Essay writing is an art as well as a science, as it satisfies the urge of creativity of a good writer and requires a discipline of mind, and indeed is a unique blend of intellect and creativity. Essay writing requires skill for a methodical arrangement of the matter.
The following are the fundamental characteristics of an excellent essay; hence, they should be kept in mind while writing an essay.
Introduction: Opening paragraph introduces the topic, so it must arrest the attention of the reader with the essential points of the topic.
Body of the Essay: It contains the subject matter in detail. So, the thoughts and ideas must be presented coherently to develop them into a well-arranged excellent paragraph. If arguments arise, they must be presented in separate paragraphs.
Conclusion: In this paragraph, the arguments must be highlighted and drawn to a logical end with clinching effect that can create a lasting impression on the reader’s mind. It should support the data provided in the whole essay.
Lucidity of the Language: Simple and lucid language with the exact use of words and phrases is the logo of an excellent essay. Short and to-the-point sentences make reading interesting as well as maximise the grammatical accuracy, which is the most important factor for any piece of writing.
Facts and Figures: Based on the topic, facts and figures out of an extra-edge to the arguments and ensure the weightage of the essay. Not a single irrelevant point or view should be added. The topic must be carefully presented to the point.
Uniformity and Clarity: Above all, the essay should be a logical presentation based on the flow of thoughts and views and related arguments. Continuity is the soul of the essay, and all types of disorderly approaches must be avoided. Always make a proper plan, arrange your thoughts, views and ideas, and write down important points, facts and figures before you start writing an essay, as these are the essential steps for presenting an excellent essay.
Kinds of Essays
Essays can be broadly classified into five kinds: descriptive, narrative, reflective, biographical and idiomatic essays.
(a) Descriptive Essays: These types of essays are generally factual ones, and include the topics based on science, education, politics, economics and current events. These topics need precise knowledge with relevant facts. For instance, describing the climate of a country we need precise knowledge on the weather of the country for more than 20–30 years, for this we need know neither the trees and plants and types of buildings nor details on the design and points of architectural records of the country.
(b) Narrative Essays: This essay is presented in the form of a story. The essay should have a chronological flow and be narrated in an interesting way with episodes suitable for the context of the essay. For instance, the narration of your visit to a hill station should contain the detail on the landscape, flora and fauna, natural scenario and people in around the hill station areas can be presented in the form of a story. Chronological arrangement of events is needed to write such essays. Also the narration should be made as interesting as possible by making use of episodes which fit in the context. For example, the narration of the first day at college should mention some funny incidents. A journey by train or plane should include some exciting experiences.
(c) Reflective Essays: It is such a type of essay that requires the writer to be highly imaginative and creative as abstract nature is the essential characteristic of it. The ideas must be expressed in concrete terms.
(d) Biographical Essays: This type of essay involves knowledge of the major events in the life of the person whose biography is being described. In addition to that, the essay should mention the qualities or character of the ‘hero’, his achievements, his struggles and his principles.
(e) Idiomatic Essays: Its type says that it needs to expand an idiom or any idiomatic expression with relevance to our everyday life, and even the importance in human civilisation. But before writing this type of essay the writer must comprehend the inner meaning of the idiom or idiomatic expression, otherwise it will prove a wild goose chase. For instance, if you are asked to expand the popular quotation, ‘If winter comes, can spring be far behind?’ You need not only tell about these two seasons, rather you have to represent the sides contradictory just like these two seasons. In this regard, you have to represent sorrow, adversity or hard time for winter, whereas happiness, prosperity or fortune for spring in relation to the impact of these seasons in nature and the stated conditions in human life.