Every pupil, entrant and student has to pass an essay. What are the peculiarities of this form of presentation and how to write an essay, let us tell you in more detail.

Essay: What is it, signs The trend of emoticon communication, which is popular among young people, frightens and alerts the older generation. Why is that? It’s not easy for young people to articulate and express themselves, to convey their own position on a particular issue. In order to correct the situation and develop communication skills, a special form of written expression – an essay – has appeared in school practice. This form is also practiced in universities and is used for competitive selection for admission to universities. The question of how to write an essay is particularly relevant for those who have chosen a profession in the humanities.

Information about what an essay is, its structure and the rules of writing will help to reveal the secrets of this form of presentation. An essay is a small essay that reveals the author’s opinion on a pressing social, spiritual or moral issue. The composition of such a work is free, and the statement does not pretend to the final and exhaustive solution of this or that issue. The essay as a specific form of presentation has a number of features and attributes: Small volume. An essay is a small form of presentation. There is no clear limit on the number of pages or printed words for an essay. Usually, such a statement should be clear and argumentative, reveal the topic. One clearly formulated problem. An essay does not address global issues that require serious, comprehensive research. More often than not, the topic is issues that are currently of concern to the public or issues of a philosophical, personal nature. For example, the University of Shanghai suggests writing an essay on the relativity of human freedom expressed in such a syllogism: “You choose your own path to overcome the desert. It means that you are free. But the fact that you have to cross the desert makes you unfree”. Stanford University offers applicants the following assignment: “Write a note to your future roommate in which you tell something important about yourself that will help your roommate and us get to know you better.

Subjectivity of presentation. The essay presentation of a problem is a person’s personal position. It cannot be exhaustive or scientifically grounded. The task of the author of an essay is to express oneself. Compositional arbitrariness and semantic unity. An essay is not subject to strict compositional rules. Sometimes authors choose the form from the opposite, when they express an illogical thought and gradually reveal its absurdity or, on the contrary, find a rational grain in it. But in an essay there is always a basic principle of presentation: thesis – disclosure of the thesis, proof/confirmation. All theses should be interconnected and coordinated, statements and arguments should not contradict each other. Only in this case the statement will be justified and fully reveal the author’s position. Simplicity of narrative. The task of the author of the essay is to attract the reader’s attention, to fully and accurately disclose his position, to achieve understanding. Therefore, the language of presentation should be simple, clear, phrases short and easy to understand. However, this does not mean that the essay can use templates, slang, profanity, jargonisms. Based on this statement, the manner of narration is judged on the personality of the author, his world view and education. Avoid frivolity in formulation and design of phrases. The paradoxicality of the statement. The main thing to interest the one who gets acquainted with the work. You can achieve this in only one way – to demonstrate the unconventionality of thinking, a multidimensional view of the phenomenon. The optimal form of presentation of a fresh look at the problem – a paradox, which is formed as the main thesis of a written statement. The paradox is built on mutually exclusive concepts and characteristics. For example, thinking about the importance of spiritual or material in human life, you can start with the thesis: “All the best in life people get for free. Proof of this is birth, love of mother, friendship, family, love and tenderness of spouses, children, sunrise, bright sky”. If you write an essay on freedom of choice, then start with the paradoxical thesis that the possibility of choice makes a person helpless and miserable. (He is always tormented by the question: “What if he chose something else?”) Before you sit down to write an essay, you should clearly understand the problem being discussed, formulate your own position, vision and assessment of the question, decide on the argumentation (these will be paragraphs or paragraphs of the work), develop a plan for writing an essay. Think about the phrase you will start the story with. It should cling to the reader and be related to the main theme. Although the composition of the essay is free, there are general requirements for the construction of such a written statement. The structure of an essay presupposes the presence of basic components – an introduction, theses (the author’s brief position), arguments (examples that prove the author’s correctness) and conclusion (conclusion).

Read also: how to write gre essay

The theses are a series of concise thoughts that reveal a person’s attitude to the issue under discussion. They are constructed in such a way that each subsequent thought complements and clarifies the previous one. In the essay it is enough to express three theses to fully reveal the vision of the problem. Arguments are examples from history, literature, social life, science, personal life experience, which prove the author’s correctness. It is optimal to give two arguments for each thesis. One argument may look unconvincing, and three will complicate the perception of what has been said. Thus, when forming an essay writing plan, consider that it should consist of such components: Brief introduction – 1-2 sentences, which formulate the relevance of the problem in question and the author’s attitude to it. Three theses (minimum), supported by arguments-proofs or arguments-suppositions. Conclusions or conclusion (2-3 sentences summarizing the author’s vision of the problem).

