EVENT 30 - Developing writing skills 4: an essay

 

EVENT 30 Developing writing skills 4: an essay

An essay is a piece of writing that has more than one or two paragraphs and is organized in a specific way, expressing an opinion about something. 

It contains an introductory paragraph, the body, and the concluding paragraph.

The thesis statement: a single sentence that introduces and summarizes the essay. It presents the author's idea or opinion and gives the specific topic and the main idea of the essay. Is your thesis sufficiently complex to hold the interest of your audience?

The body: in the body of the essay, you explain and support the main idea with evidence (giving reasons, explanations, facts, examples to show why you believe something). 

The concluding paragraph: the concluding paragraph restates the main idea of the thesis statement. It can contain a summary of the supporting details, make a prediction or bring suggestions about the future.

Your essay should accomplish all the following: 

1. effectively addresses the topic;
2. is well organized and well developed, using clearly appropriate explanations, exemplifications, and/or details;
3. displays unity, progression, and coherence;
4. displays consistent facility in the use of language, demonstrating syntactic variety, appropriate word choice, and idiomaticity.

Adapted from English & English, 2004.