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Essay Writing
The first step to any form of writing endeavour is to master the art of essay writing. The literal meaning of the word essay is attempt. Essay writing means a literary composition in prose of moderate length. Charles Lamb was one of the greatest essay writers and his pieces are still held up as role models. The essay has one main topic, which is then divided into various branches or paragraphs. Each paragraph has one central theme. So the idea is building up a tree from one seed by branching off but without breaking off. The continuity must be there. One stroke must be linked to another.
Essay writing must pour forth from the heart like musical notes. The flow must not stop. Yet the grammar of music must be followed. This means that in essay writing there must be harmony and rhythm. So an essay is a piece, which has style as well as content matched with grace. It must not be dull. It must capture the reader to captivate. The content is as important as the way it is presented. If there are no solid facts it means that scant research has been done. But mere frills and trimmings will not make the student make the grades. On the other hand just heavy dull facts placed in a disjointed haphazard manner will not win laurels.
Essay writing is no easy task. There may be many purposes behind the task of essay writing but the basic structure does not change – even if the subject does. The essay may be argumentative or explanatory or descriptive. The note and tone of the essay must complete a full circle from the point it ascends to the point it descends. The basic step is the idea or the central theme.
Writing an essay? Be sure about the topic. The next step will be to outline the idea or topic. Then fill in the body. So essay writing involves writing down in rough, the points and then the sub points. You must also know how to handle bibliographies. It is better to avoid quotations but if you do so, then be very particular about the exact quotation and put it in brackets.
Thus we see that in essay writing the first important step is about the topic. It needs to be carefully handled. Suppose your topic is “India”. Now this is very general and perfect for an overview. If something more specific is the aim of your essay writing then you must narrow it down to something more general like “The Monsoons in India” or “The Culture of North India”. If you have not been given the topic then the sky is the limit. To some this seems to be a daunting task like hunting for a needle in a haystack. The option is to choose the subject that you like. It is your interest that will lead you on to a creative world of success in the land of essay writing
