What do you know about Essays?

• What is an Essay?
  

An essay is a short piece of writing that discusses, describes or analyzes one topic. It can discuss a subject directly or indirectly, seriously or humorously. It can describe personal opinions, or just report information. An essay can be written from any perspective, but essays are most commonly written in the first person (I), or third person (subjects that can be substituted with the he, she, it, or they pronouns).

• Which are the parts of an Essay?

Introductory paragraph:

Your essay should start with an introductory paragraph. There are actually many different ways to begin an essay; therefore, the format of the introductory paragraph is flexible. Often, essays begin with a general introductory statement. This statement could be an anecdote, description, striking statistic, a fact that will lead to your thesis, etc. Beginning this way, you will use the first few sentences to prepare, or "lay the groundwork" for your thesis, and use the last sentence of the first paragraph to present your thesis. However, your thesis statement can be anywhere in your introduction. In a longer essay, you can even wait to present your thesis until the second paragraph or later. Also for a longer essay, you should begin to introduce a few supporting ideas in the first couple of paragraphs. These supporting ideas should be the topics that you will discuss in full in your body paragraphs. For a short essay, presenting supporting ideas during the introduction is optional.

Supporting paragraphs:

Your second paragraph generally begins the body of the paper. (For a longer paper, the body of the paper may not begin until the third paragraph or later). This paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that introduces the first supporting idea (the support for your thesis). You should use the middle of the paragraph to discuss your support, give examples, and analyze the significance of these examples. Your last sentence of the body paragraph could be used to draw a conclusion for that supporting idea, or to transition into the next paragraph.

Your next two body paragraphs should follow the same format as your first body paragraph. They should each have a separate topic sentence and supporting ideas, but the three paragraphs should work together to prove your thesis. If you are writing a longer paper, you will have more than three body paragraphs, but they should all follow this format.

To connect your supporting paragraphs, you should use special transition words. Transition words link your paragraphs together and make your essay easier to read. Use them at the beginning and end of your paragraphs.

-For listing different points:
First
Second
Third
-For counter examples:
However
Even though
On the other hand
Nevertheless
-For additional ideas:
Another
In addition to
Related to
Furthermore
Also
-To show cause and effect:
Therefore
Thus
As a result of
Consequently

Summary paragraph:

The form of your conclusion, like your introduction, is flexible. One good way to conclude a paper is to begin the last paragraph with a statement that reflects on what has been stated and proved, without repeating it exactly. Then you should briefly restate your key points to gently remind the reader how well you proved your thesis. Your conclusion should end with a statement or idea that leaves a strong impression and provokes further thought.

• The thesis statement

A thesis statement in an essay is a sentence that explicitly identifies the purpose of the paper or previews its main ideas. A thesis is the main idea, not the title. It must be a complete sentence that explains in some detail what you expect to write about.

Your thesis statement will have two parts:
-The first part states the topic:
Kenya's Culture
Building a Model Train Set
-The second part states the point of the essay:
has a rich and varied history
takes time and patience

• The topic sentence

The topic sentence is usually the first sentence of the paragraph. It gives the reader an idea of what the paragraph is going to be about.The supporting sentences need to be about the idea presented in the topic sentence.

• Organize your ideas

The purpose of an outline or diagram is to put your ideas about the topic on paper, in a moderately organized format. The structure you create here may still change before the essay is complete, so don't agonize over this.Decide whether you prefer the cut-and-dried structure of an outline or a more flowing structure. If you start one or the other and decide it isn't working for you, you can always switch later.

Search: http://www2.actden.com/Writ_den/tips/essay/support.htm

http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/writing/essay.html