ESSAY WRITING SUGGESTIONS
Different kinds of writing
We write for many different reasons and to many different people. Sometimes we write
short notes to remind ourselves of some personal detail of our life: grocery lists, notes to
pick up something on the way home (the newspaper, dental floss, batteries, a birthday
cake), notes to our husband and our wife stuck on the fridge door (Don’t forget to get
Lisa from dance class!). Sometimes we share our private thoughts with only ourselves
(Dear Diary, I felt sad today…). We might write letters to family or friends far away
(Grandma, I really miss you…). If we are brave and lucky, we might have the time
and the passion to write creatively as artists (To Be, or Not to Be…)! We hope that we
make readers laugh, cry or think. Of course, people working in business (like bankers!)
must write emails, letters and reports. And then there is writing we do for school. We
learn to write something called an essay.
What essays are not!
Often, we do not really understand what an essay is. We just know it is an
“assignment” and that it is something we have to get done for a grade. Most of all, we
believe it has something to do with “pleasing the teacher.” We want to know how to do
it right, so sometimes teachers give us formulas and tell us that an essay is a piece of
writing with 5 paragraphs and that each body paragraph must support a main idea, a
thesis, which is neatly found at the end of the first paragraph of the introduction. We
are told that the final paragraph repeats our 3 supporting points and our thesis..
Sometimes we are told that each paragraph must also have a set number of sentences,
and even that the sentences must be a certain specified length! Well, none of these
things are true. Essays that follow mindlessly from tidy formulas are usually boring to
write, and even more boring to read! These are not essays, at least, not the kind you
want to do at university.
What is an essay, then ….really?
If we pick out any anthology, or collection, of essays from famous writers of yesterday
or today, from any country of the world, we will notice one interesting fact: all the
essays in the book are very different from each other. The beginnings are different, the
middles are different (sometimes there are 7 paragraphs; sometimes there are 25…or
many more) and the endings are different! Note too that the number of sentences in
each paragraph vary immensely. Some paragraphs have 3 or 4 sentences; others have
dozens. How can this be? The reason rests in the meaning of an essay itself. An essay
is an expression of the writer; it is something he/she is anxious to say and to share
with other people, with readers. The word “essay” comes from the French word
“essayer” which means “to try,” so an essay, then, is an attempt by the writer to express
his thoughts. If every essay is an expression of the writer, then we can understand why
every essay is very different. It is because each writer is different! Each writer is made
up of a special set of experiences and feelings, none of which are quite the same as
another’s!
Sometimes writers just want to explain how they feel about something; sometimes they
want to show us what they have seen, or heard, or smelt. Sometimes they just want to
explain an idea they have had. Sometimes they want to change our mind or behavior.
In all cases, though, writers care about what they are trying to say; they really feel
excited about sharing their thoughts and feelings on paper. They are, in other words,
passionate. In fact, good writing is passionate writing and sincere writing. If you don’t
care about what you are writing, you should stop writing. If you don’t believe what you
are writing, you should definitely stop writing. The only way you will be able to write
an essay that is worth reading is if you find a way to “get into it,” find a real interest in
the topic.
Do you remember the teachers you have liked best in school? Did you notice that, no
matter what their age, they seemed a little bit like kids themselves? I suggest that this
was because they had a real curiosity about life around them. They were interested in
many topics and they were not afraid to show this interest, even excitement, to you.
That is what real learning is about, and what fine writing is about also. We may not
become brilliant, professional writers, but we can at least be interesting!
A Note about Organization
A recognition that there is no lock-step, fail-proof formula for writing any essay does
not mean that an essay should not be organized, nor that it must be just a retelling of a
personal experience. An essay is not just a kind of elongated journal in which you spill
your soul…not usually, anyway. Personal experiences may be acceptable and useful to
the development of the essay, but this is not a diary. Every essay has a focus, a raison
d’etre, a main point, a thesis. And while professional writers frequently omit writing an
actual thesis statement (because they are such skilled writers that the reader will quickly
understand their point regardless), it is probably better for learners, like you and me, to
state our main point in the early part of the essay. Notice I said,”the early part.” The
thesis does not have to be at the end of the introductory paragraph, although it could be.
In fact, a lot depends on how long the essay is. If it is a short essay, it only makes sense
that the introduction will be brief in order to give you more time to develop your idea.
Conversely, if the essay is very long, the introduction might be much longer, several
paragraphs or perhaps even a few pages. Where does your thesis go in either case?
Wherever it makes best sense! Frequently, it will go towards the end of the introduction
because it just fits best there. It rarely goes at the very beginning, simply because that is
like walking up to a friend and just starting to talk passionately about some subject
before you say hello. Your friend may understand you in the end, but it will be a
disconcerting experience for him!!
When I have told students not to slavishly follow the 5-paragraph essay formula, many
have asked me whether there was an introduction, a middle and an end. This question
always gave me a chuckle, and I usually responded, “Is there anything in life that isn’t?
