An essay is a small prose work, which has an arbitrary composition and expresses the author’s point of view and impressions on a specific subject or question in an emphatically individual way and does not pretend to be an exhaustive and definitive interpretation of the topic. The task of the essay is information or explanation.
The defining features of the essay are a small volume, an arbitrary composition, and an unusual way of thinking. The style of the essay is characterized by imagery, aphorism, the use of fresh metaphors, new poetic images, conscious guidance on conversational intonation and vocabulary. The personality of the author comes to the fore. Emotionality, expressiveness, vivid imagery is achieved by the use of metaphors, similes, allegorical and parable images, symbols, correctness in the expression of debatable opinions.
There are two types of essays: free and formal.
Signs of a free essay: small volume (7-10 sentences); free form and presentation style; arbitrary structure; Mandatory requirement: availability of the author’s position. The free essay is limited in time – 5 – 10 and 10 – 15 minutes.
Construction of a free essay:
- Introduction, in which it is necessary to justify the choice of topic, correctly formulate the thesis;
- The main part, in which the opinion on the raised issue is developed and its argumentation is presented:
Generalization of conclusions according to the topic.
The ability to write a free essay is an effective process that every teacher should master. Therefore, during the pedagogical council “On the use of modern educational approaches to the organization of the educational process for the purpose of forming key competencies of education seekers”, all pedagogical workers, united in groups, learned to create a free essay “How travel affects a person’s life”.
The essay is one of the unique literary genres. This is a short essay on any topic that is written on the given question. The main feature is the author’s design in a free style, which is more liked. Let’s analyze in detail what an essay is and how to write it correctly.
What is an Essay: Definition
The word “essay” came to us from the French exagium – “weighing”. It is also translated as essay, experience, attempt. In fact, this is a small work in free form and small in size. Usually, an opinion on a specific issue is expressed with the help of an essay. It is strictly individual, because everyone expresses his opinion, impressions, thoughts and experiences, not someone else’s.
Among the features of the essay are:
- There is a specific question that is answered. Essays deal with broad issues that cannot be consciously fulfilled in this genre
- The essay allows you to express your personal impressions on the question and does not pretend to be a detailed interpretation of the subject
- Usually, the essay involves a new, meaningful word. Different styles can be used in such a work
- The essay evaluates, first of all, the personality of the author – how he looks at the world, what he thinks and feels
- Recently, the genre has become particularly popular. Today, it is suggested to write it as an assignment at EDI. And also, this is one of the main documents for getting a job or entering an educational institution. So, how to write an essay correctly? Let’s find out.
How to start an essay: an example
As a rule, when it is necessary to solve the question of how to write an essay, even a person with sufficient eloquence is lost, because it is more difficult to express his thoughts on paper. Thinking about a question can take a long time, which greatly complicates the work.
Especially the very beginning of the essay raises many questions. How to start it! What should be the first sentence?
Here are some tips to get your essay off to a good start:
- To begin with, formulate the general idea of writing an essay. Determine the purpose for which it is compiled and, if possible, look for sources for work.
- Excellent for writing freewriting technique or free writing. Its meaning is to describe everything that comes to mind even without editing, lack of grammar and so on. A very good way to deal with lack of inspiration.
- Don’t get hung up on the introduction. It can be written later, when the other text is ready. It will be easier for you to write an introduction because you already know what the essay is about.
- One of the options for starting an essay is to ask a question first, and then it is already answered.
- The order of writing an essay: structure
- Now let’s talk specifically about how to write an essay and what to write in it. Here is an approximate structure of how the material is written:
1. Introduction
We have already talked about him above. These tips will help you start the text correctly. In the first part, you should not write much. It is enough to tell what problem you want to solve. The introduction is made in a couple of sentences, write in general terms. Or ask a question to a reader.
2 and 3. Main and additional reasons
In these parts, you must show that you understand the topic. It is important to maintain a balance. For example, in part two, you will reveal the reasons that support part four. Let these be arguments “For”. Well, the third part will reveal the arguments against.
4. Solution
In this part, you must specify a certain statement. It should be something from part 2 and 3. Add something personal from you. It is important that the essay is yours. And don’t forget about affirmations.
Basically, this is the largest part of the material. It again lists facts supported by quotations. It is clear that you should write only what is relevant to the question.
5. Imprisonment
It should also be small. It draws a conclusion from the entire text. This is the general conclusion of the entire essay.
How to write an essay correctly: sample, plan, template
With a rough plan of how to write an essay, we figured it out. Usually, there are certain patterns or clichés that allow you to formulate thoughts more conveniently. It is much easier to write an essay with them.
Here is a small table showing the main templates:
How to write an essay correctly: examples for work
To make it easier for you to understand how to write an essay, we suggest you familiarize yourself with several works:
What mistakes occur when writing an essay?
In the question of how to write an essay, there are some mistakes. Let’s find out what the main mistakes are:
Grammatical and punctuation errors. Any mistakes, especially in school, immediately cross out all the work. After all, they indicate inattention and lack of checking the work.
Logical errors. The work must be structured logically correctly, and there must be no contradictions in it. Moreover, the thesis should not change throughout the text.
Repetition of thoughts. Don’t repeat the same thing over and over, even in different words. An exception is reformulation of the thesis in prison.
Plagiarism. It is strictly prohibited. You cannot take someone else’s work and pass it off as your own. Such work may be disqualified.
Philosophizing, flow of thoughts. Although the essay is free reasoning