What is Essays? Top Tips to write an Essay..

What are Essays?

The word "essay" is derived from "Essai," which means a trial or attempt. Essay Writing is regarded as a mental discipline, training in the art of arranging and expressing one's thoughts in a regular and well-developed kind of composition. It is an attempt to present one's views or to express one's ideas, or to express one's standpoint on a given topic.

A good essay must hold its reader's attention from the beginning to the end. For this, it must possess certain qualities which make a piece of writing readable and enjoyable.

Some Tips for writing a good Essay:

1. Understand the topics well.

1. Select the issues about which you have adequate knowledge.

1. Plan what you have to write. Don't start haphazardly writing whatever comes to mind.

1. Don't make any generalized statement at the beginning of an essay.

1. Work out your ideas and state them with sincerity and confidence. 

1. Write it in your own words and write with ease, simplicity, and directness. 

1. Do all you can to make the reader understand what you write as clearly as you know it yourself. 

1. Never use a word of which you do not understand the meaning.

1. Abstain from introducing a hackneyed quotation from poetry.

1. Short words and short sentences are usually preferable to long ones.
2. Avoid all grammatical or spelling errors.
3. Keep up the reader's interest from the beginning to the end. 
4. Study the essays of famous authors and see how they get their effects.

Structure or Parts of an Essay:

Every essay has a structure - A beginning, also called Introduction, a body that contains the main ideas and a conclusion. And each of these requires careful attention.

1. The Introduction: It aims at showing in very general terms the view that the writer has taken of the general meaning of the subject and the line he intends to take in deal on with it. It should be a brief paragraph. Generally speaking, it should not exceed 10% of the whole essay, except notwithstanding. It must begin well. It should always be arresting and relevant to the subject. An abrupt beginning is perhaps the best of all beginning plunge straight into your subject do not beat about the bush. To make the opening catchy, you have many ways. You may begin with a question and attempt to answer it in your way. You may start with a quotation from a great writer or one from a man of wisdom, or depending on the subject; you may begin with a definition of your topic and then try to defend it or illustrate it in your essays. And if you can think of interesting anecdotes related to your subject, you may begin with that. What is essential is to make your subject you may start with that. What is necessary is to make your beginning enjoyable to catch your attention.

1. The Body: This part contains the main points, arguments, examples, etc., and is thus the most crucial part of the essay. This may include one or more paragraphs. This requires a good deal of planning and preparations. It would help if you thought adequately before you write and must clearly understand what you mean to say, both the matter and the order. The important thing here is to bring together the best in language and thought to make your essay exciting and enjoyable.
2. The Conclusion: This is the last paragraph in which the writer has to sum the drift of what has been said or restate the main point that he intended to establish or express some final reflections suggested by the subject. It must leave a distinct impression on the reader's mind at the last. 

The conclusion should be as striking as the beginning. It should give one the impression that the final goal has been reached and that the writer wanted to say about the subject has been sad. There are various ways of concluding the essay. If one is arguing for or against someth8ing, one must bring together the main ideas to prove one's point. If, on the other hand, one is narrating a story. An incident, etc. One may try to end it on the most memorable or exciting incident. And if one wants to draw a moral or lesson from, say, an experience, an accident, or an incident, one usually does so in conclusion. 

To write a good essay on any subject, one must begin with a plan. The writer should collect the relevant materials and prepare and outline the report in a nutshell or summary form. It requires dividing materials into several parts and placing them in proper order. 

Arrangements of paragraphs : 

The paragraphs of an essay should be so arranged that the reader's mind will be carried forward by an essay transition from the subject of one section to that of another. 

If the subject is of the narrative classes, i.e., historical or biographical, the order of succession in time will probably be the most natural. 

 If the subject is of the descriptive class, the arrangement will follow the sequence in the space of the objects or series to be described. 

Suppose the subject is of the Reflective or the argumentative class. In that case, the writer will have to show how one idea or argument leads to another and arrange his paragraphs accordingly.