basics guide to essays

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Basics Guide to Writing Essays

From Niko Silvester,Your Guide to Creative Writing for Teens.

Types of Essay"Compare and contrast the use of rhyme in two poets of the eighteenth century,"a teacher might say when giving you your English assignment. Or maybe,"Define democracy," for a social studies essay. There are many different kinds of essays, each with a slightly different purpose. Different books give them differentnames and divide them up in somewhat different ways, which can make thingsconfusing. I've tried to use the more common names for types of essays here,but what matters more isn't what they're called, but what they're meant to do.Below are 11 types of essays. Don't worry about memorizing them, just readthrough and see the different things an essay can do.

Analogy and Comparison

Analogy and comparative essays both use comparison, but they use it somewhatdifferently. Comparative essays simply compare similarities and differences,while analogy essays use analogy to clarify difficult topics.

Analogy

An analogy is a kind of comparison that attempts to illuminate a subject bycomparing it to something else that is in many ways unlike the subject. For

example, an analogy might explain the workings of the human brain and nervoussystem by comparing it to the electrical wiring of a car. Although a person and acar are very different, there are specific similarities that can help someone picturethe way a human nervous system works by reference to the more familiar car electrical system.

Of course, not everyone is familiar with the electrics of cars, so in choosing your topic for an essay that uses analogy, you'll have to be selective about what youdecide to compare your primary topic to. The best way to use analogy is toexplain something abstract or complicated by comparing it to something familiar,concrete, or simple to understand.

Comparison

This kind of essay is also known as the compare-contrast essay. In a comparisonessay, the object is to compare the similarities of otherwise different things,and/or to contrast the differences of otherwise similar things. Sometimes, youmay be expected to look at the similarities and differences, though usually the



similarities of similar things and the differences of different things are alreadyobvious.

In writing this kind of essay, you'll likely need to use methods from many of theother kinds of essays. You might need to explain similarities by analogy, for

example (see above), or highlight differences by process analysis (see page 2).

Analytical Essays

An analytical or analysis essay is one that analyzes, that is, interprets or examines something. There are several different kinds of analytical essayincluding cause and effect, description, literary analysis, and process analysis.

Cause and Effect

A cause and effect essay examines or interprets the causes or effects of a

situation. In this kind of essay, you may start from a known result or situation andexamine what brought about that result. For example, it is known and observablethat the sky appears blue, so you could write about why that sky appears blue,what causes it. Or, a cause and effect essay might begin from a known situationand then examine the effects of that situation. For example, intensive agricultureuses enormous amounts of fertilizer, so you could write about the effects of fertilizer that runs off farmland when it rains.

Description

Some essays do nothing but describe. To describe something in an essay, it's a

good idea to use some of the same techniques as you would use in creativewriting. Make use of all five senses: how does a thing look, feel, taste, smell, andsound? Note those small, unique details that really enable a reader to see what itis about the thing you are describing that makes it different from other things likeit. Descriptive essays can easily slip over the dividing line between somethingyou have to write for school and a true piece of creative non-fiction.

Don't forget, though, that clarity and accuracy are important, so stay away fromabstraction as much as possible. And remember that the techniques of thedescriptive essay are useful in other essay types, as well. How can you analyzesomething without a quick description of it, at least?

Literary Analysis

A literary analysis essay interprets literature (a poem, short story, play, etc). Itmay discuss the meaning of the work, or it may evaluate the use of particular literary techniques, style and so on. Generally, a literary analysis focuses onthree aspects of literature: a writer, a specific literary work or works, or a literaryelement. These three can be combined in various ways; for example, you could



choose to write about Shakespeare's use of the rhyming couplet in his comedies,you could write about Shakespeare as a typical (or atypical) playwright of histime, or you could examine the theme of Macbeth.

Process Analysis

A process analysis essay looks at how something is done. You could approachyour topic as a how-to, and guide your readers through the process that they willfollow. For example, you could write an essay describing how to hand-polish acar in a step-by-step format that allows readers to polish their own car followingyour instructions. Or you could look at the topic as something that has alreadybeen done. For example, you could write about the grandfather clock in your front hallway, describing the process by which it was made. Thus the processanalysis paper can either instruct (teach someone how-to) or inform (illuminate apast event).

Argument and Opinion

Argument essays and opinion essays Opinion essays can be very similar, in thatthey both present a position and offer reasons for holding that position. Thedifference is largely one of degree; an opinion can be supported, but not actuallyproven, while an argument is a more rigorous and logical construct that ideallycan be objectively evaluated in comparison to other arguments. In other words,opinions are personal, but arguments must be supported with good evidence.

Argument

An argumentative, or persuasive, essay is meant to convince the reader of something. You might, for example, write about why smoking is bad for your health, or why you should always look both ways before crossing the street. Youdon't necessarily have to agree with the position you are arguing for, as long asyou write your essay as if you agree. This is an important distinction, as someteachers like to assign essays that require you to argue against whatever opinionyou agree with. For example, you might be given an assignment to write andessay arguing for the elimination of the summer holiday from the school year.Even if you don't think the summer holiday should be eliminated, you still have tobe able to express the arguments for that idea. Also, being able to argue from theother side of a topic is useful when you are arguing for something you believe in--

that way, you can anticipate the arguments of the other side and refute them asyou present your own arguments.

Opinion

An opinion essay simply expresses the writer's opinion on a particular topic. Agood opinion essay, though, not only states what the opinion is, but also why thewriter holds that opinion, and shows that the writer has examined and evaluated



other possibilities. Thus, if you write about your opinion on spaying/neutering petdogs, you should also give reasons for having that opinion, and you shouldmention other possible opinions and explain why you rejected them.

