ESSAY-WRITING

The word Essay is defined in "The Concise Oxford Dictionary" as "a literary composition

(usually prose and short) on any subject." Properly speaking, it is a written composition

giving expression to one's own personal ideas or opinions on some topic; but the term

usually covers also any written composition, whether it expresses personal opinions, or

gives information on any given subject, or details of a narrative or description.

In fact the word "Essay" is somewhat loosely applied to a variety of compositions, from

Bacon's compressed "Essays" on the one hand, to those so called "Essays" of Macaulay,

some of which are lengthy articles, almost as big as small books, on the other.

[Addison's Essays are good models for Indian students, because of their brevity and

simple directness of style.]

So far as we are concerned here, an essay is an exercise in composition; and it is well to

remember that the word essay means, literally, an attempt. (Compare the verb "to essay",

with the accent on the second syllable, meaning to attempt or try.)

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD SCHOOL ESSAY

1. Unity. An essay must be a unity, developing one theme with a definite purpose. The

subject must be clearly defined in the mind and kept in view throughout. Nothing that is

not relevant to it should be admitted to the essay. At the same time, the subject may be

treated in a variety of ways and from different points of view.

2. Order, The essay should follow a certain ordered line of thought and come to a definite

conclusion. It should not consist of haphazard reflections put down anyhow. There should

be not only unity of subject but also unity of treatment. Hence the necessity for thinking

out a line of thought before beginning to write.

3.Brevity. School essays should not be long. The limit should be about three hundred

words; though, of course, there can be no strict rule as to length, which will depend a

good deal on the nature of the subject. But an essay should be a brief exercise, concisely

expressed.

4. Style, In friendly letters, the style should be conversational - easy, natural and familiar;
and in writing such letters we may use colloquial terms which would be out of place in a
book. But the style of an essay must be more dignified and literary. Slang, colloquial
terms and free and easy constructions are not proper in an essay. At the same time it is a
mistake to attempt any flights of fine writing. The language and sentence construction
should be simple, direct and natural. The secret of clear writing is clear thinking. "If you
clearly understand all about your matter, you will never want thoughts, and thoughts
instantly become words." This was said by Cobbett, a writer whose style is a model of
clearness, simplicity and directness.
5. The Personal Touch. An essay should reveal the personal feelings and opinions of the
writer. It should have his individuality in it. Strictly speaking, as has been already said, an
essay is a written composition giving expression to one's personal ideas or opinions on a
subject; and this personal touch should not be lost, or the essay will be colourless and
devoid of individuality. So do not be afraid to express in your essays your own views,
and do not be content with repeating the opinions of others. Let there be a note of
sincerity in all that you write.

CLASSIFICATION OF ESSAYS


Essays may be classified as Narrative Essays, Descriptive Essays, Expository Essays,
Reflective Essays and Imaginative Essays. The classification is useful, so long as it is
remembered that these classes are not mutually exclusive, and that some essays may
partake of the peculiarities of more than one class. For example, a narrative essay may
contain a good deal of description; and essays of all classes should be more or less
reflective, for the original idea of this form of composition is an expression of the writer's
own feelings and opinions about a given subject. For this reason, let us begin with :-

1. Reflective Essays :-
A reflection is a thought on some subject-on an idea arising in the mind. So a reflective
essay consists of reflections or thoughts on some topic, which is generally of an abstract
nature; for example; (a) habits, qualities, etc., such as truthfulness, thrift, temperance,
cowardice, heroism, patriotism, industry, etc., (b) social, political and domestic topics,
such as riches and poverty, caste, democracy, liberty, government, family life, education,
marriage, business, etc., (c) philosophical subjects, such as right and wrong, reality,
consciousness, the meaning of the universe, etc.; or (d) religious and theological topics.
In treating such themes, you should try (i) to explain, for example, the importance or
advantages of possessing good habits and qualities, and the risks and disadvantages of
lacking them; and quote stories, fables, or historical or literary references in support of
your statements; (ii) discuss the importance of social institutions etc.; (iii) expound and
discuss philosophical and theological theories. You should reason and support your
statements with arguments and facts.

2. Narrative Essays :-
A narrative essay consists mainly in the narration of some event, or series of events. I say
"mainly" because a narrative essay must not be confused with a short story or bits of
history. The narrative it relates should be treated as a subject for thought and comment,
and so the essay should be more or less reflective. Narrative essays may treat of- (a)
historical stories or legends (e.g., the reign of Akbar, the story of Rama and Sita); (b)
biographies (e.g., life of Shivajee, or of Babar); (c) incidents>(e.g., a street quarrel, a
festival, a marriage); (d) an accident or natural disaster (e.g., a flood, a fire, a ship-wreck,
an earthquake; (e) a journey or voyage; (f) a story (real or imaginary).

3. Descriptive Essays :-
A descriptive essay consists of a description of some place or thing; e.g., (a) animals,
plants, minerals (such as the elephant, the pipal tree, coal); (b) towns, countries,
buildings, etc., (e.g., Mumbai, Italy, the Taj Mahal); (c) aspects and phenomena of nature (such as volcanoes, the monsoon, sunlight, organic life); and (d)
manufactured articles (such as motor-cars, steam-engines, silk, paper, etc.).

4. Expository Essays :-
An expository (or explanatory) essay consists of an exposition or explanation of some
subject; e.g. : (a) institutions, industries, occupations {e.g., parliament, the press, silkweaving,
farming, etc.): (b) scientific topics (such as gravitation, evolution, astronomy,
etc.); (c) literary topics (such as the nature of poetry, prose styles, the genius of
Shakespeare, the novels of Scott, history of fiction, etc.).
5. Imaginative Essays :-
Essays on subjects such as the feelings and experiences of the sailor wrecked on a desert
island may be called imaginative Essays. In such the writer is called to place himself
in imagination in a position of which he has had no actual experience. Such subjects as
"If I were a king," or "The autobiography of a horse," would call for imaginative essays.

