Essay Writing Skills
To help you become a better essay writer not only for this class, but for other classes, the
following information has been compiled to help so that you may become a successful
essay writer. As a class, we will use the information provided to practice writing an
essay together. We will discuss the importance of identify, define, and explain then
move on to the structure and techniques of a good essay.
Identify
The idea here is to use the correct vocabulary and terminology that was discussed in
class. If you define and explain a concept or idea, but you fail to identify it, the reader
will have a difficult time understanding what it is you’re talking about. By identifying,
you answer the question. Make sure you always answer the question completely.
Define
Here you need to always give a clear definition of an idea or concept when it is first
introduced. It is important to do this as soon as you introduce the idea so the reader can
follow the logical process of your essay. Below are a few examples of how you can
define an idea.
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“The Europeans believed in the idea of mercantilism, meaning…..”
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“…this fits in well with the idea of mercantilism practiced by the Europeans.
Mercantilism can be defined as….”
You need to avoid posing questions to the reader or directly speaking to the reader,
meaning, stay away from sentences such as:
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“You might be wondering what mercantilism means, well I’ll tell you.”
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“What does mercantilism mean you ask? It means…”
Explain
When you explain a concept, idea, or event you need to approach include everything you
know about it. Remember, the more you write, the chances are you’ll receive a better
score. Some things to include when using explanation are provided below:
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How did the idea come about?
Who used it/who was involved?
What were the effects of the idea/concept?
Who benefited and who suffered?
Did the idea/concept/event lead to further ideas/concepts/events?
(Ex. Renaissance ideas led to the Protestant Reformation)
What were the details of the event?
Structure of an essay
Introduction
The purpose of an introduction is to state your thesis. The thesis is the claim that you
will defend throughout the essay. A good thesis then introduces the supporting ideas that
will be used as the body paragraphs. When writing an introduction or the whole essay for
that matter, “I” should never be used. The following are phrases that should be avoided:
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“Today I’m going to talk about…”
“I am writing an essay about…”
“I think…”
If you are trying to outline, or think through an essay these phrases can be useful, but
when actually writing the essay it is important to stay away from them. Instead try to
write big then scale down to your claim, meaning use a wide concept (such as humanity’s
desire for wealth) and scale down to a more specific idea (mercantilism during the age of
exploration).
“It has been said that money makes the world go around. No matter what the
event may be, it is a sure bet that the desire for money had something to do with it. An
example of this would be the nations of Europe practicing mercantilism during the age of
exploration.”
Numerous goals have been accomplished in this paragraph. In this example we started
big and then went small. A claim has been made that the economic system of
mercantilism that existed during the age of exploration proves that money makes the
world go around. The last thing this introduction needs is some mention of the
supporting points that will be used. By simply adding the following to the last paragraph,
you the writer have clearly illustrated what it contained in your essay:
“By trying to create a favorable balance of trade, gaining more gold and silver
than other nations, and colonizing new lands to create foreign markets, European nations
were heavily invested in mercantilism.”
So what we have is:
“It has been said that money makes the world go around. No matter what the
event may be, it is a sure bet that the desire for money had something to do with it. An
example of this would be the nations of Europe practicing mercantilism during the age of
exploration. By trying to create a favorable balance of trade, gaining more gold and
silver than other nations, and colonizing new lands to create foreign markets, European
nations were heavily invested in mercantilism.”
Your introduction is now complete, you have just defined mercantilism, and the reader
has a strong sense what your next three body paragraphs will be.
Body
To avoid any confusion, the three paragraphs of the body should follow in the same order
in which they were introduced in the first paragraph. So from the example above, the
first body paragraph would be about trying to create a favorable balance of trade and then
so on, and so on. To ensure your essay flows smoothly, you should include transition
sentences that led from one supporting idea to another. Using favorable balance of trade
and the hunt for gold and silver, below are two examples:
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“Yet spices and other goods were not the only way Europeans made money
through mercantilism, gold and silver were also important.”
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“Of course not every nation would be able to have a favorable balance of trade;
instead they could simply rely on gold and silver for their wealth.”
Remember, it is here in the body that you as the writer are supplying the reader with
every bit of information you can, so it is important to identify, define, and explain. They
more you write, the better your essay will be.
Conclusion
Your conclusion has two main purposes, first to restate the thesis, and second to sum up
everything in your supporting paragraphs touched on. When restating your thesis, this
does not mean rewriting your thesis word for word. So if we take the example earlier
from our introduction:
“It has been said that money makes the world go around. No matter what the
event may be, it is a sure bet that the desire for money had something to do with it. An
example of this would be the nations of Europe practicing mercantilism during the age of
exploration.”
The thesis can be restated like so:
“Clearly money is a key component in our world today. However, the actions of
European nations during the age of exploration demonstrate that the desire for wealth
has been part of civilization for some time.”
Now if we add:
“The economic policies of mercantilism that drove nations to have a favorable
balance of trade, acquire more gold and silver than other nations, and create new
markets through colonization, ensured that man’s thirst for money would be satisfied.”
We have no only restated our thesis, but we have also hit on the main supporting ideas of
our essay, thereby creating the following conclusion:
“Clearly money is a key component in our world today. However, the actions of
European nations during the age of exploration demonstrate that the desire for wealth
has been part of civilization for some time. The economic policies of mercantilism that
drove nations to have a favorable balance of trade, acquire more gold and silver than
other nations, and create new markets through colonization, ensured that man’s thirst for
money would be satisfied.”