Tips

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 maketh 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.  

 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.  

A writer reads, observes, and gets people to talk; and in these ways he is always enriching his mind with ideas and knowledge. 

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.