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Before writing an essay refresh your conciseness skills.
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Being concise makes you sound:
•More academic
•More confident
blah
Being concise also:
•Makes your points more clearly
•Allows you room to make more points / expand on
your discussion
How To Cut The Waffle?
1. Get rid of certainty qualifiers. They make you sound unsure
of your points, they add nothing to the essential meaning of
your work, and they reduce the quality of your statements. In
an essay you should project 100% confidence.
I guess I think I know Almost certainly
Maybe
I suppose
Kind of
Obviously
Sort of
Could be
Possibly
No doubt
X
Seemingly Presumably Seemingly One can assume
How To Cut The Waffle?
2. Get rid of unnecessary words. You’ll be amazed how much
you can cut down your work by doing this, and how much
clearer your work will be as a result. (Certainty qualifier in red.)
Eg this: Never let your schooling interfere with your education.
Throughout your senior year you must remain at peace with your inner
self. Look for the path in life that is right for you and only then will you be
ready to be taught. When the pupil is ready to learn, a teacher will
appear. Remember this and you will find your path light up in front of
you, showing you the way into the next chapter of your life and
enlightening you for the rest of your days. (87 words)
Types Of Essays
This is not an exhaustive list, merely a run through of the most
common types of essays.
The Expository Essay – You need to explain, or to acquaint
your reader with, a body of knowledge. By explaining a topic to
the reader, you are demonstrating your own knowledge. An
example topic is: The benefits of euthanasia.
The Persuasive Essay – You must defend your side of an
argument. You are no longer merely showing, you are
convincing. You must choose a side, make a case for it,
consider and refute alternative arguments, and prove to the
undecided reader that the opinion it presents is the best one.
You must be aware of other sides and be fair to them;
dismissing them completely will weaken your own argument.
Types Of Essays
The Argumentative Essay – The art of argumentation is not
an easy skill to acquire. Many people might think that if one
simply has an opinion, one can argue it effectively, and these
folks are always surprised when others don't agree with them.
Additionally, writers of argumentation often forget that their
primary purpose in an argument is to "win" it – to sway the
reader to accept their point of view. It is easy to ignore the
point of view or research of others, and to accept one's own
opinion as gospel, even if the writer has not checked their
premise or, as is the case for many young writers, never
questioned the beliefs inherited from others. One of the first
things you must do is become an expert on the issue. Care
should be taken that if you read one side, you also read the
other. Far too many individuals only read the side that they
already believe in.
Types Of Essays
The Review – Your goal is to evaluate a work. Your opinion
plays a significant role in the process, but a certain objective
standard needs to be maintained and, as in a persuasive
essay, your assertions need to be proved. The formality of the
review will be determined by how much of the essay is
analysis, how much is summary, and how much is your
reaction to the work you are reviewing. Newspapers and
popular magazines tend to review in terms of finance: is this
record or film worth spending money on? Critical journals will
attempt to determine whether a new novel or play has
achieved something new and significant. A good review will
discuss both the qualities and the importance of a given work.
Types Of Essays
The Research Essay – Writing a research paper involves
going to source material and synthesising what you learn from
it with your own ideas. You must find texts on the subject and
use them to support the topic you have been given to explore.
Because it is easy to become lost in a wilderness of outside
material, you must take particular care to narrow your topic.
The greatest danger inherent in the research essay is
plagiarism. If your paper consists of a string of quotations or
paraphrases with little input of your own, you are not
synthesising but copying, and you should expect a low grade.
If any of the borrowings are unacknowledged, you are
plagiarising, and the penalties are severe.
Types Of Essays
The Exploratory Essay – You start without an end in mind.
You don’t necessarily know how what you want to say about a
subject, you allow the research to determine the outcome. This
is writing to learn rather than writing to prove what you know.
You need to look at and contribute to a range of arguments,
widening your vision to the whole conversation. There are two
main ways to compose an exploratory essay. The in process
method produces immediacy, while the retrospective method
produces more artistically designed essays. Exploratory
essays consider the strengths and weaknesses of solutions to
perplexing problems.
Types Of Essays
The Literary Essay – You are exploring the meaning and
construction of a piece of literature, focusing on such elements
as structure, character, theme, style, tone, and subtext. You
are taking a piece of writing and trying to discover how and
why it is put together the way it is. You must adopt a viewpoint
on the work in question and show how the details of the work
support your viewpoint. It may be your own interpretation,
based on your reading of the piece, or a mixture of your
opinions and references to the criticism of others, much like a
research paper. Be wary of plagiarism and of letting the
opinions of more experienced writers swamp your own
response to the work. If you are going to consult the critics, you
should reread the literary work you are discussing and make
some notes on it before looking at any criticism.