This kind of essay can be used for sharing ideas, explaining the reasons for

actions you've taken, or to try to convince the reader to change their mind.

Classification and Definition

When you need to write about what something is, you'll probably need to useclassification and definition. Classification related something the other things thatit is like or unike, while definition attempts to say simply what the thing is.

Classification

A classification essay clarifies relationships between things. Classification,

essentially, divides things into categories based on their similarities anddifferences. This is especially important in science, but all topics can make use of classification. A classification essay in English, for example, might discuss agroup of authors from the same time period, or a series of poems that share thesame metrical structure (sonnets, maybe, or blank verse). A history essay mightlook at when the industrial age began in different parts of the world, or how theAmerican Civil War affected people in different social classes.

You can also add elements of classification into other kinds of essays. For example, in that essay about spaying/neutering dogs, you could look at differentclasses of "pet" such as the house dog, the working dog (shepherding, police,

etc), the show dog, and so on. Classification can help clarify a topic, and evenadd support to your opinion.

Definition

Definitions can, of course, be useful in nearly any kind of writing. Definitions canalso make an essay all on their own, depending on the topic and the purpose of defining it. For many terms that need defining, especially simple physical things,a sentence or a paragraph is often enough. For more abstract concepts, though,a whole essay may just be the beginning. Consider the abstract notion love. Youcould, if need be, come up with a fairly short definition that would serve well

enough in some contexts, but an abstract like love can also provide the topic for an essay. Suppose your topic was "What is Joy"--could you write an essaysimply attempting to define this word? That is a definition essay.



Narration and Thoughts

Like description, narration offers opportunities for using the techniques of creative writing in an essay. By making your essay-writing more creative, youmay enjoy it more--school work can be fun if you know how it make it fun.

Narration

A narration or narrative essay is an essay that tells a story. It is a good way toinvolve the reader, as reading a narrative essay is much like reading a short story(if it is done well). In a narrative essay, the message of the essay may not beapparent until the end, once the reader has already read it; thus it can be apowerful way of getting people to read about things they might avoid in another kind of essay. For example, you could write your essay about spaying/neuteringdogs as a story about a group of dogs. If you wrote it well, the reader might noteven realize you were arguing for all pet dogs to be spayed/neutered (or not to

be, depending on your opinion) until they'd finished the story and sympathizedwith the dogs they'd read about. Narration can be a powerful way to get a reader on to your side of an argument.

A writer can use narration to explain the purpose of other types of essay, as well,perhaps as an introductory paragraph or section. In this way, you can draw areader into the subject before getting into more technical detail.

A Few Thoughts

Dividing essays up into different types may be an interesting exercise, but is is

practical when all you want to do is get through the school year will reasonablegrades? The answer is both no and yes. No, because you don't need to know allthis detail to be able to write a good essay. Yes, because knowing what type of essay you are expected to write will help you figure out how to approach writingit. When you're given an essay assignment, be alert for key words. "Compareand contrast" means you'll need to look at similarities and differences. "Describe"means you'll be writing a descriptive essay. And so on. knowing the type of essaywill help you determine the best arrangement for your information within the basic3-part essay structure.



The Three-Part Essay Structure

All essays, and even all research papers, have the same underlying structure.Once you've got that down, the layout out of essays, not matter what the topic,

will no longer be a problem. Luckily, it's easy to remember: introduction, body,conclusion. In the next few parts of this guide, I'll cover each of these in detail,but for now I'll go over the basic three-part shape.

Easy As 1-2-3

The three-part structure of essays -- introduction, body, conclusion -- goes likethis:

• tell the reader what you're going to say• say it•

summarize what you've said

And that's it. The hard part, of course, is figuring out how to write the introductionso it introduces the topic, and the conclusion so it summarizes, because youdon't want to write exactly the same thing three times in a row.

One key is to make both the introduction and the conclusion concise -- that is,say things in as few words as possible, saving the elaboration of ideas for thebody of the essay. One way to use the three-part structure would be to ask aquestion in the introduction, explore the possibilities in the body, and answer thequestion in the conclusion. There are lots of other ways this structure can be

used; just make sure that most of the content goes in the body.

Three-Part Essay Structure

Here's what the three-part essay structure looks like in layout form:

1. Introduction2. Body

o paragraph about xo paragraph about y

o paragraph about z

3. Conclusion

You can, of course, have more than three paragraphs in the body, though Iwouldn't recommend fewer than three (there wouldn't be much content).Incidentally, three body paragraphs works well for a 500-word essay (and dividesneatly into 100 words per paragraph, if the introduction and conclusion are eachone paragraph; but be flexible about paragraph length).



Say, for example, you were writing a 500-word essay on symbolism in TheTempest . It's a pretty big topic for 500 words, so perhaps you narrowed it downto the major symbols surrounding the character Prospero, and chose to focus onthe magic books, Caliban, and Ariel. You might lay out your essay something likethis:

1. Introduction: a paragraph stating how you've chosen to examineProspero's books, Caliban and Ariel as symbols important to thecharacter Prospero; and a general idea of what importance they mighthave2. Body

o paragraph about the symbolic significance of Prospero's

bookso paragraph about the symbolic significance of Caliban

o paragraph about the symbolic significance of Ariel3. Conclusion: a paragraph summarizing the general significance of

the three symbols and why you think they're important

There's no rule saying that the introduction and conclusion must only be oneparagraph long; in longer essays, these two parts might also be longer.Generally, though, you should be able to distil your topic into a single paragraph(especially if the essay is to be short).

