Very often the final type of work when testing knowledge of the English language is writing an essay. Many students do not like it because their level of language proficiency is not high enough. The reason lies in the fact that in order to write a coherent text, you need to have a good command of the grammatical structure of the English sentence and have a rich supply of active vocabulary. But in fact, writing an essay in English is not so difficult, the main thing is to understand where to start.
What is an essay?
It is a mistake to believe that the word "essay" came to us from the English language. In fact, it has French roots, but this word was brought to English culture by Francis Bacon, a world-famous philosopher and politician.
In England, this genre became part of journalism and gained immense popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries. An essay is a short prose text that expresses a person's subjective attitude to what is happening. A sample essay in English contains an introduction, main body, conclusion.
Signs
Any genre has a specific pattern in its structure, an essay in English is no exception. The writing pattern is formed on the basis of some features. With the help of them, you can easily determine that in front of you is nothing more than this genre of literature. Knowing the features of the genre will also help to better understand its structure and determine which components must be present in this type of composition. Let's take a look at the elements that make an essay stand out from other genres of literature:
- Narrow focus. Unlike other genres of literature, this type of work cannot cover several issues. On the contrary, this essay is aimed at revealing one issue, but very deeply.
- Subjectivity. This genre is not intended to show how everyone relates to the problem, it is intended to show the opinion of one person, to reveal the attitude of not society, but the individual.
- The essay evaluates not the information that the author gives us, but his inner qualities, the ability to think logically, worldview and everything that distinguishes him from other people.
What types of essays are there in English?
The general purpose of writing an essay in English is to express your thoughts about some phenomenon, process or object. But you can express your thought in different ways: find the positive and negative aspects of objects, look for pros and cons. Therefore, there are several types of essays in English:
- Opinion, or Opinion Essay - in it you need to express your thoughts on a specific question. The problem is that when writing this type of essay, it is important to be able to find different approaches to the problem, to look at it from different angles. In this essay, one cannot strictly defend one's position.
- For and against essays. A kind of essay that makes a person look at an object from two sides. Nothing is absolutely perfect or absolutely vicious. Therefore, you need to be able to find both bad and good sides in any issue. You need to learn how to write this type of essay in English very well, the exam involves writing exactly it.
- Suggesting solutions to a problem. The main problems are always global negative phenomena in the environment and society. Having looked comprehensively at a certain question, the student must offer a solution.
How many parts is an essay divided into?
Since school, we know that usually the text consists of several parts: the introduction, the body of the text and conclusions. An essay has the same structure, but unlike a simple narrative, it should have more concise information, while at the same time containing as many facts and subjective arguments as possible. The entire content of the work is a consistent chain of statements and proofs for them. Logic is the main quality that will help a child write an essay in English. The exam tests not only knowledge, but also the ability to think.
Intro
Introduction is an important component in the structure of a story. It is in this part that the author outlines the problem posed byin front of him, trying to convey to the reader how he relates to the issue raised in the main part. Also in the introduction, he forms a list of the main issues and facts raised. The introduction should be as concise as possible and contain the key elements of the problem. In addition, the examiner at the same time in the mind develops a psychological portrait of the subject. An essay in English reveals a person's way of thinking.
Main part
It should contain all your thoughts about the question asked. The main part of the text consists of the chain "argument - proof". You can't talk about any phenomena or objects if you can't prove them. In order to correctly structure and logically present information, it is imperative to divide the text into paragraphs. It should be said that when written, the arguments in the main body will represent two opposites. And only with the right structuring of the text, you can write an essay in English well.
Conclusion
Conclusion - what conclusions were made when considering this issue. It is in this part that you need to sum up all the results of your reasoning. Write the general provisions that were previously enshrined in the introduction and explained in the main part. Use linking words to help indicate that this is the end of the essay and you are summing up everything written so far. As you can see, the structure of an essay in English must be taken into account when writing.
What plan to write?
