An Essay
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An essay can be defined as a piece of writing that is often written from author’s personal point of view. Essays can consist a number of elements, including literacy criticism, political manifestation, learned argument, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflection of the author. In most of the subjects studied in university most of their work is evaluated by essays and therefore knowing how to write a good essay is an important skill. Therefore, students should put effort in mastering this skill. In subjects that are evaluated using essays it is always advisable for students that on top of having good theoretical knowledge in the subject they should have good essay writing skills since writing of a good essay can boost ones grades. Essays can be written for various purposes such as; an essay can be argumentative from the writer’s point of view, and can also be written to describe or show particular steps needed in a task. As much as these purposes are different essays have a common basic structure. This text highlights some of the basic guideline in essay writing, and also points out some important tips for writing a good essay.
To most college students especially the beginners writing of an essay can be a nightmare and it is the last thing they would like to have in their assignment list. However, if the following simple steps are adhered to by a student when writing an essay then the process will not only be easy but also satisfying.
(a) Choosing of a topic, sometimes the writer can have the opportunity of choosing a topic but most of the times the topic to be written on is given by the course instructor. Before proceeding the writer should make sure that he or she understands the topic and should also do the analysis of the topic where applicable. (b) The next important point is the organization of ideas. Here the writer outlines the ideas that will be the basis of his work put in an organized format. (c) The other important step is to come up with a thesis statement to inform the reader on what the essay is about. Thesis statement should come from the main idea in the list of ideas. (d) After the writer is ready in these then he or she can start writing the introduction of the essay. A good introduction should be designed such that it grabs the attention of the reader. Some of the common methods of introduction are; stating facts that illustrates the ideas to be written, using of anecdote, and starting with a dialogue or a summary of the topics idea. (e) after writing down an introduction the next stage is to write the main body. In this part of the essay each point in the list of ideas forms a paragraph. The writer therefore argues or describes this point according to the topic. (f) after writing the main body the writer then writes the conclusion which basically sums up the main points in the essay. Here the writer also gives his point of view concerning the topic. (g) Finally the writer should proofread his work and also confirm that his work is in line with the given instructions before submitting it.