Three Parts Everywhere

The three-part structure is not only the organizing principle for the essay as awhole. If you were to write a very long essay that you divided up into sections

with subtitles, each of those sections would also have the three-part structure.Even paragraphs follow the three-part structure -- I'll examine paragraphstructure in detail in Part 7. If you can master this concept, you'll have gained oneof the best tools for essay writing (one of the best tools for nearly any kind of writing, really).



The Introduction in Detail

The Introduction

Although the introduction is the first part of an essay, it's usually the part that getswritten last. The reason is that the introduction has to say exactly what is tofollow in the body of the essay, and you can't know for sure what's in the bodyuntil you've written it. Saving the introduction for last is one strategy for writing,another is to write a draft of the introduction first, to give you direction whenwriting the rest of the essay. You'd then revise the introduction once the rest of the essay is complete. So let's look at what an introduction does, and what itshould contain. Then we'll examine the all-important thesis statement.

What an Introduction Does

Essentially, an introduction introduces the topic of the essay (no surprise there, Ihope). Consider what a reader needs to know in order to understand what youare writing about. Are there details of time and place that are important? For example, if your essay is a biographical study of your favourite writer, youprobably want to include the writer's name; what country (and even whatstate/province and city) they are from; what period they were/are writing in; andhow many books, stories, or poems they've written, all in the introduction. If thereis a lot of background material, it can be a good idea to put it in a separateparagraph, with only the very basic information in the introduction itself.

Another function of the introduction is to capture the reader's attention, so they

will want to continue reading. There are a number of ways to do this; some of themost effective devices are a quote from a famous person that relates to your topic, a compelling description or scene, startling statistics, or a question.Anything that will interest a reader and involve them in the topic is good. For example, in an essay about William Shakespeare's The Tempest , you couldopen your essay with a quote from the play, or you describe a scene from theplay, or you could ask "Why is Shakespeare's wizardly character Prosperosurrounded by so many vivid symbols?"

Finally, the introduction states the thesis of the essay; that is, the core idea or essence that you are trying to get across. I'll explain the thesis statement in more

detail below.

What an Introduction Contains

To do all those things I described above, an introduction needs the followingthings (more or less in this order):

• an attention-getter (such as a question, quote, or scene)

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• essential background information about the topic• a thesis statement

Just like the basic essay structure, that's only three things to remember.

The Thesis Statement

Learning to write an effective thesis statement (also called the thesis sentence) isprobably the most important skill you can have as an essay writer (it will also beinvaluable in writing research papers).

The thesis statement is a sentence (or rarely, a couple of sentences) that statesthe subject of the essay, and shows the division of that subject into the subtopicsyou will be discussing (usually in the order they will appear in the essay). If, for example, you are writing an essay that will have three body paragraphs, eachwith its own subtopic, you should mention those three things in your thesis

statement.

Here's an example, using the same hypothetical essay I used in Part 3 whendescribing the three-part structure: "In William Shakespeare's play The Tempest ,Prospero is surrounded by significant symbols; three of the most compelling arethe strange books of magic, the bestial creature Caliban, and the fairy Ariel."

A reader knows from reading this sentence that my essay is going to be aboutsymbolism in Shakespeare's The Tempest , specifically the symbols mostimportant to the character Prospero. In addition, the reader will be expecting thethree symbols to be discussed in (at least) three separate paragraphs, in the

order they are listed in the thesis statement.

Transition

I'll talk more about transitions when we get to paragraph structure in Part 7. For now, though, keep in mind that your essay should progress smoothly fromsection to section, paragraph to paragraph, and introduction to body. Thetransition from introduction to body can be fairly simple. If you've written aneffective thesis statement, the reader is already expecting to skip on to the firstpart of your essay. If you need more room for background information, you maywant to begin your first paragraph after the introduction with a statement such as

"Before looking at the symbolism in The Tempest it is important to mention someof the details of William Shakespeare's life."

All you really need to remember about introductions is that they introduce. As Isaid in Part 3, when writing an essay, you first tell the reader what you're going tosay, then you say it, then you summarize what you've said. The introduction doesthe first part: telling the reader what you're going to say.



The Body in Detail

The BodyThe body of an essay is the main part -- this is where you develop the ideasintroduced in the introduction. The body paragraphs, in other words, support thethesis of the essay (to refresh your memory about the thesis, refer back to Part4). I'll discuss the general structure and contents of the body as a whole here;more detail on individual paragraphs will be found in Part 7 when I addressparagraph structure.

The Shape of the Body

In Part 4, I mentioned that when writing a thesis statement you should include

your ideas or topics in the order you plan to discuss them. Thus, the thesisstatement becomes your blueprint for the order of your essay's body. It's a goodidea to put some thought into that order, though, rather than just listing ideas asthey come to you.

For example, if you were writing an essay about something that happenedgradually -- perhaps following a character's growing insanity -- you wouldprobably want to order your paragraphs so that they follow that processchronologically. Or you might choose to look at the minor causes of thecharacter's madness, and build up to the most important ones.

Remember, though, if you decide to change the order of your paragraphs fromthe order you set out in your thesis statement, go back and change the thesisstatement to match. Good ways to organize and essay body include:

• chronological• cause and effect• least important to most important• simplest to most complicated

You can probably think of others. Be sure to give this some thought and see if you can come up with the best way to present your particular topic (if you can't

decide, use chronological -- you can always switch paragraphs around later).

