What precisely is an essay? The most useful definition is that in Webster's New
International Dictionary:
"A short literary composition dealing with a single subject, usually from a personal point
of view, and permitting a considerable freedom of style and method".
There are several methods, or rather patterns that you may use in writing your essay. But
before making up your mind about the methods it seems reasonable that you make a rough plan
of your essay and divide it into Introduction, Development, and Conclusion.
1. Introduction
The subject of your essay should be presented to the reader in the way that you think is
most likely to make him want to read to the end. The main purpose of Introduction is to
present a thesis statement, a sentence explaining the controlling idea of the essay. The
thesis statement will usually be the last sentence in the introductory paragraph.
2. Development or Body paragraphs supporting the thesis statement.
Each paragraph should be complete and unified, with its own topic sentence that supports
the thesis statement in the introduction. One effective way to support your thesis statement is to
give examples that either illustrate or prove your main points.
To be effective, the examples you choose must be specific (creating pictures in the minds
of your readers), appropriate (directly relating to the controlling idea) and representative
(describing a typical experience to prove the point).
Make sure you keep body paragraphs distinct: each one has its own main idea and
does not repeat information from other body paragraphs.
3. Conclusion - the last paragraph that summarises the controlling idea of your thesis
statement. This can be short, but it should be more than one sentence.
Conclusions leave the reader with some final thoughts (but not new ideas) on the main
idea and the supporting points. Like introductions, conclusions are typically more general than
body paragraphs because they move away from the specific topic and shift toward the reader's or
the writer's life.
The flow in a typical essay is from general (introduction) to specific (the body) and
back to general (the conclusion).
The fundamental qualities of effective prose are unity, coherence, emphasis and variety.
Unity and coherence in sentences help to make ideas logical and clear, emphasis makes them
forceful, variety lends interest.
Guidelines on Unity
1.
Write unified logical sentences. Bring into a sentence only related thoughts,
use two or more sentences for thoughts that are not closely related. Make sure that the
ideas in each sentence are related and that the relationship is immediately clear to the
reader.
Unrelated: Yesterday Ted sprained his ankle, and he could not find his chemistry notes
anywhere.
Related: Accident-prone all day yesterday, Ted not only sprained his ankle but also lost
his chemistry notes.
2.
Do not allow excessive detail to obscure the central thought of the sentence.
Bring into a sentence only pertinent details. Omit tedious details and irrelevant side remarks.
Parallel structure, rhythm, careful punctuation and well-placed connectives can bind a sentence
into a perfect unit.
Guidelines on emphasis.
Select words and arrange the parts of the sentence, as well as sentences in paragraphs, to
give emphasis to important ideas. Since ideas vary in importance expression of them should vary
in emphasis. In most types of writing, word order may be changed to achieve emphasis without
losing naturalness of expression.
1. Gain emphasis by placing important words at the beginning or end of the sentence especially at the end.
2. Since semicolons, sometimes called weak periods, are strong punctuation marks, words
placed before and after a semicolon have an important position.
3. Gain emphasis by using the active voice instead of passive voice.
Unemphatic
Little attention is being paid to cheap, nutritious foods by the average shopper.
Emphatic
The average shopper is paying little attention to cheap, nutritious foods.
4. Gain emphasis by abruptly changing sentence length. The short sentence, which abruptly
follows a much longer one, is emphatic.
5. A question in your narration will also call the attention of your reader.
Guidelines on variety
1. Vary the structure and the length of your sentences to make your whole composition
pleasing and effective.
2. Avoid a long series of sentences beginning with the subject. Vary the beginning.
- an adverb or an adverb clause
- a prepositional phrase or a participial phrase
- a conjunction such as and, but, or, nor, for, or yet.
Guidelines on Coherence
1. Give unity to the paragraph by making each sentence contribute to the central thought.
Do not make rambling statements that are only vaguely related to your topic. As you
write a paragraph, every statement should pertain to its main idea.
2. Give coherence to the paragraph by so interlinking the sentences that the thought flows
smoothly from one sentence to the next. Provide transitions between paragraphs as well as