Types Of Essays
The Explication Essay – You take the text you are examining
apart to see how it works. You examine it, dissect it, explore
the effect of language, and put it back together in such a way
that your reader shares your understanding of the text.
Teachers are there to help. Ask for help when you need it.
Literary Essay – Long Tips
Remember not to trust the spellchecker on your computer. It
will often not recognise typographical errors such as 'from'
instead of 'form', so proof read personally. In the poem below
there are no spelling errors a computer will underline in red.
Also, the spellchecker on your computer uses American
spelling, which is not acceptable.
Know More Miss Takes
I have a spelling checker.
It came with my PC.
It plainly marks four my revue
Miss Steaks I cannot sea.
I've run this poem threw it,
I'm sure your please to no.
It's letter perfect in its weigh;
My checker tolled me sew.
Literary Essay – Poetry Example
1. Understand The Question
You must make sure that you understand the question before
you begin the essay. Any misinterpretation of the question will
mean that you won’t succeed.
Pretend my essay question is: ‘Poets use poetry as a means of
expression. How has the poet expressed their idea(s) in one
poem you have studied?’
My understanding of this question is:
•I only pick one poem to study.
•I have to identify the idea being expressed by the poet.
•I have to identify how they expressed the idea - that means I
have to find the poetry techniques used and understand why
the poet used them (how did it get the idea across?).
•I have to focus on techniques and the poet's intentions.
Literary Essay – Poetry Example
2. Plan The Essay
Now that you understand the question, make an essay plan
based on your understanding.
Pick one poem to study- My Busconductor by Roger McGough.
Identify the poet’s idea - The poetry text book I got it from says,
"The busconductor in the poem knows that he is at the end of
his life and consequently he savours every aspect of daily
living." After reading the poem, I understand that to mean that
because the busconductor knows he is going to die (imminent
kidney failure) his love of life is renewed and he tries to live
each moment to the full because it could be his last, and the
poet wants the reader to understand that we should too,
regardless of whether we are dying. We could die at any time -
don't waste life.
Literary Essay – Poetry Example
Identify the techniques and why the poet used them (500-700 word
essay, so 4 or 5 is a good number):
Technique Why poet used them
Repetition - "One day he'll clock on and never Creates a strong rhythm that sounds like time ticking away. The message in the two lines that
clock off / or clock off and never clock on." the bus conductor could die any day creates a sense of time running out. A strong reminder
that we are all drawing closer to our own deaths.
Rhetorical question - "The sameold streets look Directs the reader to consider whether the sky has always looked so blue. Answer is yes, but
different … as through new glasses. / And the sky / the previous statement that the same old streets look different as though through new glasses
was it ever so blue?" tells us that it is the bus conductor's new perspective on life that makes things look different.
It challenges the reader to think about the things in their life that are beautiful, but are taken
for granted, and appreciate them fully.
Joining words together - "busconductor" Creates a sense of being in a rush. It is as though the narrator in the poem is in a hurry to tell
"busticket" "gasmeter" "factorygirls" "oldman" the story of the bus conductor, because there is so much to do in life. The narrator's words are
"passby" "sameold" “deepdown” "busshelter" hurried. It reflects the message that we should be appreciating life, and living it to the full.
Simile – “puts the shilling in his bag / as a child Compares the excitement of a child when they are allowed to put the coin into the gas meter,
into a gasmeter.” with the bus conductor putting a shilling into his coin bag. For the child, it would be one of
the first times they were allowed to; they are excited at the prospect of this new and ‘adult’
activity. It reminds us that this childlike joy becomes worn over time as we repeat tasks. The
message to the reader is to remember the childlike joy, and learn to enjoy even the most
repetitive tasks.
Metaphor – “And all the time / deepdown in the The word “And” indicates a change of tone here, which indicates that while the bus
deserted busshelter of his mind / he thinks about his conductor is enjoying life to the full, deep down he is constantly thinking about “his journey
journey nearly done.” nearly done”. The bus shelter in his mind is deserted, as there are no more buses coming on
the route of his life, he is on his final trip. The reader is reminded that there are a
limited number of things that they can do in one lifetime.
Essay Planner – Box Framework
Introduction Point 1 Point 2