Separate Ideas

When writing the body of your essay, keep in mind that each new idea (or relatedgroup of ideas) should be in a new paragraph. I'll get into this more in Part 7, butthink of each paragraph as a kind of mini-essay. Each one will have a transitionfrom the one before (kind of like your essay's attention-grabber), each will have a





topic sentence (something like the essay's thesis statement), and each will haveideas or evidence that support the topic sentence (like the body paragraphssupport the thesis statement).

Support the Thesis

When you're trying to decide what information to include in your essay, and whatto leave out, you really only need to consider one thing: does the informationsupport your thesis statement? (In other words, is it included in the specific topicyou're writing about?) If the answer is yes, then see where the best place toinclude that information might be. If the answer is no, leave that information out --even if it's really, really interesting. Alternatively, you could try to re-work your thesis statement to include great bit of information, but don't push it too far, or you'll end up with a mess.

As I mentioned in Part 4, the introduction is often the last part of an essay that

you'll write (but it depends on your personal writing style). Drafting a thesisstatement ahead of time will help give you focus as you write the body, but it canalso be a good idea to re-write the thesis statement after you've written the bodyparagraphs. That way, you can make sure you have a good fit between your thesis and the paragraphs that are supposed to support your thesis. Then allyou'll need is a way to tie everything together.



The Conclusion in Detail

The Conclusion

Once the body of an essay is complete, many writers then work on theintroduction and conclusion at the same time (or one right after the other). Youcould, conceivably, write the conclusion first, if you already know everything thatis going to go in your essay; however, as with the introduction, it's best to havethe body done so you know what needs to be included. In this part of the Guide,I'll go over what an essay conclusion does and what it contains. Then we'll take acloser look at the concluding statement--the final words that can really make anessay work.

What a Conclusion Does

As the introduction introduces, so the conclusion concludes. The conclusion isthe last part of an essay, and it's your final word on the topic of your essay, so itneeds to accomplish a number of things.

First of all, the conclusion must summarize or tie together the main points of theessay. If there is a part of your essay that won't fit into this summarizing/tyingtogether, then you need to seriously consider whether that part really belongs inthe essay. The conclusion is where you show the reader that all the differentthings you've written about in your essay are part of one larger topic, or lead to afinal result, or otherwise belong in the same piece of writing. If there are anyloose ends in your essay, any threads or thoughts that don't quite attach to the

whole yet, tie these up in the conclusion.

If you posed any questions or problems in your introduction, then you mustaddress those questions or problems again in the conclusion. If your essay'sbody paragraphs lead to any answers or solutions, state these again. If thequestions are unanswerable, or the problems insoluble, say so (and summarizewhy, if possible). If the essay was written to explain an experiment, or to presentresearch (you'd more likely write a research paper for this purpose, but you couldalso write an essay), use the conclusion to summarize the results of theexperiment or research.

Conclusions also frequently restate the thesis statement (see Part 4 if you need arefresher on thesis statements). Try to avoid simply rewriting the thesis statementword-for-word, though. Rephrase it to reflect the fact that you've just taken thereader through a thorough exploration of the topic. You can even work your thesis statement into your summary or tying-together of points, so it's an integralpart of concluding the whole. For example, my example thesis statement in theintroduction (see part 4) was, "In William Shakespeare's play The Tempest ,Prospero is surrounded by significant symbols; three of the most compelling are





the strange books of magic, the bestial creature Caliban, and the fairy Ariel." For the conclusion, I might rephrase this statement like so: "The Tempest is full of strange and wonderful symbols, but three of these stand out as the mostsignificant to the story. First is Prospero's magic books--when Prospero casts hisbooks into the sea, he also rejects his magical powers. Second and third are

Caliban and Ariel, two sides of nature--beastly and sublime--and two aspects of Prospero's magic--the demonic and the angelic."

Finally, try to include a "clincher" or thought-provoker right at the end of your essay. This isn't essential, but it can really make the whole essay more effective.The thought-provoker can be a quote, a question, a statement of belief, or a finalobservation (and you can probably come up with more possibilities). Useanything relevant to the topic that will stick with the reader after they've finishedreading the essay. The thought-provoker will be especially effective if it refersback to the attention-getter from your introduction. For example, if you wrote anessay about the symbolism in William Shakespeare's The Tempest , and used a

great quote from the play as your attention-getter, see if you can find another quote from the play that will work as a thought-provoker.

What a Conclusion Contains

As with the introduction, there are really only three things to remember aboutwhat a conclusion should contain (more or less in this order):

• summary of main points or restatement of thesis• answers, solutions, or results• clincher or thought-provoker

Include all those elements, and your conclusion will do all the things a conclusionis meant to do.

The Concluding Statement

Generally, it works best to use your clincher or though-provoker as your concluding statement. Whatever you put in the final sentence of your essay,make sure it will somehow remind the reader of what they have just read. Youmay choose to end quietly, perhaps with some simple statement of fact thatsums everything up; or you may choose to end boldly, with an extravagant quote

or a loud proclamation of opinion. Whether you end with a whisper or a bang,remember that in writing last things have power--choose your final wordscarefully and give your reader something to think about.



The Structure of Paragraphs

Paragraph StructureLike the essay as a whole, each paragraph has a three-part structure. The firstsentence of a paragraph is its introduction, the bulk of the paragraph is its body,and the final sentence is the conclusion.

Paragraph Focus

Before getting into the structure, its important to realize that paragraphs aren'tsimply a way of dividing a long piece of writing into manageable chunks (thoughthey do that, too). Paragraphs give the whole essay its structure by organizing the information in a logical manner. To help do this, each paragraph focuses onone topic or idea. Occasionally, related ideas may be grouped into a singleparagraph if they each take only a sentence or two to explain. In general, though,one idea/topic = one paragraph.

