What are the Strategies to Write Good Essays?
Guest Writer/Author: S. Fazal Daoud Firdausi
An essay is defined as a short academic composition. The word essay is derived from the French word “essai,” which means trail. It is an extremely effective method of assessing students’ or aspirant’s understanding of different issues, analytical capabilities, and command over language. While writing an essay, the candidate tries to reach the truth by building evidence. Therefore, it is a great tool for developing critical thinking and teaches them how to identify fallacies and reach to a logical conclusion.
Types of Essays
Around twenty types of essays have been identified. I am listing six major types of essays here.
- Argumentative Essay: It requires students to present arguments in favor and against.
- Synoptic Essay: Students are asked about historical changes in a phenomenon in a particular period.
- Exploratory Essay: Students are asked to examine an idea or experience without supporting it with empirical data.
- Analytical Essay: Students are asked to analyze something (literary work, policy, concepts, etc.) from various perspectives.
- Review Essay: Students are asked to write about their feelings, opinions, and observations regarding a literary work.
- Descriptive Essay: It is a type of essay that asks students to describe something, such as persons, objects, emotions, experiences, situations, etc.
Importance of Essay in UPSC Civil Services Exams
According to Dr Vikas Divyakirti, In the UPSC Civil Services Exam, most aspirants get average marks in the General Studies (GS) paper. If we look at it carefully, the difference an aspirant makes in GS paper is around 10-20 marks. Sometimes, the marks difference between two aspirants in an essay paper and an interview (personality test) is around 25-30 marks. That leverage may help the aspirants pass the examination or secure a higher rank in competitive exams. Similarly, Kajol Singh (AIR 149 2022) says an essay is a paper you must pay attention to. Since the GS paper preparation levels are almost the same for all the sincere aspirants. If an aspirant secures good marks in essay, ethics, and optional papers, their chances of being recommended to the selected candidates’ list become extremely high.
Key Components of a Good Essay
Proper Structure: An essay should be divided into sections and sub-sections. Following are the major sections of an essay:
- Introduction: briefly introduce the topic.
- Body: It covers the entire theme and main arguments of the essay.
- Conclusion: summing up the final remarks.
Good Paragraph Structure: The body of an essay is divided into different paragraphs. Each paragraph must contain the following:
- Statement: the main argument of the paragraph.
- Explanation: Tell the reader why the argument you are making is true.
- Example: Provide some quotes and evidence to concretize your argument.
However, the person who is writing the essay should always remember that:
- The essay should never be one-sided.
- It should always have the main argument and the counterargument.
- It should be cooperative, not competitive.
According to Bryan Greetham, essay writing is all about sharing honestly what we know and believe.
Key Strategies to Become an Essay Writing Expert
Develop command over language (if writing in English or any other language). Whatever you want to write should be understandable for the paper checker and the readers. The language used should be simple and lucid. Grammatical errors should be minimum. Avoid using SMS and abbreviated language.
Good Vocabulary: You must memorize and practice transitional words frequently used in writing essays. For example, the word “quintessential”.
Focus on Extra Reading (Books): Apart from reference books, one should focus on gathering relevant information from popular academic books written by contemporary and classical authors—for example, Yuval Noah Harari. Keep Naval Ravikanth’s quote in mind when reading books:
I don’t actually read a lot of books. I pick up a lot of books and only get through a few, which form the foundation of my knowledge.
navalmanack
Refer to Magazine and Journal Articles: In the context of India, Yojana, Kurukshetra, and EPW are good sources.
Resource Book: To collect quotes, anecdotes, and stories (in English), Shlokas in Sanskrit, Hindi Dohas, and words of wisdom from great public figures.
Prepare Rough Structure of Essay: Before writing any essay, consider headings, sub-headings, quotes, stories, etc., that fit the given essay.
Relevant Resources to Strengthen Skills
- Transition words to be used in essays: UTS
- Ethan Sawyer. College Essay Essential
- Bryan Greetham. How to write better essays
- On Writing Well, Willian Zinsser
Conclusion
The strategies discussed above provide a framework for writing essays. But that doesn’t mean essay writers should restrict themselves to a particular format. They should rather devise new methods and bring innovative ideas to improve it. In the case of essays for UPSC CSE, Junaid Ahmad (AIR 03 2018) says several patterns exist for writing essays, varying from person to person. When writing essays, an individual should focus on their strengths that has the power to attract the readers. He added, one should never restrict oneself to a particular domain while writing and must keep it interdisciplinary or trans-disciplinary to make it more persuasive and effective.