Important Elements in the Essay
There are three main areas you need to consider when writing an essay. You need to
evaluate your (1) focus, (2) content and (3) organization. While each of the three has its own
vitality, the “trinity” is inseparable.
First, your essay must have a purpose, which is clearly defined and effectively
communicated. This is the focus of your essay. Your essay must fulfill the requirements for the
purpose it is trying to accomplish. In addition, your work must be well balanced; you should
neither do too much in the essay, nor make your goals too limited and inconsequential. Also, the
needs, interests and expectations of your readers should be considered and met (audience
analysis).
Besides focus, content is an essential part if your essay. As you think about your
purpose, you need to decide whether there is adequate support/illustration and whether your
essay development fulfills the commitment started or implied by the controlling purpose. Equally
important are the supporting details or evidence you have provided and how adequate they are.
All your details, evidence, or counterarguments should not only relate clearly to your controlling
purpose, but should have the purpose of strengthening the essay.
Both the focus and content are strengthened and enhanced by the organization of the
essay, which must follow an overall organization strategy. You may want to test the
effectiveness of your strategy by outlining or summarizing your essay. The organization of your
essay must follow logically the commitment established by your controlling purpose. You must
insure that your readers will be able to follow the organization and easily make sense of it.
Furthermore, you should ask yourself whether or not your introduction and your conclusion
could more effectively open and close your essay.
Evaluating focus, content and organization:
Focus:
1. What do I hope to accomplish in this essay? How clearly have I defined my controlling
purpose? How have I communicated this controlling purpose?
2. Is my essay appropriate? If it is an academic essay, how does it fulfill the requirements of the
assignment?
3. Have I tried to do too much in the essay? Or are my goals too limited and inconsequential?
4. Does my essay consider the needs, interests, and expectations of my readers? How does the
essay respond to them?
Content:
1. How does my essay develop or support my controlling purpose? How does it fulfill the
commitment stated or implied by the controlling purpose?
2. What supporting details or evidence have I provided for my most important generalizations?
Are these supporting details and evidence adequate? Do they relate clearly to my controlling
purpose each other?
3. What details, evidence, or counter arguments might strengthen my essay?
4. Have I included any materials that are irrelevant to my controlling purpose?
Organization:
1. What overall organizational strategy does my essay follow?
2. Have I tested the effectiveness of this strategy by outlining or summarizing my essay?
3. To what extent does the organization of my essay flow logically from the commitment
established by my controlling purpose?
4. Will my organization make sense to my readers and be easy for them to follow?
5. To what extent does my essay follow the general conventions appropriate for this kind of
writing?
6. Could my introduction and conclusion more effectively open and close my essay?
Read the following paragraph and notice the writer's attempt to make his point as clear as
possible to the readers.
The Hazards of Going to the Movies
Although I love movies, going to see them drives me crazy. First, getting to the movie
can take a lot of time. I have a thirty-five minute drive down a congested highway. Then with a
popular film, I usually have to wait in a long line at the ticket window. Another problem is that
the theater itself is seldom a pleasant place to be. A musty smell suggests that there has been no
fresh air in the theater since it was built. Half the seats seem to be falling apart. And the floor
often has a sticky coating that gets on your shoes. The worst problem of all is some of the other
moviegoers. Kids run up and down the aisle. Teenagers laugh and shout at the screen. People of
all ages loudly drop soda cups and popcorn tubs, cough and burp, and elbow you out of the
armrest on either side of your seat. All in all, I would rather stay home and wait for the latest
movie hits to appear on TV in the safety and comfort of my own living room.
In considering the above paragraph we may notice that the writer's point of disliking
going to the movies is backed up with specific reasons and details. The evidence and supporting
details here provide the reader with a basis for understanding why the writer thinks and feels the
way he does.
But now answer this—do you LIKE the above paragraph? Sure, it is clear, focused, has
details (supporting evidence), but if it were to go on, would you WANT to read it? I’m going to
suggest that what is missing is a sense of the writer, him- or herself. WHO wrote this essay?
What kind of a personality does the writer have? Is the writer young, old, male, female? Funny
or cranky? That brings us to two very important element of personal writing—VOICE and
STYLE.
Style is a huge topic, and we will be working on it throughout the year. But there are a
few fairly elemental ways to describe style: formal, informal, conversational, sophisticated, longwinded (or wordy), flowery (full of fancy words and phrases), clean (or spare), fluent, articulate,
etc. There are many elements of style, but for now consider how word choice (diction) and
sentence structure (syntax) affect style.
Voice, on the other hand, is fairly straightforward to understand: Can I hear YOU when I
read your writing? Achieving a strong voice is not quite as simple as knowing what voice is.