For example, in my hypothetical essay on the symbolism of The Tempest , Iwanted to look at three examples: Ariel, Caliban and Prospero's magic books.Each of these three would be discussed in a separate paragraph, so thestructure of the essay's body might look like this in diagram form:

• Paragraph 1: Ariel as symbolic of the angelic aspects of Prospero'smagic• Paragraph 2: Caliban as symbolic of the demonic aspects of Prospero's magic• Paragraph 3: the books as symbolic of Prospero's magic as awhole

Each of these idea/paragraphs are then arranged relative to each other so theyoccur in a logical order. As discussed in Part 5, the order of paragraphs/ideasfollows the order you mentioned them in your thesis statement. (Careful readersmay have noticed that the order above does not match the order I used inexamples in Parts 3 and 4 of this guide; this was deliberate and you'll see why inPart 9.)

Occasionally, a single idea may need more than one paragraph to explain. Try toavoid this by making your descriptions and explanations concise and exact. If you need to carry an idea over into another paragraph (if, for example, theparagraph is longer than one typed, double-spaced page), make sure to dividethe information at a logical point, and give each of the paragraphs the completethree-part structure. (See "The Paragraph Body" below for more on paragraphlength.)





Introducing the Paragraph

In the same way that the introduction of an essay introduces and outlines thetopic of the whole essay, the introductory sentence (or topic sentence) of aparagraph introduces the topic of the paragraph. It can be a simple statement,

like this: "The fairy Ariel is one of the central symbolic images of The Tempest ."That's all you'd need. The reasons why Ariel is a central symbolic image are thencovered in the body of the paragraph. The introductory sentence may alsocontain a transition from the previous paragraph--see "Transitions," below, for more about that.

The Paragraph Body

The part of the paragraph that is not introduction or conclusion contains the bulkof your information--this is the meat of the essay (where, for example, you wouldexplain why Ariel is a central symbolic image in The Tempest ). Make each

paragraph as long or as short as you need to to present all the necessaryinformation. In "Paragraph Focus," above, I mentioned breaking up paragraphslonger than one typed, double-spaced page. This is only a guideline, so don't feelyou must break up long paragraphs. Sometimes, an idea simply needs moreroom to explore, but can't be divided into smaller parts. If that is the case, leavethe paragraph long.

Other times, you may read over a long paragraph and find a natural break whereyou can divide it into two separate parts. If you find this, then go ahead anddivide. It's usually a good idea to see how the information arranges itself naturallybefore imposing too strict a structure on it. But, just as the essay is arranged with

paragraphs in some sort of logical order or progression, so should a paragraphbe arranged with sentences in a logical order or progression.

Concluding the Paragraph Like the conclusion sums up the essay, so theconcluding sentence of a paragraph sums up the paragraph. Use this sentenceto summarize the information in the paragraph (but don't simply restate theintroductory sentence), or to tie together the information provided so far.Suppose I'd written a paragraph describing the imagery associated with Calibanin The Tempest . I might write a concluding sentence like this: "With all the earthy,animalistic, brutal images I've described above, it's easy to see Caliban as ademonic figure, especially when compared to Ariel's beautiful, airy, angelic

characteristics."

The concluding sentence may also contain a transition to the next paragraph;



Transitions

Transitions create a thread between paragraphs, so your reader isn't lost or

jarred when moving from one idea/paragraph to the next. A transition is simply asentence, or part of a sentence, that connects the material in one paragraph tothat in the next. This creates a smooth read and makes your material seem tomake more sense.

The transition may be part of the concluding sentence of one paragraph, or itmay be part of the introductory sentence of the next paragraph. You could evenhave a transition that is partly in one paragraph's conclusion and partly in thenext paragraph's introduction.

Here's an example of a concluding sentence: "By examining Ariel's symbolic

qualities, it can be seen that this fairy creature represents the positive side of Prospero's power; and if Ariel is angelic, Caliban is equally demonic." Notice howthe first part of the sentence sums up the topic (Ariel as a symbol in TheTempest ), while the second part of the sentence ties the paragraph's topic intothe topic of the next paragraph (Caliban as a symbol).

Now here's an example of an introductory sentence: "Ariel and Caliban maydepict the opposite sides of Prospero's magic, but his strange and beautifulbooks symbolize that magic as a whole." In this example, the topics of both of theprevious paragraphs (Ariel as symbol and Caliban as symbol) are broughttogether with the topic of this new paragraph (the books as symbol).

In a very long essay you may arrange the information in sub-sections, each withits own title. In that case, you also need transitions between sections. Generally,such transitions don't need to be any more complicated that transitions betweenparagraphs, though you may need to use a transition paragraph rather than justa single sentence.



Something About Style

Style

Style is one of the most difficult topics in writing to discuss, and certainly one of the hardest to define. William Strunk and E.B. White, in their classic book TheElements of Style write of style as, "what is distinguished and distinguishing." It'sthe way one writer says something that is different from the way another writer would say it, but it doesn't mean, necessarily, flashy or fancy writing. Essaywriting works best when it is kept simple.

Keep it Simple, Keep it Clear

When writing an essay (and any other piece of writing), you are communicating.The point of an essay is to convey your ideas about a particular topic, so it

doesn't do much good if the reader can't figure out what you are trying to say. Sothe first key to style in essays is keep it simple. Choose simple sentencestructures over complex ones. This doesn't mean you must only use noun-verbor subject-verb-object sentences; it just means you should avoid overlycomplicated phrases. The same goes for explanations. Avoid complexdescriptions that will lose your audience--break explanations down into smaller chunks if you need to. The aim is to explain so your readers can understand, sobe as clear as possible.