between sentences. Link sentences by using such transitional expressions as the
following:
Addition: moreover, further, furthermore, besides, and, and then, likewise, also, nor,
again, in addition, equally important, next, in the first place, in the second place, finally,
Comparison: similarly, likewise, in like manner
Contrast: but, yet, and yet, however, still, nevertheless, on the other hand, on the
contrary, even so, notwithstanding, for all that, in contrast to this, at the same time,
although this may be true, otherwise
Place: here, beyond, nearby, opposite to, adjacent to, on the opposite side
Purpose: to this end, for this purpose, with this object
Result: hence, therefore, accordingly, consequently, thus, thereupon, as a result, then
Summary, repetition, exemplification, intensification: to sum up, in brief,
on the whole, in sum, in short, in other words, that is, to be sure, as
has been noted, for example, for instance, in fact, indeed, to tell the truth, in any
event.
Time: meanwhile, at length, soon, after a few days, in the meantime, afterward, later.
3. Arrange the sentences of the paragraph in a clear, logical order. There are several
common, logical ways to order the sentences in a paragraph. The choice of an appropriate order
depends on the context and on the writer's purpose.
Perhaps the simplest and most common order is time order. Other types of paragraphs
often have a time element that makes a chronological arrangement both possible and natural. For
example, in explaining a process - how something is done or made - the writer can follow the
process through, step by step.
Passages that have no evident time order can sometimes be arranged in space order, in
which the paragraph moves from east to west, from near to distant, from left to right, and so on.
This order is used especially in descriptive writing.
Another good arrangement of sentences is in the order of climax. Here the least important
idea is stated first, and the others are given in order of increasing importance.
Sometimes the movement within the paragraph may be from the general to the
particular, from the particular to the general, or from the familiar to the unfamiliar. A paragraph
may begin with a general statement or idea, which is then supported by particular details.
Reversing the process, it may begin with
4. To make your writing coherent, you should avoid needless shifts in grammatical
structures, in tone or style, and in viewpoint. Abrupt, unnecessary shifts -for example, from past
to present, from singular to plural, from formal diction to slang, from one perspective to another
- tend to obscure a writer's meaning and thus to cause needless difficulty in reading.
To make your writing easy to read and to understand you should first of all be logical in the
way you present your ideas. You should use only the reasonable proof to support your
arguments.
There are several common errors in reasoning (fallacies) that people make when they
present arguments. By being aware of these fallacies and checking your arguments carefully, you
should be able to avoid making errors that will cause your readers to distrust your arguments.
KINDS OF LOGICAL FALLACIES
1. False Cause Fallacy
The post hoc fallacy occurs when people assume that just because one event follows
another, the first event was the cause of the second.
For example, suppose you observe a young child entering the yard belonging to people who
have a big dog. You cannot see the child once the gate closes. Soon after the child enters the yard
you hear him crying. If you assume, without seeing what happened, that the child is crying
because the dog bit him or frightened him, you make an error in thinking called the false cause
fallacy. It is very possible that the child tipped entering the yard or that another child frightened
or hurt him. The conclusion was reached using wrong evidence.
2. Hasty generalisation
Coming to quick conclusion without having adequate evidence is a frequent and hazardous
error in reasoning. This kind of thinking error leads to prejudice and can destroy human
relations.
People often make hasty generalisations when they find themselves in cultures different
from their own. People tend to assume that what they experience in a new situation is the
common experience in that situation. What they experience, however, may be the exception to
the rule.
3. False analogy
An analogy is a comparison made to make the point clearer. Analogies compare two things
that are basically unlike each other, but that have some important characteristics in common. A
fallacy takes place, however, when a person compares two things that are similar only in
unimportant ways, and concludes that because of these similarities, the two things are alike in
other ways.
4. Circular argument
People also reach unsupported conclusions when they use circular reasoning. A person using
circular reasoning repeats the same thing in different words rather than giving effective proof for