After all, we are born, we live, we die.” We need an introduction to interest the reader
and encourage him/her to read on. We need the body because this is where our details,
our examples, our argument can be found. We need a conclusion to tidy things up, to
say goodbye, and to allow the reader to feel that they have “come down to earth.” If
there is no conclusion, the reader has the same feeling you would if you were reading a
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suspense story and the page which revealed the murderer was torn from the book. And,
naturally, we must consider how to arrange our ideas and how to develop those ideas so
the reader can understand them and not become confused.
Organizing, of course, is where the struggle lies and that is where you must experiment.
Should you work with an outline of your ideas? Maybe, if that is what helps you. Just
make sure that you don’t restrict yourself. Don’t follow your outline so tightly that you
cannot add new ideas or take away some that don’t work. Is it possible to write a good
essay by simply opening “Word” on your computer and starting to type as the ideas
come to you? Of course. However, a good trick after you have done is to create a
“backwards outline” just to see what you have actually said. If you write a sentence for
every paragraph or two, you will be left with a kind of skeleton of your essay. You
might be surprised to find that you have a few identical sentences (hmmm, did you
actually say the same thing twice…or even more?) This kind of check-up might also
show you that you need to reorganize paragraphs…moving ideas around so that they
connect better.
Different kinds of essays
When a writer is just trying to explain something to the reader, whether it is what he/she
sees, hears, tastes, feels, or thinks, the essay is called an Expository Essay.
“Expository” means “to explain.”
When a writer is not only trying to explain as above, but is also trying to change our
minds, or perhaps even our behavior, the essay is then called Argumentative or
Persuasive. These latter two terms are really the flip sides of the same coin and are
explained in the handout and link Strategies for Argument.
When a writer is trying to understand a problem or a question about which no one
seems to agree, and he admits to himself that he doesn’t have the knowledge he needs to
understand, the essay he develops is called a Research Essay because that is exactly
what he must do; he must research. He must try to find an answer to his question, and
to do so, he often must learn from people who have spent, sometimes, years to search
for an answer to the same question. He must compare their ideas, find out where they
agree and disagree, and consider where he stands on the issue after he has learned more
information. A researcher may never find “the” answer, but he might add to that body
of knowledge which is moving closer and closer to one.
If you think about it, this is what university is all about. Your professor may talk about
the “academic community” and “peer-reviewed journals” and “academic conversation.”
What he/she is talking about is this group effort over time to work towards a better
understanding of important problems and questions. This is why all universities and
disciplines have questions at their core. A medical university may be teaching people to
become doctors, but the professors are also doing research into the unsolved health
issues of our world: How do we cure cancer? What causes Alzheimer’s? All disciplines
within the university study questions too. For example, a biology department may be
searching for ways to stop the purple loosestrife from wiping out marshes, or the
psychology department may be trying to understand what makes people mentally ill.
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Humanity is always searching for answers to questions, some overwhelmingly large,
some small and seemingly less significant but all of interest to somebody. The
university is one place where a concentrated effort to answer all these questions takes
place. You are part of that effort. As a student, you may not be expected to come to a
definitive answer to any of these questions (although some students have!), but as the
years of study go by, it is hoped that you will make some contribution to the effort,
however small. It is in this sense then, when you work on a research paper, you are
taking part in an academic conversation.
Special kinds of essays for different courses:
Students must be cognizant that the essays different courses expect have special
features. For example, if you are taking a literature class, when you analyze a piece of
literature, the points you make in your paper will always be supported by the details of
that particular story, poem or novel. You will be constantly refering to the characters,
the plot, the particular words used and their connotations, the imagery, the symbolism,
etc. If your instructor asks you to include secondary sources, you will be comparing
what various critics have had to say about the work to each other and to your own
interpretations as well.
Some of the disciplines are very clear about the kind of writing and organization they
want to see in their students’ papers. Many will refer you to very explicit guides. For
example, history courses rely on a a little book by Mary Rampola called A Brief
Handbook to the Writing of History. Some programs, such as sociology, set patterns
they would like students to follow and allow such things as subheadings for sections of
the essay, a habit which many other courses would not allow. Other disciplines are
much less particular about the way they want students’ papers to look, but, naturally, all
want to see papers that are honest, clear, logical and interesting!
Be alert to what the various disciplines and faculty want to see, and if you are unsure,
don’t be afraid to ask! Make sure you understand the purposes of the assignments, the
kind of documentation they expect if you are using secondary sources and the way they
like you to organize your papers. Many teachers, especially for first year courses, are
initially just concerned that you are able to read and summarize the course material.
The paper they want from you may concentrate on summarize, paraphrasing and
comparing what you read. Others expect you to go farther and evaluate and critique the
secondary sources.. Know what your instructor expects from you.
One Last Tip
If your instructor asks you to write a kind of paper that you are unfamiliar with, a
literature review, perhaps, or a critique of some kind, don’t panic. One good start
would be to simply go to our library, find a sample of that kind of writing and read it
carefully. Journals of any particular discipline usually have many types of writing, but
if you need help, don’t be reluctant to ask a librarian to help you. They are very
knowledgeable.
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