Nouns/Verbs Over Adjectives/Adverbs

One thing that many writers don't understand (or don't want to believe), is thatavoiding adjectives and (especially) adverbs will make their writing stronger. Thatisn't to say you should avoid them altogether; they do have their uses, and youprobably wouldn't get very far using no adjectives. However, evocative nounsand strong verbs are nearly always more effective than ordinary nouns withadjectives added and weak verbs coupled with adverbs. Whenever you findyourself relying on adjectives and adverbs to do all the work (or even some of thework), stop and see if you can find better nouns and verbs to use instead. Savethe adjectives and adverbs for where they're really needed, and you'll find themmuch more effective when you do use them.

Qualifiers are Evil

Qualifiers are words and phrases such as rather, a little, maybe, pretty, very,really, perhaps and so on. Strunk and White call them "the leeches that infest thepond of prose, sucking the blood of words." Qualifiers lessen the impact of wordsand sentences. "It it is perhaps evident that William Shakespeare identified prettystrongly with his character Prospero." Can you spot the qualifiers? Why perhapsevident? If you think Shakespeare identified with Prospero, and can support your





claim, then there's no perhaps about it. And why pretty strongly? Words likethese are wishy-washy. They make it seem like the writer is afraid to state whatthey really think. Very, very occasionally, you'll have a legitimate reason to use aqualifier. Most of the time they should be avoided like the evil word-suckingleeches they are.

Don't Overdo It

As with pretty much anything in life, don't overdo things in your writing. As Imentioned above, try not to overcomplicate your sentence structure, descriptionsor explanations. Simplicity, remember? Clarity. But also don't overdo things likefigures of speech. Keep your metaphors clear, for example, and use themsparingly. If you find a really great word that you're dying to use, only put it inyour essay once or twice. If it really is a great word, you won't need it any morethan that, and the less you use it, the more impact it will have. Also don't overdosimplicity itself. You can use sentences more complicated than, "Shakespeare

wrote plays. One of those plays was The Tempest . There is symbolism in thisplay," and so on. Too much simplicity becomes boring; too much complexitybecomes unintelligible.

Above All, Be Yourself

Once you've got it in your mind to write simply and clearly, to prefer good nounsand verbs, to avoid qualifiers, and to be moderate, you only have to writenaturally. Fortunately, you can forget about all those other things for a little while,and simply write. Use your own voice, write in whatever way you feel mostcomfortable--for your first draft. If you have any interest in your topic, your own

natural writing style will best express what you want to say--it will allow your interest to come through and will thus vastly improve your essay. Once you havethat first draft written, though, it's time to remember all those other things I justdiscussed, and do some revising.

But first, here are Strunk and White again: "Young writers often suppose thatstyle is a garnish for the meat of prose, a sauce by which a dull dish is madepalatable. Style has no such separate entity; it is non-detachable, un-filterable.The beginner should approach style warily, realizing that it is himself he isapproaching, no other; and he should begin by turning resolutely away from alldevices that are popularly believed to indicate style--all mannerisms, tricks,

adornments. The approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness,sincerity."



The Dreaded Edit

Editing

Once you've got your essay written, you may be tempted to just hand it in and berid of it. But think of editing as your last chance to get everything right, before thewhole world (or maybe just your teacher) reads it and sees all your little errors.Editing can make the difference between an okay essay and a really good one.

Editing happens on several levels--the word, the sentence, the paragraph, andthe overall structure--plus a couple of related offshoots like fact-checking andanswering the assignment. I won't be looking at paragraph-level editing in detail,but you can go back to Part 7 for a closer look.

Don't Trust the Spellchecker

One of the first things to learn about editing is that you must never trust your word processor's spellchecker. It isn't that it will give you incorrect spellings, it'sthat it sometimes gives you correct spellings for the wrong word. It all dependson the sort of typos you make. Also, the spellchecker can't tell if you accidentallytyped "your" instead of "you're" or "bath" instead of "bathe." So read your workcarefully, looking only at the words. Make sure you have the correct spellings,and check a dictionary if you're not sure. This is a good time to check themeanings of more technical words, too. Did you really mean "translucent," or should it say "transparent"? Even experienced writers make mistakes like these.

Grammar and the Sentence

The next level of editing is the sentence. Read through your work to make surethe writing flows smoothly from sentence to sentence. Look carefully at anythingthe trips you up--it may be an awkward phrase or a bit of screwy grammar. Goodgrammar is important in essay-writing, because you need to communicateclearly, and only good grammar can do that. There are times when you'll want touse a grammatically incorrect structure, but it should be deliberate--to achieve aspecific effect--and not because you are unaware of what a complete sentence

looks like.

Most writers have one or two elements of grammar or sentence structure thatthey often mess up; if you know what your weaknesses are--say your teacher isalways reminding you to use active voice--then pay special attention and look for those problems while you edit. This is also a good time to make sure your sentences fit together into well-structured paragraphs.





Fact Checking

You might be surprised at how many times reporters, for example, or book

reviewers, get some simple fact wrong. I've read reviews where the writer got thetitle of the book wrong, or misspelled the author's name. The problem is when awriter assumes they know, and it usually shows up in the simplest details--theones that would be the easiest to check. I think it's because we all want to makesure to get the really hard stuff right, so we research it carefully. But everybodyknows that winter happens when the Earth is farthest from the Sun, so we don'tbother to look it up. (And that's a bad idea, because that isn't what causes theseasons at all.) Even if you think you know something for a fact, take the time tolook it up and make sure. Because if you get a simple thing wrong, no one'sgoing to trust that you know anything about the more complicated ideas.

