ENG 101Lesson -33

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Lesson – 33 (Essay Writing)

In the past few lessons we have looked at paragraph writing. Now we shall move forward and look at longer pieces of writing which consist of several paragraphs. The problems we considered in sentence and paragraph writing are also the fundamental problems of longer composition – the same problems of unity, coherence, and emphasis. While some topics can be treated in a single paragraph others require more elaborate development. In longer compositions we

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find problems of arrangement. A longer composition, such as an essay, divides itself usually into a number of parts. In what order shall we present them? How much emphasis should be given to each fact? These are some of the problems faced in essay writing.

Now a lot depends on the purpose of your writing. If you are writing primarily to give information, then you need to be as exact as possible in the interest of clear, logical presentation of facts. If you are writing to describe something, or to create an image or a

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picture then you shall perhaps put less emphasis upon accurate measurement and more upon suggestive and revealing details. If you are writing to tell a story, you will have to decide upon the point of highest interest and arrange your material carefully to give your reader the feeling or illusion of taking part in the action.

Writing an essay is not more difficult than writing a paragraph. There is only one difference – of length. The principles of

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organization are the same for both: so if you can write a good paragraph, you can also write a good essay.

Process of Writing

Writing usually takes place in steps or stages. There are five stages or steps in the writing process. (1) Getting ideas: brainstorming, clustering & free writing (2) making brief outline (3) writing the 1st draft (4) revising (5) proof reading

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Process of Writing: Five stages / steps

(1)Getting ideas: brainstorming, clustering, free writing

(2) making brief outline

(3) writing the 1st draft

(4) revising

(5) proof reading

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Step I: Getting Ideas: Primarily from reading, talking to people, listening to talk shows, TV programs on current issues etc.

(a) Brainstorming – For ideas jot down points or ideas and their details as they come to your mind. Just write them down without putting them in any special order. Try to accumulate as many details as you can think of. This is one strategy of beginning an essay. The other strategy is

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(b) Clustering: here you begin by writing your subject or topic in the center of a blank sheet of paper. Then as ideas come into your mind you put them down in boxes or circles around the subject or topic. You will now see a sample of clustering.

(c) Free writing, this is also a very useful technique. Here you just write down whatever comes into your mind about the topic. Continue writing for sometime without stopping to worry about grammar or spellings etc.

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CLUSTERING

daughter shouts Babaji

noisy neighbors loud music

stereo TV

something needs to be done

dogs bark loudly

Children play hide &seek

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II. Step Two: Prepare a rough outline. This is going to be the backbone or skeleton on which the rest of the writing will be built. It shows at a glance the point of the paragraph and the support for that point. It will help you to see if you need to do more writing to clarify your main point or its support. You shall learn how to write an outline in your next lesson. Here I will just show an example of an outline.

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Example of an outline.

Biography of a celebrated man

a) Friends and enemies

b) school fellows - pranks, conversations

c) offices held, distinguished figures

d) relatives - accounts of his acts of humanity and virtues

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(iii) Third step: Writing the 1st draft. The purpose here is to develop the context of your document. So be ready to put in additional thoughts and details that didn’t come to your mind earlier. Don’t spend time correcting words or sentences that you may decide to remove later on.

(iv) Fourth step: Revising. This is the most important part of writing - a practice our students are not encouraged to develop.

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Revising means that you rewrite, build upon what has been written to make it better. It is at this stage that you get rid of unnecessary material, improve on what you are going to retain. A typical revision means writing on two or more drafts. Here you insert details left out, put in transition words which would make smoother reading. If you are working on a word processor take out a hard copy so that you can see your entire document at one time.

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(v) Step Five: Proof reading. This is the final stage in the writing process. It means checking carefully for spelling, grammar, punctuation and other errors. Use your dictionary for this purpose. Proof reading is often hard work and students want to avoid proofing. If proofing is done carefully, it will ensure that your written work looks as good as possible.

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There is no single correct way of writing English. Good writing depends on a set of specific writing skills. Three skills are involved in writing.

(i) Skill of communication i.e. putting your ideas across to the reader.(ii) Skill of organizing your idea in the shape of sentences and paragraphs.(iii) Stylistic - achieving the right level of formality i.e. appropriate tone.

