An essay is basically, in broad terms, a compilation of original literary, scientific, philosophical, or other information that presents the author’s point of view. The term “essence” itself is ambiguous, overlapping with both a letter paper, a journal, an article, pamphlet, and perhaps even a short story. Essays are traditionally classified as formal and creative. In the United States, essays are required for high school graduation.
Essays follow a certain format that is fairly simple: the introduction, the body, the conclusion. It is divided into parts, which include the topic and the main idea. The different parts of an essay comprise the details of the main argument, which is presented either by the writer alone, by the student using his or her own name, by the committee or a reading group, in line with the specific requirements for the essay. Other auxiliary parts include the reference’s page, the discussions, and finally the end.
The introduction is the first part of the essay. It introduces the topic, the writer, and the theme or thesis statement, if there is one. The topic sentence consists of the name of the essay subject and the name of the writer, who is usually responsible for researching the bulk of the content. It is also advisable to provide an overview of the entire study, including its background, aims and objectives. The thesis statement is usually a shorter version of this introduction.
The body is the next part of the essay. It is divided into two parts: the data and the analysis. Data is a summary of all the data and evidence gathered, organized and presented in a way that is coherent with the essay’s theme or thesis statement. Analysis is the process of interpretation of the data and its conclusions. It is also useful for supporting the arguments of the essay. After the introduction and the background information, the remainder of the essay consists of the data and the analysis, together with conclusions.
One of the most important elements of the essay writing process is the conclusion. This is where the writer can summarise the points and arguments raised throughout the essay. It should, however, be in an outline form. Essays are not always argumentative. Sometimes the topic requires a simple statement of fact with no additional explanation. In such a case, it is better to use only the title, introduction, thesis and data in the conclusion of the essay, then add unnecessary paragraphs for the sake of filling space.
Five-paragraph expository essays are also written to a similar format, although they differ in that the body paragraphs are often longer than for the introduction. Five-paragraph expositions are divided into three sections: the introductory paragraph, which contains the background information on the topic; the main body of the essay, in which the main points are discussed; and the conclusion, in which the thesis is discussed in detail. The opening and the closing paragraphs of the body paragraphs should be chosen carefully. The opening paragraph should invite the reader to read on and should contain a summary of the thesis. The conclusion paragraph must restate the thesis and restate any other information. The text of the five-paragraph thesis typically looks something like this: I have researched (or at least, am researching) (specify the research methodologies) (endorsement) the author’s viewpoint (conclude that the author’s point of view is valid and is being taken seriously by others) (endorsement).
