posted
I need good writers and/or interesting, well written essays to read to study. I'm trying to write my own right now (my first since I was forced to in high school) and it's definitely too formal.
Specific advice on essay writing would be great too. Am I right in assuming new paragraphs are divided by point being made, with the obvious differences in the case of Introductions and Conclusions?
Posts: 1138 | Registered: Nov 2005
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There may be paragraph breaks within the arguments, but I divide each section with a gap to clearly deperate each argument and the introduction and conclusion from one another.
Formality wise, I would actually lean on the side of formal, unless the assignment specifically says informal.
EDIT: Most schools provide essay guides for students to help them. If you're not at unversity, try looking at your local college's website, see if you can find something.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Stephen Jay Gould's essays are quite good, and are compiled into a number of different books. There is an anthology called Great Essays in Science that (as the name suggests) has some good stuff in it.
You also wouldn't do too badly by reading over a few issues of magazines like Natural History, Smithsonian, Atlantic Monthly, Harpers, and the like, all of which regularly feature well written essays of many different types.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
I find, in college, regardless of how much they encourage you to transcend the 5 paragraph-style we were taught in high school, you don't want to deviate too much from it. The format: Introduction Body Paragraphs (each paragraph for an argument + its sub-arguments/evidence) and Conclusion.
For your introduction, imagine a pyramid, and turn it upside down. That how you want to structure your points: begin with the general and end with the most specific--your thesis. If you want to make it more formal or advanced, you first want to address the general problem and then target a majority opinion. Your thesis would then be why you think your interpretation/ideas are better. If you want an even more formal, dialectal style of opening, let me know...
I always get accused of writing too formally, and it has nothing to do with organization. I don't know about your college, but mine (frustratingly) requires that we write simply, as if we were speaking, because they feel it is more important that we can argue well than write well for purple language can be distorting. So if you want to err on the side of less formal, try to avoid silver dollar words and complex diction.
A great essayist? How about Orson Scott Card ? His World Watch essays are an excellent model in argumentation (and interesting as well).
Posts: 484 | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
If you want some sample essays, I could send you some of mine from my history classes that I got excellent marks on. I've never gotten a bad score really on an essay, I had great essay writing teachers in high school, and it's served me well in collge.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
What sort of essay are you writing? That makes a big difference in the tone (how formal) your essay is. For instance in a science (chemistry, biology, physics etc.) essay you need to be excessively formal with subheadings and complete avoidance with personal pronouns. Surprisingly in science essays the passive tense is rather recommended to an active tense including a personal pronoun.
For a social science essay (history, psychology, economics, business etc.), you'll still want a formal essay style, but your diction can be a little looser. You'll want to watch out for stating opinions as facts, and you'll want to be sure that any facts you do state, or any arguments you borrow are cited from a specific source even if you completely change the wording. If you're writing about a specific book, or article, be generous with direct quotations to help the reader follow your argument when you refer to something. Specific arguments are better than general ones, as long as you can back it up with citations. Speaking of citations, figure out how your professor wants the citations done, or if you're writing for fun, pick a style and stick with it.
For humanties essays (english, foreign languages, philosophy, and selected 'diversity (multicultural, feminist studies, ) etc.) you can follow the same sort of rules as social sciences except you will probably use fewer citations and interject a bit more of your own argument, actually in most humanities classes you shouldn't interject your argument, you should interject the argument you think your professor is most likely to agree with; this may or may not reflect your personal opinions on the matter. If you disagree with the professor they are likely to respond by saying ambiguously that your argument was insufficient, or better yet, by writing a little note on the paper 'did you forget a phrase negating this sentence' so that they convince themselves that your otherwise good argument means the opposite of what you were really arguing, because you couldn't be arguing so fluently in favor of that . (Sorry a bit bitter about humanities profs).
That brings me to another important point; audience. Most of my papers are directed to a professor or TA who grades them, but occasionally for reasons yet unknown professors ask for paper directed to the 'lay man.' Perhaps you are writing this essay not for school but for a local newspaper or maybe for a scholarship board, or maybe just for fun. In each case knowing who the reader is well help you to modulate your tone appropriately. If you're writing an essay for a scholarship from PETA, for instance, I would leave out the deer you shot on a hunting trip when you were 13, and focus on other things.
Some other general tips for writing well. One I like to use (I actually do this unconsciously) is alliteration. 'Writing well' is an example of this, because the two words start with the same letter. Other things that make your writing smoother and more fluent are varied sentence structures. Use a short sentence to make a very strong point. Personally I use a lot of mid to long sentences, if you're not cautious that can lead to incorrect grammar in the form of comma splices (I do this all the time), or sentence fragments. Also ignore any grammar checker your computer has. For the most part if is useless, and you're better off just rereading the paper yourself, or even better, having a friend read it for grammar errors. You don't have to have one point per paragraph. If you're writing a longer essay you can have two or three introductory paragraphs, where you should state your thesis (or main argument), and then give the reader an idea of the arguments you'll hit along the way. You can develop one argument in multiple paragraphs. A general rule that I try to follow, is to have an odd number of points and an odd number of paragraphs. You shouldn't go out of your way to make up a point so you can do this, or leave out an important argument so that it fits this form, but it's a good rule of thumb. Anyway this is a really long post. It hits some of what I consider to be the important points of essay writing. If you have more specific questions I'll answer them if I see them.
Posts: 349 | Registered: May 2003
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? His World Watch essays are an excellent model in argumentation (and interesting as well).