Sound Structure

If you've been reading this whole guide in order, you may have noticed that in myShakespeare example, I started out arranging my topics in the order: Prospero'sbooks, Ariel, Caliban. In Part 7, though, I changed that order to: Ariel, Caliban,Prospero's books. It may seem like a small change, but it is quite significant interms of how the essay will flow. When I outlined the essay, it seemed logical toexamine the books first, as they were the symbol that stood out the most. As Iworked on the essay, though, I realized that because they stood out the most,they should be examined last. Ariel and Caliban seemed more and more torepresent parts of Prospero's power, while the books symbolized all of his magic.

Logically, then, it made better sense to look first at the parts and then at thewhole.

So at this level of editing, look at how you've organized your information andmake sure it has the most logical and effective structure. Also look at your transitions between paragraphs and sections to be sure they work as well as theyshould. Sometimes, transitions that just don't work can indicate that two itemsdon't really belong next to each other--change the order of topics around and youmight well solve the problem with the transition.

Addressing the Assignment

Finally, make sure your essay addresses the assignment you were supposed tobe doing. If your assigned topic was "Write an essay on the symbolism of Shakespeare's play The Tempest ," and you wrote an essay titled "Prospero'sMagic as Symbolized by Ariel, Caliban and the Magic Books" as outlined in theexamples, then you've addressed the assignment. If, instead, you wrotesomething called "Shakespeare's Use of the Rhyming Couplet in The Tempest ,"you might be in trouble. Read your assignment carefully, and make sure you've



addressed all aspects of it. The most brilliant essay in the world won't get yougood marks if you wrote it on the wrong topic.

Little-to-Big, or Big-to-Little?

I've said to begin with the word-level editing and work your way up to bigger things. Actually, it often works better the other way around. Try starting bymaking sure you've addressed the topic adequately, then make sure the overallstructure works. Check your facts. Move on to making sure each paragraphworks as a unit, and that each sentence is clear. Then check the meanings andspellings of words, and finish up with a final read-through to make sure it all flowssmoothly.

Referencing And Plagiarism

Referencing and PlagiarismAlmost all the information you'll use in writing essays will have come fromsomewhere else, and it's essential to say where you got it. Referencing--alsocalled "citing sources"--does a couple of things. It helps avoid accidentalplagiarism, it shows you've done your research, and it's simply commoncourtesy. Get in the habit of noting where each piece of information came fromas you do your research, and referencing will be a snap.

Ways of Citing Sources

There are several ways to reference your sources of information, each suited to

different kinds of essays or research papers (and when you get to post-secondary education, you'll find that different fields of study favour differentreferencing styles).

The simplest way to mention sources, and the one you'll most likely use for shorthighschool essays, is to mention them in the text. For example: Ariel first appears in Act I, Scene II of The Tempest, when Prospero calls out, "Comeaway, servant, come: I am ready now; Approach, my Ariel; come." Everythingthat a reader needs to find the specific information mentioned is in the sentence.Also note that the part directly quoted from the play is in quotation marks. Thiskind of referencing is usually all that is needed for essays where you only use

one source; you'll probably have had assignments like this in English class (for example: "Describe the metaphors in The Chrysalids by John Wyndham" and thelike).

When you use many different sources, you may need to use a different kind of referencing to keep everything straight. You could still work the references intothe text as above, but the more sources you use, the harder it can be to includereferences without awkward or repetitive phrasing. The usual way to write





multiple-source essays in university/college is to use parenthetical references.This simply means enclosing the references in parentheses after the specific bitof information that needs the reference. Some of the information will still fall inthe writing itself, but the details are out of the way. There are many varieties of parenthetical reference; your instructor will tell you what style to use and where

to find examples. For now, though, here's one example to show you what I'mtalking about: As Maureen Duffy writes, "Ariel and Caliban are the separate polesbetween which man lies: aery spirit and beast." Both are simply parts of Prospero himself--Ariel the sublime and Caliban the beastly ( The Erotic World of Faery, 178-179). Once again, all the necessary details are included, only now thetechnical parts--title and page numbers--are out of the way in parentheses.Footnotes and endnotes can be used in much the same way; the informationhere in parentheses would instead appear in a note at the bottom of the page or the end of the essay. How much detail goes into the parentheses or notesdepends on the specific style of referencing. If you're to use this kind of citation,your teacher will give you more details.

The Bibliography

For any essay in which you use more that one source, you should include abibliography. The specific arrangement of information within the bibliography canvary somewhat--use whatever format your teacher specifies. Include in your bibliography every source that you mentioned in the text of your essay. If your essay was about a specific literary work, include that, too. Here's an example of atypical entry in a bibliography:

Duffy, Maureen. The Erotic World of Faery . (1972) London, Cardinal: 1989.

The author's name is always first, and the bibliography should be alphabetized bythe author's last name. For more than one author, list the first author in the form"last name, first name" and any additional authors as "first name last name" (for example: "MacDonald, George, and William Morris.") If you have a source withno author given, you can either use "Anonymous" for the author, or list it by title.After the author's name comes the title, usually followed by place published,publisher and date of publication (ask your teacher for the specific format to use).The date in parentheses in the example above is the original publication date.You only need to include that if it is different from the date of the edition youconsulted.