HINTS ON ESSAY-WRITING


1. General Preparation:-
One of the chief difficulties young people feel in essay-writing is lack of matter. They do
not easily find anything to say about a subject. This is natural, because their experience
and general reading are limited. But it may be remedied by reading, and by training the
power of observation.
(a) Reading :- Bacon said, "Reading make a full man"; that is, a person who reads much
and widely stores his mind with a large variety of facts, thoughts, illustrations and general
information. If you want to write good essays you must acquire a love of reading-not
simply reading stories for amusement, but reading good books of history, travel,
biography and science. Fill your mind with fine thoughts and accurate information. By so
doing you will become "a full man", and "a full man" can always find plenty to say on
most subjects.
(b) Observation :-But all knowledge does not come from books. "We may learn much
from the life around us - what we see and hear and observe for ourselves. Keep eyes and
ears open, and learn from your own experience. Practise writing short descriptions of
what you see in everyday life - the people you meet, bits of scenery that strike you,
buildings, street scenes, trees and flowers, hills and valleys, the habits of animals and
birds. Don't be contented with reading other people's description of such things, but see
them for yourself It is surprising what a lot may be learnt from personal observation.
(c) Conversation :- Books are written by men and women; and if we can learn from the
books they write, we can learn also from the words they say. Listen to people's
conversation; get them to talk to you about the things they know, and discuss subjects
that interest you, with your friends. In this way, also, you may learn much.







2. Special Preparation :-
Now we come to the special preparation needed for writing an essay on some particular
subject; and the first thing we must do is to define the subject.
(a) Defining the Subject :- It is very important that you should have a clear and accurate
conception of the subject of the essay before you attempt to write on it-what exactly it is
and (equally important) what it is not. Some subjects are so simple that you can scarcely
make a mistake about them; but some want looking into to define them exactly. For
example, "The Uses of Computers". The subject is not how computers work. Nor is it the
history of computers. Yet some students, carelessly reading the subject, might easily take
up a large part of their essay with such topics. In a short school-essay there is no room for
irrelevant matter. You have to come to the point at once, and start away with the subject.
The subject in this case is the uses of computers in offices, in industries, in aircraft, in
spacecraft, etc. It is, therefore, very necessary that you should define the subject clearly in
your own mind, or you may waste much time and paper in writing on more or less
irrelevant matters.
(b) Collecting materials :- (i) Reading up the Subject :- When you have got a clear idea of
your subject, the next step will be to think of what you can say about it. Some subjects
are so simple that a little reflection should supply you with sufficient material for a short
essay; but for others, special information will be needed for which you may have to do
some special reading. For instance, if you have to write about some historical subjects, or
give a description of some country you have seen, you will have to get hold of some book
and read the subject up. But in any case, you have to collect materials for your essay
before you can write it. In schools, class-discussions on the subject, under the guidance of
the teacher, are very helpful in this stage of special preparation. In any case, do not
attempt to write the essay before you have given some time to thinking over what you can

say on the subject. The common habit of beginning to write down the first thing that
comes into one's head, without knowing what is to come next, is fatal to good essaywriting.
(ii) Collection :- As you think over the subject, ideas, facts, and illustrations will pass
through your mind. But if you don't catch them as they come, you may forget them just
when you want them. So, as you catch birds and put them in a cage, catch and cage these
fleeting thoughts by jotting them down on a piece of paper just as they come into your
head, without troubling yourself at this stage about their order or suitability. You can
examine the birds thus causht at vour leisure later. (To save time afterwards, and for convenience of reference, number these
notes as you jot them down.)

(iii) Selection :- When you think you have collected enough material for your essay, or
you can't think of any more points, read over the notes you have jotted down to select the
points most suitable for your purpose. Examine at your leisure the birds in the cage, to
see what they are worth. You may find that some points are not very relevant or won't fit
in; cross them out. You may find that some are mere repetitions of others; and others may
be simply illustrations to be brought under main heads. This process of selection will
probably suggest to you in a general way the line of thought you may follow in the essay.
(c) Logical Arrangement :- Now you should be ready to decide on the line of thought of
the essay, i.e., the logical order in which you can arrange the points you have selected.
The necessity of thus arranging your thoughts according to some ordinary plan cannot be
too strongly insisted upon. Without it, the essay will probably be badly arranged,
rambling, disproportioned, and full of repetitions and irrel-evancies.
(i) Making the outline :- Bearing your subject definitely in your mind and with your
purpose clearly before you, sketch out a bare outline of the main heads, under which you
will arrange your various materials in a natural, logical and convincing order - from a
brief Introduction to an effective Conclusion.
(ii) Filling in the Outline :- Having thus mapped out the main points with which you are
going to deal, arrange the ideas you have collected each under its proper main head,
rejecting all those not really relevant to your subject or which simply repeat other
thoughts, and taking care that each really belongs to the division in which you place it.
You will now have a full outline, which is to be a guide to you in writing the essay. But this is not the essay, but only its well-articulated skeleton. You must now clothe the
skeleton with flesh, and (most difficult of all) breathe into it the breath of life, before you
can call your production an essay

EXAMPLE


To illustrate this method of collecting materials and drawing up an outline, let us work
out together a simple example for an essay on, say, "The Elephant."
The subject is so simple, that we need not spend any time defining it. What is wanted is
evidently a Descriptive Essay, and all we have to do is to think of all we can say about
the Elephant,
So we can set to work at once catching and caging our birds, or, in other words, jotting
down, as they come into our mind, all we can remember about elephants. The thoughts
may come to us something like this, and we will put them down and number them as they
occur to us.