Academic Skills - Writing Essays

 

WRITING A GOOD ESSAY

by Georgia Lyons, B.A., BEd, M.A., MEd.

Academic Skills Program Co-ordinator

Office of Student Development Services

 Phone: 474-3461  email: georgial@nipissingu.ca

Essay writing is frustrating for many students.  They long to find the secret or the magic that will allow them to write those essays – especially the one for the writing competency exam—with ease and brilliance.  Well, unfortunately there is no magic, but there are a few little tips which might make essays easier for you.

• Understand what an essay, any essay, really is…an expression of yourself.  Don’t feel that you must have some special knowledge to write these essays. Likewise, don’t waste time trying to guess what the marker or instructor wants to hear.  YOU have a unique perspective, a way of looking at the world that no one has but you.  Try to get in touch with what you really think about an issue.  This might be the hardest part of the whole process if up to now you have not been encouraged to search for ideas inside yourself!

• Take lots of time to plan and think about the question presented.  Brainstorming takes time and patience.  Don’t become nervous watching other students immediately start writing.  Stay cool and think.

• Always write out, in large and clear letters at the top of your planning page, the thesis you plan to follow and make sure that you refer to it frequently as you plan and as you write.  This will help prevent you from straying off topic.

• Don‘t use long sentences to arrange your rough essay outline.  Just write down important words that will help you remember the point you want to make.  Making it short and clear will help you when you finish your planning and need to draw back and look at the big picture.

• Don’t present yourself with a structure (such as the 5-paragraph essay format) into which you must squeeze your ideas.  You must work in the opposite direction.  First you must concentrate on gathering up as many good ideas, supports for your position, and examples to use for developing your ideas as you possibly can.  Only then should you concern yourself about the order and organization of your ideas.  Learn to tolerate a certain amount of chaos and messiness while you are working on your essay.  Ideas don’t grow in neat little boxes; they only die there!

• Make sure that you spend enough time reaching for good, interesting examples which clarify and develop your points.  You may decide not to use them all, but you can never have enough examples on hand.

• If you have time, check out some essay books from the library and read several essays by professional writers.  You will notice that they don’t restrict themselves to a certain number of paragraphs; in fact, the size of the essays will vary considerably.  Notice also that the number of “hamburger” paragraphs (ie. 5 sentence paragraphs with a topic sentence, 3 body paragraphs and a concluding paragraph) are rare.  In fact, linguists calculate that as little as 12% of the paragraphs that professionals write follow that shape.  If you look carefully you will see that, like sentences themselves, paragraphs follow a wide variety of sizes and purposes.

• Do try to choose the best words…not the longest words.  Try to express not impress.  If you use words that you are not comfortable with, you could be using them incorrectly.  Likewise, say meaningful things; don’t write to fill space…you will end up writing nothing but nonsense!

• Do connect your ideas, your paragraphs and your sentences with transitions.  Transitional words and phrases are important when you are trying to tie your ideas together.  Hint: If you organize your essay according to your ideas and not according to paragraphs, your transitions will come more easily to you because you will see the natural progression of your ideas.

• Don’t forget to consider the position which is opposite that of which you are arguing.  Readers will consider you a more reasonable, fair person if you concede certain aspects of your opponent’s argument.  You will also disarm them of any arguments they might produce after they have finished reading your paper (when you are not around to defend your ideas!).  You may do this at the beginning of your paper or as you work through the supports of your position.  It is probably not wise to do this at the end of your essay as these will be the last thoughts your readers will carry away.

• Try to edit and proofread your essay carefully once you think you have finished.  You will always find errors or small things you can change and improve.  You are allowed a dictionary, so use it!  Get a good grammar handbook from the library or buy one and study the grammatical areas that you already know you have problems with.

• There is no need to repeat the phrases, “In my opinion” or “I think” because this is a given; this is your essay, remember?  Likewise, don’t say things like, “This is my thesis and I will support this thesis in the next 3 paragraphs.”  You are only drawing attention to your essay as an essay.  You want the readers to immerse themselves in your ideas; reminding them of where they are is only disconcerting.

• Always remember: your thesis must permeate your paper.  Regardless of where you put your thesis statement, or whether you even have a statement in your essay at all, the thesis is of paramount importance.  When the reader finishes your interesting, funny, passionate essay, he/she must know exactly the main point that you have tried to make throughout your essay.

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