Each part starts with a paragraph. This forms the integrity of the narrative and makes it easier to understand what is written. Use short sentences that do not contain or minimize complicating structures. If you are writing an essay on social studies, note that among the arguments must be an example from life based on personal experience.

How to write gre essay

Classification of essays is a genre of publicism. Therefore it shows the features of artistic, scientific and popular science styles. They are revealed not only in the construction of phrases, but also at the level of composition, formulation of theses, a selection of arguments.

Given the diversity of these elements, an essay classification was developed. In terms of content, the works of this genre are subdivided into: artistic and art-publicistic; literary and critical (evaluation of an artistic work or a trend in literature); philosophical; historical (personal evaluation of a historical event or fact); religious or spiritual, and so on. Reflections may take the form of: diary entries; lyrical miniatures; letters; reviews; notes, etc. The prevailing form of presentation influences the classification of essays. Essays are distinguished by this feature: descriptive; analytical; essay-reflections; critical notes.

Depending on the level of dominance of the author’s “ego” in the presentation is recognized essay: subjective (the sides of the author’s personality are revealed); objective (the emphasis is shifted to the problem or described subject). See examples of essays for illustrative purposes. They will provide the key to understanding the structure and nature of the presentation of thoughts in the form of essays, ways and forms of narration. Essay: Rules of Writing, Possible Errors An essay is not a document of rigorous reporting that requires certain rules to be followed. Arbitrariness and subjectivity of essay writing avoid uniformity.

However, this form of self-expression also has certain conditions which we recommend to follow, especially when it comes to school, university or introductory essays: Title. Most often it is a proposed topic. However, if the topic is expressed in several sentences, it will be necessary to come up with the title of the work yourself. Observe these requirements – conciseness, snapiness and pithiness. Optimal option – aphorism. Clarity of structure. The author determines the internal logic and sequence independently. Argumentation may precede the formulation of the problem, assessment of the relevance of the problem may coincide with the final conclusion. However, such compositional rearrangements should be motivated by the logic of presentation. If you only try your hand at this genre, then follow the standards of the essay structure described above. Focus on personal expression. Use phrases in your essay: “I believe…”, “I would like to dwell on the question…”, “I suggest that we consider this aspect of the problem…”, “I’ve come to the conclusion…” is unnecessary. Focus on discovering something new in the matter at hand, avoid repeating other people’s thoughts and conclusions. Read also how prep for gre essay.

Creating the perfect essay is not an easy task. Analysis of errors most often made by job seekers and applicants will help you cope with it: Prolonged introduction. When formulating the urgency of a problem, the author abuses details and excessive descriptions. Absence of examples. Fresh and original thoughts expressed in the essay will not be remembered and will not impress unless they are supported by bright illustrations or arguments. The use of cliches and low-informative phrases. Avoid sentences such as: “I am proud to have been able to maintain friendly relations with my classmates” or “I would like to work in this position because I have a keen sense of justice and want to benefit my homeland. The ambiguity of the phrases. It’s not enough to check spelling and punctuation. Pay special attention to the wording, the construction of sentences. Avoid inaccuracies or misunderstandings of what is written. Versatility. Avoid details, give up insignificant ideas or theses in favor of more vivid, essential and new thoughts. Do not get bogged down in the pouring from empty to empty: make sure that each new thesis complements, but does not repeat, the previous one. Long and complex sentences. The length of the phrase does not indicate the rightness and wisdom of the author of the essay. Voluminous sentences are difficult for readers to perceive. Therefore, in the presentation of alternating short and long phrases. Read out loud written. If your breath is not knocked down, then the text is ideal for reading. Use scientific terms and encyclopedic concepts. An essay is not a scientific work, but a reflection on the subject. Therefore, even complex concepts and phenomena try to describe and convey in simple words. In this way, avoid inaccuracies in the use of terms. Creating an essay is painstaking work that requires creativity and mental tension. In it, the author reveals his worldview, shows his thinking, morality and spiritual level, literacy and intellectual development. Before you sit down to write such a work, consider the recommendations. They will help avoid mistakes and miscalculations.