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: G1222, Writing IV
: 2006
: v 1.0 rev 1
Module 2
Elements in Essay
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What’s inside
• The ten elements of essay
• Some style of writings
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In this section you’ll learn:
• Identifying essays based on the elements
contained in the essay.
• Identifying some style in writing specific essays
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General
What is an Essay?
• An essay is a form of composition in which the
writer analyzes or interprets a subject, usually
involving the personal interpretation of the
writer.
• Essays should not be confused with research
papers. These two forms do have similar
structure and they can overlap, but they have
different purposes; the essay, analyzes /
interprets, while a research paper presents
the results of research.
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1) Choosing a Topic
•
If your topic is assigned, you'll likely need to focus on a specific area or
aspect of the topic in order to make it suitable for an essay of whatever the
assigned length is.
•
If you have free choice of topics, then there are certain things to consider.
First of all, think about what interests you. There a few things more dull than
trying to write a decent essay about a topic that bores you. (This is
something to consider when narrowing down an assigned topic, as well.)
•
Next, see what resources are available. If all you have is the school library
for research, go there and see what books they have. You can't write an
essay about Hallowe'en customs in Ireland if there aren't any books about
Hallowe'en or Ireland. Choose your topic based on what research material
you can get.
•
The other thing to consider is length. You need to pick a topic that will
provide enough material to fill however many pages you've been assigned,
but that won't provide so much material that you have difficulty deciding
what to leave out (these considerations can often be resolved by
broadening or narrowing the topic).
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2) Three-Part Structure
The three-part structure of essays -- introduction, body, conclusion -goes like this:
• tell the reader what you're going to say
• say it
• summarize what you've said
1. Introduction: a paragraph stating how you've chosen to examine a
topic, and a general idea of what importance they might have
2. Body (paragraph about the significance of the topic)
- paragraph x
- paragraph y
- paragraph z
3. Conclusion: a paragraph summarizing the general significance of
the topic, and why you think they're important
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3) Introduction
• Essentially, an introduction introduces the topic of the
essay.
1. Consider what a reader needs to know in order to
understand what you are writing about.
2. Are there details of time and place that are
important?
• Another function of the introduction is to capture the
reader's attention, so they will want to continue reading.
There are a number of ways to do this; some of the most
effective devices are a quote from a famous person that
relates to your topic, a compelling description or scene,
startling statistics, or a question. Anything that will
interest a reader and involve them in the topic is good.
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4) The Thesis Statement
The thesis statement is a sentence (or rarely, a couple
of sentences) that states the subject of the essay, and
shows the division of that subject into the subtopics you
will be discussing (usually in the order they will appear
in the essay). If, for example, you are writing an essay
that will have three body paragraphs, each with its own
subtopic, you should mention those three things in your
thesis statement.
Example:
"In William Shakespeare's play The Tempest, Prospero is surrounded
by significant symbols; three of the most compelling are the strange
books of magic, the bestial creature Caliban, and the fairy Ariel."
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Transitions (cont.)
• Transitions create a thread between paragraphs,
so your reader isn't lost or jarred when moving
from one idea/paragraph to the next. A transition
is simply a sentence, or part of a sentence, that
connects the material in one paragraph to that in
the next. This creates a smooth read and makes
your material seem to make more sense.
• The transition may be part of the concluding
sentence of one paragraph, or it may be part of
the introductory sentence of the next paragraph.
You could even have a transition that is partly in
one paragraph's conclusion and partly in the
next paragraph's introduction.
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6)Attention Getter
An attention getter is to capture the
reader's attention, so they will want to
continue reading. There are a number
of ways to do this. Some of the most
effective devices are:
•
•
•
•
a quote from a famous person that relates to your topic,
a compelling description or scene,
startling statistics, or a question.
anything that will interest a reader and involve them in
the topic is good.
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7. Body
Good ways to organize and essay body include:
•
•
•
•
chronological
cause and effect
least important to most important
simplest to most complicated
Separate Ideas
When writing the body of your essay, keep in mind that each new idea
(or related group of ideas) should be in a new paragraph.
Support the Thesis
When you're trying to decide what information to include in your essay,
and what to leave out, you really only need to consider one thing: does
the information support your thesis statement?
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8) Conclusion
• The conclusion must summarize or tie together the main
points of the essay.
• If there is a part of your essay that won't fit into this
summarizing/tying together, then you need to seriously
consider whether that part really belongs in the essay.
• The conclusion is where you show the reader that all the
different things you've written about in your essay are
part of one larger topic, or lead to a final result, or
otherwise belong in the same piece of writing. If there
are any loose ends in your essay, any threads or
thoughts that don't quite attach to the whole yet, tie these
up in the conclusion.
• If you posed any questions or problems in your
introduction, then you must address those questions or
problems again in the conclusion
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9) Concluding Statements
Generally, it works best to use your clincher or thought-provoker as
your concluding statement. Whatever you put in the final sentence of
your essay, make sure it will somehow remind the reader of what
they have just read. You may choose to end quietly, perhaps with
some simple statement of fact that sums everything up; or you may
choose to end boldly, with an extravagant quote or a loud
proclamation of opinion. Whether you end with a whisper or a bang,
remember that in writing last things have power--choose your final
words carefully and give your reader something to think about.
Example of a concluding sentence:
"By examining Ariel's symbolic qualities, it can be seen that this
fairy creature represents the positive side of Prospero's power;
and if Ariel is angelic, Caliban is equally demonic."
Notice how the first part of the sentence sums up the topic (Ariel as a symbol in
The Tempest), while the second part of the sentence ties the paragraph's topic
into the topic of the next paragraph (Caliban as a symbol).
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10) References
There are several ways to make references:
1.
2.
3.
The simplest way to mention sources,is to mention them in the
text. For example: Ariel first appears in Act I, Scene II of The
Tempest, when Prospero calls out, "Come away, servant, come: I
am ready now; Approach, my Ariel; come."
The usual way to write multiple-source essays in
university/college is to use parenthetical references. This simply
means enclosing the references in parentheses after the specific
bit of information that needs the reference. Some of the
information will still fall in the writing itself, but the details are out
of the way.
For any essay in which you use more that one source, you should
include a bibliography. The specific arrangement of information
within the bibliography can vary somewhat--use whatever format
your teacher specifies. Include in your bibliography every source
that you mentioned in the text of your essay. If your essay was
about a specific literary work, include that, too.
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