An essay is a composition usually written from the author's point of view, whether written in first or third person. Essays include a wide variety of content: personal stories; observations; criticism; political manifestos; and more. An essay may read like a standard article, a short story, or some other composition.
Most people first write essays in secondary school, and those who go to college or university become well-acquainted with the essay there. But essays have many uses outside academia. For example, someone who wants to record his or her life experiences to be read by future generations would benefit from learning how to write an essay and adapt it to the expression of those experiences. Once you get the basics of essay writing mastered, you are far better prepared to write other forms more effectively too.
The typical essay consists of an introduction, a conclusion, and paragraphs in between covering several sub-topics. Essays are usually under 1,000 words, though there is no real limit.
If you have never mastered essay writing but think it may be a good tool to have in your writer's toolbox, here are instructions for doing so.
First, pick a topic. Suppose you want to write about your experiences growing up so that your grandchildren or great-grandchildren will learn about your life. First, you should pick a specific incident you would like to recount in your essay. Very broad topics, such as "childhood" can be too broad for effective essay writing. You should narrow it down to a specific incident, such as "Making homemade jam during blackberry season."
Once you have a topic, form that topic into a title for your essay. It should be short, but informative about the contents of your essay.
The next thing to do is to create an outline. It does not have to be a formal outline like you were taught in composition class. It can be an informal list jotted down somewhere convenient. Be sure to include "Introduction" and "Conclusion" on your outline. An essay usually covers three to five subtopics. For the above topic, an outline may be something like this:
1. Introduction
2. July in North Carolina: berries everywhere
3. Picking berries: sights, sounds, smells
4. Getting ready for jam-making
5. Making and canning jam
6. Special memories of jam-making
7. Conclusion
Your introduction should start out broad, perhaps with a statement about why you remember so clearly making blackberry jam. Then it should narrow down to where it naturally flows into your sub-topics. In this example, there are five sub-topics between the introduction and conclusion.
Write a cohesive paragraph about each of your sub-topics. Each paragraph should run 100 to 150 words or so. If a paragraph runs on, consider dividing it into two or more.
Your conclusion should be very much like your introduction, except it should start more specific and broaden to a fairly broad conclusion, such as, "Making blackberry jam every summer is one of the dearest memories I have of spending time with my mother."
Let your essay sit overnight before going back and correcting any errors. Be sure to save and back up copies on your computer so you don't lose your valuable work!
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