An essay is a type of literature that was originally designed to be read by an audience and to guide the reader through a complicated thought process. In modern times, however, the definitions of an essay and its purpose are a little different. Today, an essay can be defined as a prose piece that explores a particular topic and offers the reader valuable information, opinion, or both.
If you’re still trying to figure out what an essay is and how to write one, then this article is for you. Below, you’ll discover some invaluable tips from seasoned essay writers that will help you craft an eye-catching piece that convinces the reader to keep reading.
Understand The Difference Between Fact And Opinion
One of the most important things to keep in mind when writing an essay is that it’s a completely differently animal from a traditional journalistic piece or a casual rant. When writing an essay, you’re expected to present both fact and opinion as equally valuable pieces of information, without any clear indication of which is which. The best essays not only feature a healthy mix of both, but they do so in a compelling way that makes the reader want to continue reading.
To set the record straight: opinion pieces in newspapers and news websites are still considered to be essays, and the format still allows for both fact and opinion to be presented. The key difference between an essay and a commentary or a casual, fly-by-night blog post is that an essay is supposed to be more in-depth and have a bit more structure. In an essay, you are expected to give your interpretation of the facts presented and argue for or against some point you’re making.
Make Sure You Actually Have Some Facts
Believe it or not, one of the most common mistakes made by people who try to write an essay is that they don’t do their research first. You can’t go around making bold statements and fluffing the facts to make them fit your argument, so you end up sounding like a complete idiot (and probably scared the hell out of your readers at the same time).
The worst thing you can do is write an essay with completely fictional examples and events, spicing up the discourse with a sprinkling of creative language. Your readers have to be able to believe either your examples or your conclusions, and if you don’t have any facts to back them up with, then you’re in big trouble. At the very least, you’ll annoy and infuriate your audience by talking down to them.
Learn How To Research
If you want to write an essay that’s going to be considered legitimate, you need to learn how to do proper research. This is absolutely vital – if you don’t know how to do research, then you’ll have no idea how to evaluate the sources you do come across and how to properly credit them. If you have access to libraries, do yourself a favor and start using them. The moment you start feeling stuck, stop and go back to the library and ask one of the librarians for help.
Proper research doesn’t mean going around asking people for their opinions or using open-ended questions on social media. It means using solid, referenced sources that will back up your claims and arguments. It means gathering enough evidence to present a full picture rather than a single, biased point of view. And, last but not least, it means double-checking everything you wrote to ensure that it’s free of errors before handing it in.
Don’t Forget To Include Valuable Lessons
The best essays not only teach the reader something new, but they do so while presenting both sides of an argument. One of the best ways to do that is to include a list of valuable lessons the reader can learn from the experience. For example, at the end of my English essay on John Quincy Adams, I included a list of tips for people who wanted to improve their writing skills. That’s not what an essay is, but it’s something that can help make your writing stand out in a good way.
If you write an essay for your English teacher, she may give you an A for effort, but she’ll also most likely frown upon your rambling and incoherent thoughts. In that case, don’t worry – an A in English is still an A in the classroom, and you can always write another essay for a different teacher in a different subject. The point is that you should always write what you know, what you’ve experienced, and what you feel is worth saying. Sometimes, writing an essay can help you discover new things about yourself, the world, or both.
The above tips should help you craft an essay, but, ultimately, what you need to do is write what you feel is important and vital to say. To give you some inspiration, here are a few good examples of essays from around the world of academia: