Unit - 5
Question Bank
- What is an imaginative essay? What are the points to be kept in mind while writing an imaginative essay?
An imaginative essay is an essay which is fictional in nature and is written completely from the author’s imagination. It may involve partial real-life events but the overall outcome is fictional. It tests the creative ability of a writer in formulating new thoughts, ideas and concepts.
An imaginative essay is narrative and descriptive in style and follows the same format as most academic essays including an introduction, the main body and the conclusion.
Below are some points to be kept in mind while writing an imaginative essay:
Choosing the Topic
Choosing an extravagant topic while writing an imaginative essay will help your creative juices flow and you can use this creativity in formulating your essay. It will also give you other advantages such as: first, your imaginative essay will be unique in a sense that there will not be another one to compare it with; and second, readers welcome working on non-standard topics and also non-traditional approaches to various topics.
Let the inspiration strike
A very important part of writing an imaginative essay is inspiration. If you have a topic you should wait for your thoughts to form around that topic. Once you find your inspiration you should start writing. This will only be your first draft. Follow your internal feeling of aesthetics. Analysis and reflection are not proper methods for carrying out the task; you’d rather search for associations provoked by the topic/title. Let’s say, your topic is “A day in the rain without an umbrella.” What is your first association? Would you use the a direct speech formula or just narrate the event in the third person? What situation should be included in your essay? Where does it take place?
A good practice for imaginative thinking is to try to pick up an idea that suits you the most, and then develop it. If you start analysing, then you will probably run out of time.
Originality
Being original while writing an imaginative essay is of the utmost importance. An imaginative essay requires your own perception and your own thoughts on a certain event, therefore using your own words and your own thought process is especially significant. You should keep the balance between realism and fantasy: the most imaginative essay you could write is a surrealistic one, but it will probably confuse the reader.
Avoid the use of indirect speech
Avoid using indirect speech in your imaginative essay. The narrative technique should be employed to describe the various events and relationships between the characters in your essay. This will keep the reader engaged in the essay and would help them relate to the events and characters in the essay.
Suspension of disbelief
An imaginative essay should be descriptive in nature, Meaning, it must allow the reader to live the experience. In other words, it should grind the gears of the readers imagination and if possible transport them to your imagined realm. They should be so involved in the essay that they suspend their disbelief and allow the logic of your imaginative world to penetrate and engulf their minds. This will not only make your essay interesting but also make it more enjoyable.
Use figures of speech
Use metaphors, allegories, similes, and other figures of speech. Avoid being too “simplistic” in the language employed in your imaginative essay. A common flaw in most contemporary young authors is to believe that the style of expression does not have influence on the reader’s mind. On the contrary, the exquisite style always attracts more readers.
Read aloud and revise
Read aloud your imaginative essay to yourself. This will help you realize some incoherence or vagueness in it. Revise your essay two or three times in order to have a better style and grammar. It is not recommended, however, to change the contents of the essay, as the quality and the flow of thought might be affected.
2. Describe the structure of an argumentative essay in detail.
A good argumentative essay outline should help the readers navigate through your narrative, and also allow you to always stay on point even when your ideas momentarily take you elsewhere.
A typical argumentative essay employs a 5-paragraph structure just like other academic essays and contains an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Below are the steps of writing a good argumentative essay:
Introduction
The introduction to your argumentative essay must be just one paragraph long, but it must also be very clear and concise. The purpose of the argumentative essay introduction is to familiarise the readers with the concept of the subject and your position.
In the first paragraph of your argumentative essay, you will provide a brief background of the problem, how common it is, how old it is, and how well it has been researched. It’s advisable to choose an under-researched argumentative essay topic and tell your readers something new.
The final sentence of your introduction must always contain the thesis statement. This is exactly where your main argument can be found. The thesis should reflect your own perspective towards the main subject of the paper.
Body paragraphs
There are three body paragraphs in a typical argumentative essay, and each of those paragraphs should offer a separate piece of reasons why you believe your argument is the correct one. Be careful not to reiterate the same point in different body paragraphs — that way, you won’t be able to paint a complete picture for your readers.
The topic sentence should be the starting point of each paragraph. This topic sentence should introduce a new evidence in support for your argument. You should then follow the topic sentence with various instances of evidence including but not limited to statistics, research results, examples, studies, and citations.
Offer a counterargument at the end of each body paragraph and explain why you disagree with it using strong evidence supporting your point of view. When it comes to an argumentative essay, it’s always better to cover the subject from every angle.
Conclusion
A conclusion should be a summary of all the ideas previously discussed in the body but it should not introduce any new ideas. Ideally, after finishing the essay, the readers must a sense of closure and at the same time they must feel the urge to explore the topic even further.
You can make your argumentative essay conclusion even more memorable, by including a personal story or make your writing more personal in another way. Readers usually respond well to those anecdotes and are likely to pay more attention to your writing.
Questions to Ask When Finishing Your Argumentative Essay
At the final stage of your writing process, it’s a good idea to give your essay a critical look to see what can be changed and improve about your writing to make it easier to prove your point to the audience. Use the following 5 questions to determine whether you did a good job with your argumentative essay or it still needs some work:
- Are all my arguments and topic sentences clear enough?
- Will it be easy for the readers to follow the logical flow of my writing?
- Is my structure and word choice appropriate?
- Have I provided enough evidence support for my argument?
- How likely are the readers to be convinced in my point of view?
3. What is meant by an expository essay? Describe its format.
On paper, the assignment of writing an expository essay seems easy, but, as we have already established, there are six types and even more variations of expository essays that you may encounter throughout your academic journey.
The purpose of an expository essay, in general, is to give the readers a detailed introduction of the subject of the paper, but in reality, your job can be different. Always carefully check the writing prompt to see which type of essay you are required to write — only then will you be able to choose the appropriate expository essay format, structure, and content.
Below are the steps involved in writing an expository essay:
Choosing a topic
In some cases, you will be given the topic for your essay by your professor, but students are also often asked to choose their own topic for their essay. If you want the readers to be touched by your writing, it’s important to choose a topic you are personally passionate about.
Ideally, the topic should be also closely connected to the current state of the world and society — those topics always resonate with the public and make your writing even more interesting. Finally, in order to write a convincing essay, you should pick a topic you know well even without outside sources.
Expository essay outline
After seeing some expository essay examples for college or high school, you will be relieved to know that the outline of a typical expository essay is no different from the outline of most other essays you have already written.
Nearly every expository essay outline follows the classic five-paragraph structure, which includes an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The number of body paragraphs can be higher or lower than that, but the order and content of the chapters remain the same.
Introduction
The purpose of the introduction to your expository essay is to unveil the topic of the paper to your audience, explain your reasons for choosing this particular subject, and to introduce the thesis statement. The thesis statement should be brief and strong, as you will refer to it several times throughout the paper.
Body paragraphs
The body paragraphs of your expository essay will further expand the topic with the help of evidence. The evidence can come in different forms, including statistics, quotes, and results of your research. It’s important to remember that each body paragraph should be dedicated to a separate idea, so that the readers don’t have a hard time jumping from one statement to another.
Conclusion
In your conclusion, there is no need to offer any new facts or information to the audience. Instead, you should repeat your thesis statement and offer a brief summary of the body paragraphs to convince the readers that you presented the most complete exploration of the subject.
4. What are the do’s and don’t’s of an expository essay. Write in short.
As with most challenges in student life, there is a right and wrong way to write an expository essay. To increase your chances of writing a strong paper, check out some do’s and don’ts of how to write an expository essay:
Do:
- Use the strongest evidence you have available;
- Only use evidence that comes from credible sources;
- Take a critical look at your writing to detect potential counterarguments and your response to them.
Don’t:
- Simply repeat your expository essay introduction in the conclusion;
- Use your own experience as evidence;
- Make your essay wordy simply to meet the word count.
5. Write a short note on the types and purposes of an expository essay.
An expository essay is a piece of writing where the author’s job is to introduce the audience to a particular concept.
How are persuasive essays different from expository essays?
The big and key difference between an expository essay and a persuasive essay is that the expository essay does not require the author to address his personal attitude to the subject, whereas writing a persuasive essay means expressing an opinion and attempting to convince the audience that it’s the only possibly correct opinion.
Is an argumentative essay an expository essay?
An argumentative essay requires the author to have a personal opinion about the subject matter and then support it with compelling arguments. The writer of an expository essay does not need to convince the readers of anything — he simply needs to present the facts.
Main Types of Expository Essays
After learning the expository essay definition, it’s easy to think that this written assignment is pretty straightforward and can be mastered very quickly. That is why many students are surprised to learn that there are actually six main types of expository essays that are commonly used in modern schools:
i. Definition essay, where the writer attempts to give a more precise definition to a concept that has been already defined by other scholars;
Ii. Classification essay, where the writer takes a complete concept and breaks it down into groups and pieces;
Iii. Problem and solution essay, which requires the writer to define a problem and then offer a solution that has the highest chance of solving the problem;
Iv. Cause and effect essay, where the writer needs to cover the reasons for the subject in question happening and the possible results of the event;
v. Process essay, also known as the “how-to essay”, where the writer describes the steps in a particular procedure that will lead to the desired result;
Vi. Comparison and contrast essay, where the writer compares two subjects and defines their differences and similarities.
Purpose
On paper, the assignment of writing an expository essay seems easy, but, as we have already established, there are six types and even more variations of expository essays that you may encounter throughout your academic journey.
The purpose of an expository essay, in general, is to give the readers a detailed introduction of the subject of the paper, but in reality, your job can be different. Always carefully check the writing prompt to see which type of essay you are required to write — only then will you be able to choose the appropriate expository essay format, structure, and content.
6. What is a reflective essay? How is it different from a descriptive essay?
A reflective essay is a type of written assignment where the author analyses the event from the past using a present point of view. The purpose of a reflective essay is to demonstrate the effect of the past event — specifically, what can be learned from the event and how the event helped shape the personality of the individual writing the paper.
Description vs. Reflection
In a way, a descriptive essay is somewhat similar to a reflective essay. Both refer to an event from the writer’s past and both can be equally rewarding for the writer, allowing them to relive the event in their thoughts and possibly even get some closure.
However, there is one key difference between a descriptive essay and a reflective essay is that the purpose of a descriptive essay is to simply describe a past event without providing an in-depth look on the effect of the event on the writer’s personality and present life.
You can use rich language and various literary devices to describe the event, but a descriptive essay barely requires the writer to do any analysis at all. A reflective essay also describes a past event in great detail, but its main purpose is to express the consequences of the event and how they changed the writer’s life and outlook.
7. What are the components of a reflective essay?
Like most other types of written assignments, a reflective essay has a clearly defined structure that you need to follow if you want your essay to have the right impact on your readers. A typical reflective essay will include the following paragraphs.
Introduction
If you are no stranger to writing various essays, you are already familiar with this part. The job of a reflective essay introduction is to prepare the readers for what they are about to learn in your paper.
From your introduction, they should find out why exactly the event in the essay was so impactful for your life and personality. Most importantly, the introduction should be interesting enough to convince the audience to carry on reading.
Body
The body of your reflective essay is both the longest and the most vital part of your paper. In this chapter, you will take your readers on a journey through the events of the past and how they contributed to your personality and life.
There is no strict structure to follow in the body of a reflective essay, but it’s very important to follow a logical flow of the narrative. Most reflective essay authors prefer to adopt the chronological order, which allows you to describe and reflect on the events in a way that will be easily understood by the readers.
The reflection itself
The crucial part of the essay is the part where you reflect on the event in question. Here you will need to list the reasons why the event proved to be so impactful. After each reason, you will expand on it and analyse the effect this particular aspect of the event had on you in general.
This is a reflective essay, which means you can let your thoughts run wild without being conformed to an obligatory way to describe the effects of the event. You can even add a little speculation to make your writing more captivating to the readers.
In the body of your reflective essay paragraph, you need to put a special focus on the lessons you learned from the event. These lessons will not always be pleasant to write about or depict your personality in the best way, but they are necessary for demonstrating your growth.
Returning to the situation
While summarizing the event is not the most important part of a reflective essay, this part of the paper is essential for allowing the readers to understand where you were coming from. Again, you can be as detailed as you want here, but the description of the past events certainly shouldn’t be longer than the reflection part of your essay.
Understanding the context
If the events from your past took place years or even decades ago, or if the context of the events was very unusual and different from the things we experience every day, the readers may have trouble understanding the background of the story.
In this part of the body of your reflective essay, you are to offer an insight into what your life was like at the time and what social, economic, and cultural background may have impacted the way the events unfolded and their effect on your life.
Modifying future outcomes
The events that happened to you and the impact they had on your personal life story cannot be changed. However, you can give way to your imagination and predict the different outcomes for the story that could have taken place in a different reality.
In this part of the essay, you can also reflect on what you could have done differently in the situation you were in. You can also fantasize about the possible outcome of the events had the people in your life acted differently or the context of the story changed.
Conclusion
The important thing about writing a conclusion for your reflective essay is that you don’t need to offer any new information to your readers. Instead, you need to summarize everything that has been said in the prior parts of the paper and finish the essay with one strong statement that can stimulate the readers to do some additional thinking after reading your reflective essay.
8. What are some elements particular to descriptive essays?
Description is a tool that writers use to keep things live for their readers, to make sure their audience is fully immersed in the words on the page. Every time you tell someone a story, or when you tell someone something, you either use the description or you don't know it. The description is basically "I have a blue car" or "That beautiful baby" or "Flowers soften the sun's golden rays and start showing their bright colours". Descriptive words are used to provide more detail and provide more insight. In fact, commentary is a tool that allows many authors (and speakers) to show up instead of just saying, and enabling our readers to interpret our material.
There are two basic types of Objective and Subjective. The meaning of purpose is shown in the first two examples above; Provides a true account of the item. Co-explanation provides a personal examination of the details by selecting specific words and phrases, such as clarifying the colours in the example above. Vibration not only provides information on colours, but also gives the idea or judgment of the value in the description. Many interpretations provide a mixture of both, giving the audience an idea of the emotional state of the subject being described.
Below are some elements particular to descriptive essays:
Sensory details
However, every possible explanation uses sensory information as its basis. These are the five senses that attract attention, smell, sound, taste and touch. In fact, different studies prioritize different sensory details and do not require the use of all five senses for all subjects. We all recognize the importance of looking at detail as a tool, but we don't always know how important other details of interest are. However, think about how often you smell something and immediately think of something or someone else. You can smell freshly baked bread and think of your grandmother's kitchen or popcorn and think of theater. Listening to a phrase can make you think of an old friend or acquaintance. You can associate a certain kind of garment with the clothes you had as a child. When you take a bite of pepperoni you are reminded of your youthful parties. Sensory information actually plays a major role in keeping the narrative alive.
Using Concrete description:
Try to use specific, concrete definitions. For example, an author can write a beautiful description of a tree. However, he is very handsome. Instead, the concrete or modifier resistor will be strong and provide maximum impact. The reader needs image details to build up their heads, concepts that don't seem like a good analogue for a real-world analogue.
Here is a description of the tree: "The sun's rays illuminated the leaves around the rain, just as the afternoon sky dropped in the evening." The fine features of the tree are "shown" in concrete details rather than simply being pulled out. This gives the reader the illusion of an immediate experience, as opposed to a variety of dictionaries.
Similes and Metaphors:
One way to add descriptive language is to use similes and metaphors, to create an image in the readers' heads by comparing two objects with each other. Metaphors and metaphors help to make connections between two concepts, concepts, or objects that clarify or give new meaning.
A simile to compare using words like or. Usually two different things are compared. For example, bread was as dry as bone. Matching involves a piece of bread that is thick and white than a solid and white bone. The bones are usually dry, and so is the bread. These same characteristics are what make the metaphor successful.
A metaphor says one thing is something else. It's a comparison, but it does NOT use it as a comparison or to make comparisons. For example, my grandmother is an open book. Comparing this means that my grandmother is full of information she willingly shares with others.
To make an simile or metaphor, point to something like the sun, a tree, or a river, or an idea such as love, peace or wrath. Then think of something else with the same features. Decide whether the words "like" or "as" will help make the connection more understandable. An appropriate metaphor or metaphor will enable the reader to view both objects in a new way.
By adding metaphors and metaphors to the definition sheet, the author can attract readers' thinking and make writing more interesting to read. Icons and metaphors add spice to the descriptions. However, many pieces come in the form of metaphors and metaphors, so try to create comparisons specific to your particular topic.
9. Describe the structure of a descriptive essay in detail.
Descriptive essays often describe a person, place, or thing that uses sensitive information. The structure of the descriptive text is more flexible than other filtering methods. The introduction of a descriptive article should set the tone and point of the essay. The thesis should convey the author's general opinion of the person, place, or thing described in the body paragraphs.
Article organization can better track spatial order, classification of ideas according to physical characteristics or appearance. Depending on the author's description, the movement can move from top to bottom, left to right, near and far, warm, cold, inviting, and so on.
Example, if the theme was the customer's kitchen during the renovation, you could start heading to one side of the room and then slowly to the other side, explaining materials, cabinetry, and so on. Or, you can choose to start with the old kitchen remnants and move on to new installations. Maybe start at the bottom and climb up to the roof.
Writing a Description
In order to write an essay, you need to pick a topic and decide how to make that topic clearly in your audience. If the title of a piece is simply a description of a specific area, you should decide which elements of that area, when outlined in the text, will be most appealing to your audience. The first step in any descriptive writing is to choose a topic and start making a thesis statement. You may choose to specify a specific location.
Thesis
Thesis Text Statement
Although Minnesota may seem attractive and cold to outsiders, the natives of the state find it a great place to live.
We can see from this thesis statement that the author will try to show the features of Minnesota that make it a great place to live. After defining a thesis statement, you should come up with a list of logical words that provide visual information and support the template. You can start by thinking about the five senses. What does your particular place look like, smell, feel, taste and feel? How can you best describe these senses so that the reader can feel how they feel? By organizing elements of descriptive language into easy to manage categories, such as the five senses, you are able to get involved directly in what elements of meaning are most useful.
Presentation Order
The author in this case may choose to introduce some of Minnesota's best features in terms of seasonal and climate change. Details can be revealed in order, early spring and winter travel, highlighting the features of each season that strongly support the template, that Minnesota is a great place to live.
Before starting the essay, give some thought to your audience. Who will read the essay, and how would you like to impact the readers? Awareness of the audience is important in choosing the level of behaviour you take with your writing. Knowing your audience will also help you distinguish information that should be included in your entire article. Assume that your audience knows very little or nothing about your subject matter, and includes details that may seem obvious to you.
Audience
Example Audience: In this particular article, the author wants to show an outsider why Minnesota's indigenous people are so happy to live there. The article should help break the barriers of those outside with the cold Minnesota climate and the visible drop. Because this story is designed for those who do not live in Minnesota, and probably never did, it is important to include information on a condition that may be obvious to the native.
With the preparation work complete, now is the time to start writing your essay. Use your thesis statement to start building the first paragraph. The introduction should lay the groundwork for your essay, and the thesis statement should state its purpose.
Introduction
Example: Many who have not been to the state of Minnesota only hear about its cold weather and disappointing reputation. They are sure to miss the great opportunities Minnesota offers. Each season offers a unique feel familiar to the Minnesot indigenous people and visitors and they love it. Although Minnesota may seem attractive and cold to outsiders, the natives of the state find it a great place to live.
When the introduction is complete, it's time to start building up the body parts of your article. Each body part should have a central theme by itself, and the theme must be expressed in the topic sentence. As a result, each sentence of the paragraph should coincide with and support the topic sentence. Physical categories are where most information should be provided. When writing the first draft of your essay, include as much detail as possible. You can always remove those that do not use the server again when reviewing your draft. In the case of the Minnesota environmental issue, we decided to set up body categories depending on the season, the beginning of spring.
The body
Example: Spring in Minnesota brings new life to the state after a long winter. The rain cleanses the landscape, leaving its fresh scent for all to enjoy. The flowers brighten up the golden sun's rays and begin to show their vibrant colors. Early birds can be seen and heard throughout the forest and in the fields, recounting their stories in beautiful songs. The pools begin to show their glossy finish as the ice melts slowly under the heat of the season.
Once the body parts are complete, it's time to finish the story and finish. The conclusion should come to a conclusion based on what has been posted throughout the body of the story. You need to get back to the idea, but not to the extreme. The conclusion should give the reader a final idea of what it means to tell a story. Remember that nothing new should be presented in the conclusion, and the way it is presented should give the reader a sense of the end.
Conclusion
Example: The variety of activities and different times available in Minnesota reveals the various advantages of this condition. As one looks at the benefits of each season, it becomes clear why many indigenous Minnesotia are satisfied with their homes. Minnesota is a wonderful place to live.
Once the essay is done, it's time to re-read and revise your article (and see review sections of this book). Read your draft first and identify all the descriptive words you used. If possible, go back and add more after what you have already used in the story. If you can, read your friend aloud and tell him which pictures are clearer and which pictures need further improvement. Replace any cloud-based images with additional meaning. Also, check to see if your descriptions use all five senses: sound, smell, texture, sight, and taste. Repeat these steps as many times as you can until you are happy with your product.
Key points
• Paragraphs should explain something clearly to the reader using strong hearing details.
Sensitivity information attracts five human senses: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.
• The essay should start with a great idea of a person, place, or thing.
10. What is a narrative essay? Describes the rules involved in writing a narrative essay.
The first step in writing an outstanding narrative essay is learning the narrative essay definition. There is no universal definition of narrative essay simply because of how broad and all-encompassing this genre of writing is.
However, when asked to define narrative essay, most academic writers will say that it’s a piece of writing telling a story using a variety of literary device. The narrative essay format is one of the most personal ones in academic writing, but it also requires you to have extensive knowledge of the writing process, not just rely on your own experiences.
Below are some fundamental rules that must be followed while writing a narrative essay:
- Use the first-person narrative. Unlike many other types of essays, the format of a narrative essay encourages the use of the “I” pronoun. That way, you will make the story more personal and relatable for your audience.
- The language of your essay should be more relaxed. It doesn’t need to be too colloquial, but using one or two informal constructions or words that characterize you as a person will help you create a smooth narrative.
- A narrative essay doesn’t call for citations and references. The narrative is based on your own life and experience, which means there are unlikely any relevant materials to support your writing.
- Your narrative essay needs to contain just the right number of details. Too little details can hurt the credibility of your essay, and too many details may eventually make your readers feel bored.
11. What are the steps involved in writing a narrative essay.
Below are the steps involved in writing a narrative essay:
Choosing the Topic:
Now that you know what a narrative essay is, you probably feel ready to move on to the writing process. But before you find out how to write narrative essay, you need to decide what to write about. In other words, you need to pick your narrative essay topic.
Good narrative essay topics always combine proximity to your own interests and the ability to fit into the interests of your audience. Your narrative essay topic should be close to your own experience, but it also needs to be relevant to what your potential audience wants to see.
Because it can be very difficult to cover a broad topic in the limited narrative essay format, the best narrative essay topics are rather narrow. Another sign of a well-chosen narrative essay topic is when you can barely find any relevant information about it on the internet — then your narrative essay is guaranteed to be original and interesting to the public.
Constructing the essay:
Any “How to write a narrative essay step by step” guide will tell you that you need to start your writing process with an outline. The outline of a narrative essay usually follows the standard five-paragraph structure, but the nature of the paragraphs is slightly different from other types of essays.
Introduction
How can one start a narrative essay that will keep the reader interested until the last word? Think of the introduction to your narrative essay as a setup to a great story. The first sentence of your introduction should be a hook — a particularly interesting anecdote or quote that will set the tone for your story.
The remaining part of the narrative essay introduction should be dedicated to why you believe this story is so significant and what the readers will be able to take from it. Always try to finish the introduction part of the essay with a strong thesis statement that will also serve as the foundation for the rest of the essay.
Body paragraphs
The three or more body paragraphs are where your main story will take place. In a typical narrative essay outline, the body paragraphs carry most of the significance and should be written particularly carefully if you want your essay to shine.
Each paragraph of the body part of your narrative essay should refer to a separate idea to help readers understand your story better. At the same time, those paragraphs and ideas need to be closely connected to one another and follow a specific order to highlight the logic of the narrative. Most writers prefer the chronological order of events, as it’s easy not to miss anything when you are using this narrative model.
Not every event from your life is filled with interesting and memorable moments, but since you need to make your writing more appealing to the readers, you should definitely include a twist or other unexpected plot device that will spice up your narrative and will be resolved by the end of the essay.
Conclusion
The conclusion to your narrative essay is not only the final part of your writing, but also the part that will likely stick with the readers for a long time, so make sure every word of it counts. The conclusion should begin by formulating a concise summary of the events included in the essay.
Finish the conclusion by offering one final thought to your readers. Whether it’s your reflection on what the event in question meant for you or your version of how the event could have gone differently, it should be something that readers will think about again and again after reading your paper.
12. What is meant by a literary essay? Describe the various steps involved in writing a literary essay in detail.
A literary essay is a type of essay which involves closely studying a text, interpreting its meanings, and exploring why the author made certain choices. It can be applied to novels, short stories, plays, poems, or any other form of literary writing.
A literary analysis essay is not just a summarized version of the plot or a book review. Rather, it is a type of argumentative and analytical essay where you need to analyse various textual elements such as the language, perspective, and structure of the text, and explain how the author uses literary devices to create meaning and convey ideas.
Before beginning a literary analysis essay, it’s essential to carefully read the text and come up with a thesis statement to keep your essay focused. A literary essay follows the same structure as any academic essay:
- An introduction that defines what the rest of the essay is focused on.
- A main body, divided into paragraphs, that builds an argument using evidence from the text.
- A conclusion that clearly states the main point that you have shown with your analysis.
Below are the steps involved in writing a literary essay:
Step 1: Reading the text and identifying literary devices
The first step is to carefully read the text(s) and take initial notes. As you read, pay attention to the things that are most intriguing, surprising, or even confusing in the writing – these are things you can dig into in your analysis.
Your goal in literary analysis is not simply to explain the events described in the text, but to analyse the writing itself and discuss how the text works on a deeper level. Primarily, you’re looking out for literary devices – textual elements that writers use to convey meaning and create effects. If you’re comparing and contrasting multiple texts, you can also look for connections between different texts.
To get started with your analysis, there are several key areas that you can focus on. While analysing each aspect of the text, try to think about how they all relate to each other. You can use highlights or notes to keep track of important passages and quotes.
Language choices
Consider what style of language the author uses. Are the sentences short and simple or more complex and poetic?
What word choices stand out as interesting or unusual? Are words used figuratively to mean something other than their literal definition? Figurative language includes things like metaphor (e.g. “her eyes were oceans”) and simile (e.g. “her eyes were like oceans”).
Also keep an eye out for imagery in the text – recurring images that create a certain atmosphere or symbolize something important. Remember that language is used in literary texts to say more than it means on the surface.
Narrative voice
Ask yourself:
- Who is telling the story?
- How are they telling it?
- Is it a first-person narrator (“I”) who is personally involved in the story, or a third-person narrator who tells us about the characters from a distance?
Consider the narrator’s perspective. Is the narrator omniscient (where they know everything about all the characters and events), or do they only have partial knowledge? Are they an unreliable narrator who we are not supposed to take at face value? Authors often hint that their narrator might be giving us a distorted or dishonest version of events.
The tone of the text is also worth considering. Is the story intended to be comic, tragic, or something else? Are usually serious topics treated as funny, or vice versa? Is the story realistic or fantastical (or somewhere in between)?
Structure
Consider how the text is structured, and how the structure relates to the story being told.
- Novels are often divided into chapters and parts.
- Poems are divided into lines, stanzas, and sometime cantos.
- Plays are divided into scenes and acts.
Think about why the author chose to divide the different parts of the text in the way they did.
There are also less formal structural elements to take into account. Does the story unfold in chronological order, or does it jump back and forth in time? Does it begin in medias res – in the middle of the action? Does the plot advance towards a clearly defined climax?
With poetry, consider how the rhyme and meter shape your understanding of the text and your impression of the tone. Try reading the poem aloud to get a sense of this.
In a play, you might consider how relationships between characters are built up through different scenes, and how the setting relates to the action. Watch out for dramatic irony, where the audience knows some detail that the characters don’t, creating a double meaning in their words, thoughts, or actions.
Step 2: Coming up with a thesis
Your thesis in a literary analysis essay is the point you want to make about the text. It’s the core argument that gives your essay direction and prevents it from just being a collection of random observations about a text.
If you’re given a prompt for your essay, your thesis must answer or relate to the prompt. For example:
Essay question example
Is Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” a religious parable?
Your thesis statement should be an answer to this question – not a simple yes or no, but a statement of why this is or isn’t the case:
Thesis statement example:
Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” is not a religious parable, but a story about bureaucratic alienation.
Sometimes you’ll be given freedom to choose your own topic; in this case, you’ll have to come up with an original thesis. Consider what stood out to you in the text; ask yourself questions about the elements that interested you, and consider how you might answer them.
Your thesis should be something arguable – that is, something that you think is true about the text, but which is not a simple matter of fact. It should be complicated enough to be developed through evidence and arguments throughout the course of your essay.
Say you’re analysing the novel Frankenstein. You could start by asking yourself:
- How is the character of Frankenstein portrayed?
Your initial answer might be a surface-level description:
- The character Frankenstein is portrayed negatively in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
However, this statement is too simple to be an interesting thesis. After reading the text and analysing its narrative voice and structure, you can develop the answer into a more nuanced and arguable thesis statement:
Example thesis statement for a literary analysis essay:
Mary Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble – even in his own telling – the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as.
Remember that you can revise your thesis statement throughout the writing process, so it doesn’t need to be perfectly formulated at this stage. The aim is to keep you focused as you analyse the text.
Finding textual evidence
To support your thesis statement, your essay has to build an argument consisting of textual evidence which will include specific parts of the text that demonstrate your point. This evidence is quoted and analysed throughout your essay to explain your argument to the reader.
It can be useful to shuffle through the text in search of relevant quotes before starting to write. You might not end up using everything you find, and you may have to return to the text for more evidence as you write, but collecting textual evidence from the beginning will help you to structure your arguments and assess whether they’re convincing.
Step 3: Writing a title and introduction
Two things are required before starting any literary essay: a good title, and an introduction.
The title
The title should consist of clear indications of what the literary analysis will focus on. It usually contains the name of the author and text(s) you’re analysing. Keep it as concise and engaging as possible.
A common approach to the title is to use a relevant quote from the text, followed by a colon and then the rest of your title.
If you struggle to come up with a good title at first, don’t worry – this will be easier once you’ve begun writing the essay and have a better sense of your arguments.
The introduction
The essay introduction provides a quick overview of where your argument is going. It should include your thesis statement and a summary of the essay’s structure.
A typical structure for an introduction is to begin with a general statement about the text and author, using this to lead into your thesis statement. You might refer to a commonly held idea about the text and show how your thesis will contradict it, or zoom in on a particular device you intend to focus on.
Then you can end with a brief indication of what’s coming up in the main body of the essay. This is called signposting. It will be more elaborate in longer essays, but in a short five-paragraph essay structure, it shouldn’t be more than one sentence.
Some students prefer to write the introduction later in the process, and it’s not a bad idea. After all, you’ll have a clearer idea of the overall shape of your arguments once you’ve begun writing them!
If you do write the introduction first, you should still return to it later to make sure it lines up with what you ended up writing, and edit as necessary.
Step 4: Writing the body of the essay
The body of your essay is everything between the introduction and conclusion. It contains your arguments and the textual evidence that supports them.
Paragraph structure
A typical structure for a high school literary analysis essay consists of five paragraphs: the three paragraphs of the body, plus the introduction and conclusion.
Each paragraph in the main body should focus on one topic. In the five-paragraph model, the main argument should be divided into three main areas for analysis, all linked to your thesis. Don’t try to include everything you can think of to say about the text – only analysis that drives your argument.
In longer essays, the same principle applies on a broader scale. For example, you might have two or three sections in your main body, each with multiple paragraphs. Within these sections, you still want to begin new paragraphs at logical moments – a turn in the argument or the introduction of a new idea.
Topic sentences
To keep your points focused, it’s important to use a topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph.
A good topic sentence allows a reader to see at a glance what the paragraph is about. It can introduce a new line of thought and contrast or connect it with the previous paragraph. Transition words like “however” or “moreover” are useful for creating smooth transitions:
…The story’s focus, therefore, is not upon the divine revelation that may be waiting beyond the door, but upon the mundane process of aging undergone by the man as he waits.
Nevertheless, the “radiance” that appears to stream from the door is typically treated as religious symbolism.
This topic sentence signals that the paragraph will address the question of religious symbolism, while the linking word “nevertheless” points out a contrast with the previous paragraph’s conclusion.
Using textual evidence
Always use evidence from the text to back up your key arguments, provide quotations if necessary. This involves introducing quotes from the text and explaining their significance to your point.
It’s important to contextualize quotes and explain why you’re using them; they should be properly introduced and analysed, not treated as self-explanatory:
Blake asks “What dread hand” could have created the tiger, subverting the usual sense of joy in God’s creation and conveying instead a sense of fearful awe.
It isn’t always necessary to use a quote. Quoting is useful when you’re discussing the author’s language, but sometimes you’ll have to refer to plot points or structural elements that can’t be captured in a short quote.
In these cases, it’s more appropriate to paraphrase or summarize parts of the text – that is, to describe the relevant part in your own words:
The initial and final sections of the novel consist of Walton’s letters to his sister, and it is significant that the entirety of Frankenstein’s and the creature’s narratives are ostensibly transcribed by Walton in these letters.
Step 5: Writing a conclusion
The conclusion of your analysis shouldn’t introduce any new quotations or arguments – instead, it’s about wrapping up the essay. Here, you summarize your key points and try to emphasize their significance to the reader.
A good way to approach this is to briefly summarize your key arguments, and then stress the conclusion they’ve led you to, highlighting the new perspective your thesis provides on the text as a whole.
13. How to compose a scientific essay? Elucidate.
Before writing your essay, first and foremost, you need to know and understand what an essay on science is. So, what is a scientific essay? A scientific essay is an article whereby you have to analyse a scientific issue or problem and then try to develop a solution on the basis of factual information and perhaps provide some of your opinions from your own perspective on the matter as well. Essays on science can be considered different from other types of essays considering the freedom they allow. In other types of essays, you can express yourself. But, in scientific essays, there is little to no room to do so. Contrariwise, science essays seek out impartial logicality and accurate knowledge. Also, these essays test your judgment skills and analysis.
The process of Writing a scientific essay involves:
Select a topic for your article
Like any other type of essay, you need to have a topic before you start the actual writing process. Your professor or instructor may give you a science essay topic to write about or ask you to come up with yours. When selecting a topic for your paper, ensure that you choose one you can write about. Do not pick a complex topic which can make the writing process boring and infuriating for you. Instead, choose one that you are familiar with. Select a topic you will not struggle gathering information about. Also, you need to have an interest in it. If you are unable to come up with a good topic, trying reading other people’s articles. This will help you develop a topic with ease.
Draft a plan
After selecting a topic, the next step is drafting a plan or an outline. An outline is fundamental in writing a scientific essay as it is the foundation on which your paper is built. Additionally, it acts as a road map for your article. Hence, you need to incorporate all the thoughts and ideas you will include in your essay in the outline. You need to know what you will include in the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. Drafting a plan helps you save a lot of time when writing your paper. Also, it helps you to keep track of the primary objective of your article.
Start writing the article
After drafting a plan, you can begin the writing process. Writing your paper will be smooth and easier as you have an outline which helps simplify the writing process. When writing your article, always begin with a strong and concise introduction. Dictate the direction your paper will take. Provide some background information and state the issue you will discuss as well as the solutions you have come up with. Arrange the body of your article according to the essay structure you will use to guide you. Also, ensure that you use transitory sentences to show the relationship between the paragraphs of your article. Conclude your essay by summarizing all the key points. Also, highlight the practical potential of our findings and their impacts.
Proofread and check for errors in the paper
Before submitting or forwarding your article, it is fundamental that you proofread and correct all the errors that you come across. Delivering a paper that is full of mistakes can affect your overall performance in a negative manner. Thus, it is essential you revise your paper and check for errors. Correct all of them. Ask a friend to proofread your paper. He or she may spot some of the mistakes you did not come across.
In conclusion, writing a scientific essay differs from writing other types of papers. A scientific essay will always be a fact of the matter, to the point essay. However, the format for scientific essays remain similar to the format of any other essay: introduction, body, and conclusion. You need to use your outline to guide you through the writing process. To learn how to write a scientific essay in a successful manner, consider the tips above.
14. What is essay writing? How is an essay composed? What is the general format for an academic essay?
There are many types of essays and papers you can write as a student. The content and length of the essay varies depending on your level, subject of study, and the requirements of a particular course.
However, many subject bodies share the same goal. They aim to convince students of a position or perspective through informed, evidence-based, analytical and interpretive debates.
In addition, every story has an introduction, body and ending that always do the same or few things.
Essay Writing Process:
The essay writing process consists of three stages: preparation, writing and revision. These categories apply to each article or paper. However, the time and energy spent in each category depends on the sort of essay, for instance a private statement, a press release of intent, a high school essay or a grad school essay.
Preparation:
- Understand the assignment
- Understand your audience
- Select a topic
- Do some initial research
- Name the thesis statement
- Create an outline
Writing :
- Write an introduction
- Organize your arguments and give evidence
- Write the conclusion
Review:
- Analyse the organization
- Review the content of each paragraph
- Proofread for language errors
- Check for plagiarism
Introduction of an Essay:
The introduction is important to both capture the reader's interest and inform them of what will be found in the story. The introduction usually contains 10-20% of the text. To learn how to write an article introduction, first become familiar with its most important objectives.
- Move your student by chasing curiosity and curiosity:
The first sentence of the introduction should draw your student's wish. This sentence is sometimes referred to as a hook. It can be a question, quote, a surprising number, or a bold statement that emphasizes the importance of a topic.
Let's say you write an article about the development of Braille (a literacy program used by the visually impaired). A boat can be something like:
The introduction of Braille marked the biggest turning point in the history of disability.
- Provide background and context for your topic:
After you dismiss the student, it is important to provide context that will help your student understand your argument. This may include providing background information, providing an overview of important academic work or arguments on a topic, as well as explaining difficult words. Do not give too many details in the introduction - you can adequately describe the content of your essay.
- Explain the purpose and create a thesis statement:
Next, you have to explain your basic argument or thesis statement. The thesis statement provides focus and reflects your position on the topic. Usually one or two sentences long. An example of a thesis statement from Braille essay can be seen as follows:
The idea of orthopaedics was not entirely new; Louis Braille adapted simple ways to create the first system for writing to the blind. But its success depended on the reception of people who had sinned before the social status of blindness was reversed, and the process was shaped by widespread debates about the place of people with disabilities in society.
- Provide a content map:
Finish the introduction with an overview of your site structure. An overview should give the reader a general idea of what each paragraph of your article is examining.
The Body of the Essay:
The theme of your article is when you make arguments that support your thesis statement, provide evidence, and develop your ideas. His main purpose is to present, interpret and analyse the information and sources you have gathered to support your argument.
- Length of body text:
The length of the body depends on the type of description. On average, the body comprises 60-80% of your material. In a high school essay, this can be just three paragraphs, but with a 6,000-word graduate essay, the body can take 8-10 pages.
- Section layout/Paragraph Structure:
In order to give your essay a clear structure, it is important to use paragraphs and topics. This makes the content unwanted and easy to digest. Each section should focus on a point of view or a single point of view.
The purpose of each paragraph is presented using topic sentences. The topic clause creates a transition from the previous paragraph and informs the argument to be made in this paragraph. Change words can be used to create smooth transitions between sentences.
After the topic sentence, demonstrate evidence by providing the reader with data, examples or quotes. Be sure to interpret and explain the evidence, and show how the paragraph helps improve your overall argument.
- Example Paragraph:
Although the Braille program was immediately popular with blind students at the Institute in Paris, it did deserve acceptance among sightseers before being adopted throughout France. This support was needed because teachers and visual leaders had great control over the distribution of Braille resources. Most teachers at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth are opposed to learning the Braille program because they find the hard way to learn difficult to read (Bullock & Galst, 2009). This resistance was an indication of a general condition for blind people to adapt to the visual world rather than to improve their tools and methods. Over time, however, with increasing pressure to make the community as involved as possible, teachers began to understand the usefulness of the Braille program (Bullock & Galst, 2009), noting that access to learning could help improve productivity and connect people with vision loss. It took about 30 years, but the French government finally approved the Braille program, and it was implemented nationally (Bullock & Galst, 2009).
Conclusion of an Essay:
Conclusion The last paragraph of the article or paper. It takes about 10-20% of your article. Strong conclusion:
- Draws connections between the arguments made in the body of the story.
- State the consequences of your argument.
- Emphasize the importance and importance of a thesis statement of policy, education or the wider world.
- Evaluates key findings and the importance of the topic
A good conclusion should end with a memorable or impactful sentence that emphasizes the importance of your work and leaves the reader with a strong final impression.
What you should not do is enter the end
To make the end of your article as strong as possible, there are a few things you should avoid including. The most common errors are:
Includes new argument or evidence.
Minimize your conflicts (e.g. "This is one way for many").
Concluding phrases such as “Cheating…” or “Conclusion…” are used.
How to write an essay
- The story begins with a hook that catches your reader's interest.
- Introduction provides background and context that help your reader understand the topic.
- The introduction contains a thesis statement that provides focus and reflects your position on the topic.
- Paragraphs and titles are used for story planning.
- Each paragraph deals with a single idea, debate or issue.
- Subject sentences are used to create a smooth transition between paragraphs.
- The conclusion is not only brief, but draws a link between issues.
- The significance of the thesis statement is emphasized in the conclusion.
- Conclusion does not contain new ideas, arguments or evidence.