You may sometimes have books or other sources that you looked at for ideas, or which you used to find commonly-known facts, but which you don't actuallymention in the text. It's a good idea to include these in your bibliography as well.However, some teachers will think you're "padding" your bibliography to make itlook like you did more research if you include sources not mentioned in the text.One solution is to title the bibliography "References Consulted"; or you could



divide your bibliography into two parts, with an "Sources Not Cited" section after the main bibliography (you can probably find a better title).



What is Plagiarism?

As I mentioned above, one of the things referencing does for you is to help avoid

plagiarism. Plagiarism is when you copy another person's writing or ideas in away that makes it look like the writing or ideas are your own. Plagiarism can bedeliberate or it can be accidental. It's very easy to plagiarize by accident;fortunately, it's also fairly easy to avoid accidental plagiarism. As for deliberateplagiarism, would you want someone else to steal something you've workedreally hard on?

Avoiding Plagiarism

Referencing and quotation marks are your best tools for avoiding plagiarism.Every time you copy something from another source, note where you got it. If you

copied it word-for-word, put it in quotation marks (if it's a long passage, you canuse a "block quote" instead). If you used the ideas but wrote them in your ownwords, don't use quotation marks but make sure it's clear whose ideas they areand where you found them. Some things, like commonly-known facts, don'trequire references. If you write that the sky is blue and the day is twenty-four hours long, you don't need to say where you found that information. If you includelots of facts like that, though, and you used one or two books to look them up,you should include those books in your bibliography.

It is also possible to cross into plagiarism--or at least look like you haven't put anyoriginal thought into your work--by using too much of another person's writing,

even if you put it all in quotation marks or block quotes. If you find yourself cobbling your essay together out of a series of short quotes, or including bigchunks of quoted text all over the place, or both, try paraphrasing some of it.Paraphrasing means rewriting the text in your own words, usually summarizing or condensing it. You still need to reference the original source for the informationand ideas you've paraphrased, but you won't be copying the exact words (andparaphrased information doesn't need quotation marks). If there is a phrase you

just can't reword without changing the meaning, you can do a combination of paraphrase and quote.

Essentially, you just need to remember three things:

1. paraphrase where possible2. use quotation marks where needed3. always cite your sources



Part 11: Putting it all Together

There are really only a few points to remember when you're working on an essayassignment:

• keep within the assigned topic (talk to your teacher if you need tomake sure)• stay within the assigned length (part of the skill in writing essays istailoring the topic to fit the length)• remember the three-part structure (introduction, body, conclusion)

If you stick to those three things, you should be able to write an essay on anysubject with ease, and even use your creative side to make it fun.

All the Parts Together

I've taken the "symbolism in The Tempest " examples that I used throughout thisguide, and assembled them below, so you can begin to see what the finishedessay might look like. I've aimed at something that would make a good 500-wordessay. The parts in italics describe what things are still needed to make itcomplete.

Prospero's Magic as Symbolized by Ariel, Caliban and the MagicBooks

A suitable quote from the play would make a good attention-getter toopen with. This is followed by the thesis statement: In WilliamShakespeare's play The Tempest , Prospero is surrounded by significantsymbols; three of the most compelling are the bestial creature Caliban,the fairy Ariel, and the strange books of magic. Some background onthe play might be good here, if it's significant to the topic. The paragraphshould conclude with a transition to the body of the essay.

The fairy Ariel is one of the central symbolic images of The Tempest .Ariel first appears in Act I, Scene II, when Prospero calls out, "Comeaway, servant, come: I am ready now; Approach, my Ariel; come." Therest of this paragraph should present evidence for Ariel as an angelic figure and representative of the positive side of Prospero's power. By

examining Ariel's symbolic qualities, it can be seen that this fairycreature represents the positive side of Prospero's power; and if Ariel isangelic, Caliban is equally demonic.

This paragraph should discuss the evidence for Caliban as a demonic figure and the negative side of Prospero's power, and concludes: Withall the earthy, animalistic, brutal images I've described above, it's easy



to see Caliban as a demonic figure, especially when compared to Ariel'sbeautiful, airy, angelic characteristics.

Ariel and Caliban may depict the opposite sides of Prospero's magic, buthis strange and beautiful books symbolize that magic as a whole. The

rest of this paragraph should present the case for the magic books asrepresentative of Prospero's power as a whole. A quote or descriptionfrom the scene where Prospero casts away his books would be a good way to end.

A transition may or may not be needed here, depending on how the last paragraph concluded. Next, restate the thesis: The Tempest is full of strange and wonderful symbols, but three of these stand out as the mostsignificant to the story. First and second are Caliban and Ariel, two sidesof nature--beastly and sublime--and two aspects of Prospero's magic--the demonic and the angelic. As Maureen Duffy writes, "Ariel and

Caliban are the separate poles between which man lies: aery spirit andbeast." Both are simply parts of Prospero himself--Ariel the sublime andCaliban the beastly (The Erotic World of Faery , 178-179). The third, andmost important, symbol is Prospero's magic books--when Prosperocasts his books into the sea, he also rejects his magical powers. Aquote from the play, especially one about the magic books, would be agood way to close and leave a lingering image in the reader's mind.

BibliographyDuffy, Maureen. The Erotic World of Faery . (1972) London, Cardinal:1989.

Shakespeare, William. The Tempest .

And That's It

As with any writing guide, it's best not to think too much about the things I've saidhere while you're actually writing. Use this guide to help you plan out your essayahead of time. Then forget about it for a while, and write a first draft. Then youcan refer back to the guide as you need it, while you work on revising and editingand generally getting your essay to work the way you want it to. And don't forgetto be creative (as long as you still do the assignment you're given). Mostteachers appreciate the efforts of students who try to be both accurate and

interesting. So, good luck!

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