It is a popular homework assignment at school and a frequently requested proof of academic achievement: the essay. As with all types of text, there are a few points to consider for a good essay, check here to know about those checklists at cheetahpapers.com. We explain to you what they are and what is important when writing an essay.
This is how the essay writing succeeds
There are some things that you cannot avoid during your school days and later during your academic career. Writing an essay is likely to be one of them. But as with, everything is half as wild. Because, as for all written essays, analyzes, and interpretations, there is a certain schema in terms of essay writing that you can follow. If you stick to it, it is not that difficult to write a successful essay.
What is an essay anyway?
An essay is a short treatise on a literary or scientific question. You could also say that an essay is nothing more than an explanatory or argumentative on a particular issue. In contrast to or housework, the focus here is not on the technology of scientific work. Rather, it is about presenting your line of thought and argumentation convincingly and developing it in front of the reader, so to speak. That is why an essay can also be seen as a kind of thought attempt designated in which you consider a subject from science, culture or society as cleverly as possible.
The advantage: Since you don’t have to prove that you can work scientifically correctly, this type of text offers you some freedom.
Instead of formal requirements, an essay is primarily about reflecting on the chosen topic, working out your theses and perspectives and taking a position. It’s about your ideas, arguments, and thoughts, not about the positions of others. Therefore, you should also refrain from directly in an essay, which means you do not need to provide footnotes.
The different types of essays
Different types of essays can be distinguished depending on the topic and approach:
- The comparative essay deals with two different topics, which are, however, connected and compared in a certain way. In this way, differences and similarities between these two topics are worked out.
- The argumentative essay is about convincing the reader of your point of view. You will discuss a specific topic and contrast the pros and cons.
- The explanatory essay relates to a specific situation or process and has the task of explaining and explaining it. To do this, he lists the most important aspects of the respective topic.
- The analytical essay analyzes and interprets a literary work in terms of its motifs, characters, and meanings.
- At the university, there is usually talk of a scientific essay. This is characterized by a succinct scientific argumentation. It is subject to the style of presentation of the respective subject and a methodological justification. But here too the following applies: It is about an independent argumentation, not about the stringing together of definitions or theoretical statements of others. Rather, you should relate your knowledge of the topic and let the famous red thread in your reasoning be recognized. Each faculty has its guidelines here, which you can usually find on the respective homepage. It defines the structure, scope (usually four to eight pages) and formalities. A scientific essay can be written as an explanatory, argumentative, analytical or comparative essay.
Write an essay: The right structure
Regardless of the type of your essay, the structure is always the same. As with all written essays, from poem interpretation to discussion at the university, the essay consists of a three-part structure consisting of an introduction, the main part, and a conclusion.
Introduction
The introduction is about introducing the topic. To do this, you formulate a thesis or guiding question, which you will explain and explain in more detail later in the text. For example, you can take up a current study on the topic or refer to a current political discussion. Since an essay should reflect your opinion or your point of view, the introduction can also be subjective. It is important that it arouses the reader’s interest and represents a conclusive introduction to your train of thought. This is the only way to understand why you selected the topic and why it is relevant to deal with it at all.
Tip 1: Classically, introductions often begin with phrases such as “Everyone knows …”, “Currently there is a discussion …”, or “A current study shows …”. While this is a fairly easy way to start a text, it is also not very original. Choose this variant only as a stopgap solution if you really can’t think of anything else. Better choose a more creative start, for example by briefly describing a specific situation that fits your topic and in which your readers can put themselves in the picture. This sets you apart from the crowd and creates an incentive to continue reading.
Tip 2: Do not write the introduction until you have finished your essay. Because in the course of the writing, the focus can shift or aspects come to the fore that you have not even thought about before.
Bulk
The main part is the heart of every written work. In the main part, you explain the topic of your essay. How you do this depends somewhat on the type of essay you choose. In an explanatory essay, you should provide more explanatory information; in an argumentative essay, your line of argument is in the foreground. In general, however, it is always about providing arguments for and / or against your thesis set out in the introduction.
You should explain each main idea in a separate paragraph and combine the individual paragraphs with successful transitions. Subheadings are rather uncommon. Your train of thought should be structured and linked with each other. Subjective elements may and should even be included – after all, it’s about your thoughts! Just writing down your opinion is not enough. Your attitude must always be justified or made plausible with examples.
Tip 3: Think about an argumentative strategy. That means: Which arguments and counter positions do you want to include? And how do you want to compare them? Should pros and cons arguments alternate? In general, there are no precise specifications here. It is important that your reasoning is conclusive and builds on each other.
Enough
The final part rounds off your essay and concludes. The conclusion is often used to summarize the most important arguments, to confirm your thesis and to answer the question from your introduction. However, this quickly leads to the fact that you repeat yourself and only write down again what you have already explained in detail in the main part. This is especially boring for your readers. It is more exciting if, based on your explanations from the main part, you give an outlook, for example, and offer solutions, for example, when analyzing a literary work, explain why this aspect of the work is still relevant today. This not only shows that you can deal with a topic, but that you are also able to develop your thoughts.
In general, the following applies: The writing of an essay is intended to promote critical assessment and consideration of various (scientific) positions. You should learn to develop your ideas from other opinions and facts and to put them into a larger overall context. For this reason, an essay can never and must never fully depict all the details of a topic. You don’t have to provide any new insights either but show new perspectives.
Language and style of an essay
In addition to the structure and content, the linguistic design of your text also plays an important role in essay writing. Because with your language style you can not only make your text interesting but also convincing. What good is the best argument if it is not linguistically precise? Even weaker arguments are much more meaningful if you maybe illustrate them with a comparison or a metaphor.
Overall, you should choose an objective style, but you can also incorporate such as rhetorical questions, alliterations, allusions, repetitive figures or metaphors. Before you worry about original linguistic flowers, the most important thing is intelligibility. The language should support your fluid argumentation process and enable a pleasant reading flow.
Essay writing in English
Essay writing is also a popular exam assignment in English classes. The requirements and expectations are the same here – only that you have to put everything in. The three-part structure with introduction, body, and conclusion is identical to an essay that you write in.
Tip 4: If you should write an essay in English, pay attention to the task. It tells you exactly how to build your essay and what type of essay to choose:
- evaluate: You should examine a procedure based on defined criteria (which are mentioned in the task).
- discuss: You should compare pro and contra arguments and use this as the basis for a final judgment.
- comment: You should comment on the topic with your opinion and supplement it with reasons and examples.
- justify: Here you should explain and justify why a decision is right or wrong
- assess: You should weigh the advantages and disadvantages of a situation and draw a conclusion from it.
- compare: This is about comparing and naming differences and similarities on a topic.
- Contrast: Here you should focus on the main differences, point out and justify them and relate them to your previous knowledge.