By sticking to a specific writing plan, it will be easier for the student to focus and not be nervous. In fact, any essay is a text formed according to some logical rules. It is important to be able to use both deductive (analysis of information from general to particular) and inductive (from particular to general) method of logical reasoning. If the work is based on logic, then when writing an essay in English, a plan is an important part of the preparation. Below is the writing algorithm:
- Think carefully about the question you want to cover in the essay.
- Determine how you feel about this issue (form an introduction from this).
- Highlight the facts that best define your problem.
- Argument your facts with concrete arguments
- Select a separate paragraph for each fact and argument to structure the text.
- Design all the most significant points of the essay in the conclusion.
Tips
In order to easily and efficiently write an essay, we have prepared several recommendations. By adhering to them, you can not only learn how to write essays well in English, but also understand how to handle the text:
- Essay topics in English are very diverse, so develop your knowledge by reading books and encyclopedias.
- Learn to understand English grammar and try to memorize as much vocabulary as possible. Incorrect sentence structure and low vocabulary are immediately visible, andit means you don't know the language.
- Always keep a draft with you, however, you need to be able to use it wisely. Do not try to write the whole essay there first, and then rewrite it in a clean copy. On the contrary, sketch out a writing plan, the most important facts and arguments for them in a draft with an essay in English.
- Don't forget that essay structure is very important. Unstructured text looks ugly, and most importantly, it confuses and does not allow you to put the information on the shelves.
- The style of this genre is formal, but if you find it difficult to write in the official language, you can choose semi-formal, but in no case use slang forms of communication.
- Conciseness is not always a bad quality, in an essay it is very important to be able to choose the main information and make the text as informative as possible and as less cumbersome as possible.
- Always keep in mind that you need to not only write the text, but also check it. Calculate the optimal amount of time you need to compose, taking into account rereading.
- Any fact that you cover must be reasoned and logically justified.
- Learn to express your thoughts correctly. Never submit facts about which you know nothing or know very little. Be sure the words you write are correct.
- Learn linking words that connect parts of text and move smoothly through them. Remember that cliches are common in English essays (We cannot ignore the fact that…, One must admit that…, In addition to…,According to some experts).
- Be soft in your beliefs. Since the essay shows the subjective perception of the proposed problem, never emphasize your complete rightness, because other people have their own opinion on this matter, and it may not coincide with yours. Also, stay away from sensitive topics such as politics, religion, etc.
Introductory phrases: what they are and how they can help
An essay in English contains standard usages that help the author formulate his thought, emphasize the importance of the statement or objectivity in his assessments. They are called introductory phrases. With their help, the essay becomes more structured and alive. For each part of the statement, there are a huge number of introductory phrases. For example, for the introduction, phrases are used that attract the attention of the reader (Many people think … but others do not agree), in the main part, comparison phrases are used (From the other hand), in the conclusion, phrases that indicate drawing conclusions (To sum up). Be sure to use the above options, they help to express thoughts transparently.
Most common mistakes
Writing an essay in English is not without flaws, and this fact is very important to consider, because whoever is warned is armed.
Carefully study the list of the most common mistakes, which will be presented below, and doconclusions: look at which of the listed mistakes you do not make, and which you need to work on. So you can find out your weaknesses and try to fix them. The most common mistakes are:
- A boring start to the story. It is very important to interest the reviewer from the very first lines, to show that he reads your essay, not because he just needs to evaluate it, but because he will find useful information for himself.
- Work not personally verified by you. Only by re-reading your text can you find flaws and missing elements in it. When a person rereads what is written, he perceives it holistically. Don't forget to take time to review your essay.
- The essay is based on unsubstantiated facts. It is better to do less, but better. Choose only those facts that you can correctly substantiate.
- The question is not fully disclosed. Despite the fact that the topics of the essay in English are diverse ("Animals in the zoo. How do you feel about it", "Cloning. Pros and cons", "Computer games. Pros and cons), learn to fully disclose your position.
- You are trying to be something you are not. Always write essays from the bottom of your heart and only say what you think. Only then will you be accepted as a person.
