our clients, our boss, and our colleagues.

Use the 7 Cs of Communication as a checklist for all of your communication. By doing this, you’ll stay clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete, and courteous.