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Writing is a form of problem solving. The writer has two tasks before him (a) the task of generating ideas and (b) of composing those ideas into some sort of shape in other words giving structure to those ideas.All writing, whether journalistic or academic (a report, an essay, an assignment, a term paper, a project) has structure. There is first the introduction, second the main body in which the ideas are developed and third the conclusion.

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I The Introduction

1. The introduction is concerned with the topic or subject of writing. In the introductory paragraph you will state the problem / the issue in a few general statements to attract your reader’s attention and a thesis statement to say how you intend to treat the topic / issue of your essay. The thesis statement is just like the topic sentence in a paragraph.

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Try to catch the readers’ attention so that they would want to continue reading. This can be done in a number of ways: - by posing a question - Using an apt quotation- a dialogue- a striking description or image- making a controversial statement- developing a historical perspective / background- making an appeal for action / change

*

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II The Main Body

The second part of the essay is the main body where you develop the main idea with the help of examples and details. This part consists of more than one paragraph. Each paragraph develops a subdivision of your topic. So the number of paragraphs will vary with the number of subdivisions. Moreover, you can organize the ideas by chronological order or by way of importance just as you did for a single paragraph.

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III The Conclusion

In the third and last part of the essay you draw your conclusion. There are many ways of ending your composition. You should create a feeling of finale / fina:li This may take the form of a summary or review of the main points discussed in the body of the essay. Here you may even propose recommendations.

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I.

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III

General StatementThesis Statement

Introduction

Topic sentenceSupporting evidenceConcluding sentence

Topic sentenceSupporting evidenceConcluding sentence

Topic sentenceSupporting evidenceConcluding sentence

Main Body

Restatement /Summary / opinion Recommendation

Conclusion

Essay

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Paragraph

Topic Sentence

Support

Support

Support

Concluding Sentence

Facts & FiguresExamples…

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In essay writing paragraphs are written and designed to serve as part of a longer composition. In a skillfully written essay each paragraph has its own proper place, just as each word has its proper place in a coherent, emphatic sentence. And just as there is a problem of transition from one sentence to another within the paragraph, so there is some problem when dealing with a group of paragraphs. So you can see that writing an essay is essentially the same as writing a paragraph. The difference is of length.

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Lesson ReviewCheck your understanding of the material

presented in this lesson.

1. Writing is a skill that can be learned with practice. T / F?

2. An effective paragraph is one thata. makes a pointb. Provides specific supportc. * makes a point and provides specific

supportd. none of the above.

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Lesson ReviewCheck your understanding of the material

presented in this lesson.

1. Writing is a skill that can be learned with practice. T/F?

2. An effective paragraph is one thata. makes a pointb. Provides specific supportc. makes a point and provides specific

supportd. none of the above.

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3. The sentence that states the main idea of a paragraph is called the topic sentence. T / F

4. Prewriting strategies can help a writer find

a. a good angle / to write about.b. a good main point to make about the

topic.c. enough details to support the main

pointd. * all of the above.

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3. The sentence that states the main idea of a paragraph is called the topic sentence. T/F

4. Prewriting strategies can help a writer find

a. a good angle / to write about.b. a good main point to make about the

topic.c. enough details to support the main

pointd. all of the above.

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5. In the early stage of the writing process, you should not be concerned with spelling, punctuation or grammar. T / F

6. A brief plan of the paragraph / or composition is known as an outline. T / F

7. Your first concern when you start writing should be a. spellingb. * contentc. grammard. punctuation

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5. In the early stage of the writing process, you should not be concerned with spelling, punctuation or grammar. T / F

6. A brief plan of the paragraph / or composition is known as an outline. T / F

7. Your first concern when you start writing should be a. spellingb. contentc. grammard. punctuation

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8. Two common ways of organizing a paragraph are using a chronological order and order of importance. T / F9. The words first, next, then, also, another, and finally are known as signal words. They are also called transition words. T / F10. The purpose of proof reading is to check for errors ina. grammarb. punctuationc. usage and spellingd. * all of the above

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8. Two common ways of organizing a paragraph are using a chronological order and order of importance. T / F9. The words first, next, then, also, another, and finally are known as signal words. They are also called transition words. T / F10. The purpose of proof reading is to check for errors ina. grammarb. punctuationc. usage and spellingd. all of the above