a conclusion. Instead of giving evidence to prove a point, the person using this kind of faulty
reasoning merely repeats the point. The following statement is the example of circular reasoning.
The death penalty for drug pushers is the answer to the drug problem in the United States;
therefore, every state should enforce a death penalty for those convicted of selling drugs and
there will be no more drug problem in the country.
Notice that there is no proof given that the death penalty is actually a deterrent to those who
sell drugs. The statement merely says it is. No thinking person will be convinced by this
argument. If the point that the writer is trying to make is a valid one, the evidence that proves
this point must be carefully outlined for the reader. Only then will a thoughtful reader be
convinced by the argument.
5. Misuse of Authority
It is easy to be mislead by "authorities" who are really not authorities at all. Incompetent
authorities include celebrities selling products about which they have no more knowledge than
the average person. It is also a misuse of authority to quote a person who does know a great deal
about a subject, but who is extremely biased. Quoting biased "authorities" will make your
evidence biased and, therefore, unconvincing to your audience.
6. Card stacking
Card stacking occurs when writers use only data that support their arguments and fail to use
that which is contrary to their points of view. Although the facts that the writers employ may be
both pertinent and correct, if they present only one side of the picture, they do not form a good
argument. They deceive the reader.
As you prepare to write an essay of persuasion, you will want to make a list of all the
arguments against the position you are taking, as well as all the arguments for your point of
view. If you were to use only those arguments on the "for" side, you would be "stacking the
cards" in your favour. As your reader thinks of the unmentioned reasons why your point of view
may have disadvantages, you will begin to lose your argument for the reader.
It is much more effective to include a discussion of the main arguments against your point of
view, then show how these arguments are not as important as those that support your position.
7. Either/or (black/white) fallacy
When thinking about complex issues, some people fall into a pattern of thought that assigns
only two sides to every issue - good and bad, or right and wrong. Complex issues cannot be
simplified in this way. A writer who oversimplifies complex issues is not respected by readers.
This error in thinking, called the either-or fallacy, causes people to assume that there are only
two sides to as issue; that it must be either this way or that way, with no alternatives. There are
very few so-called black and white situations or issues.
8. Stereotypes
Stereotypes are formed when people use knowledge about one or two members of a
particular race, country, or religion to generalise about the entire group.
Stereotypes about people in the United States.
People from the United States are: outgoing, friendly, informal hard working disrespectful
of authority racially prejudiced not knowledgeable about other countries always in a hurry.
These words and phrases are stereotypes of a nation of people. This nation, like all other
nations, is made up of many different kinds of people; therefore, while the words and phrases
may apply to some people from this country, they certainly do not apply to all people from the
United States.
It is not logical to make a general statement about anything based on just one or two
examples; therefore, to form general ideas about groups of people based on one or two examples
is illogical reasoning.
To revise your essay you may find it useful to answer the following questions:

Is the content of your essay appropriate to the title and the introduction?

Does it have a clear thesis statement

Is there a clear presentation and development of ideas?

Is all information relevant? Check for any information that may be interesting but is
irrelevant to the topic, redundant or repetitive.

Do you give reasons for the points you introduce?

Will the reader be able to follow your line of reasoning?

Do all sentences / paragraphs have a logical connection with preceding / following
sentences/paragraphs?

Did you manage to avoid logical fallacies in developing the subject of your essay?

Have you selected an appropriate level of formality (e.g. no use of contractions such as
it's instead of it is)?

Is your language too complex or too simplistic?

Have you kept to the objective structures that characterise academic writing, such as
impersonal forms and passive verbs?

Did you manage to avoid referring to your authorship?

Did you use English grammar effectively to convey the message (subject-verb agreement,
word order, the use of countable/uncountable nouns, etc.)?

Did you follow the rules for spelling, capitalisation, and punctuation?