Essay

An essay is generally a short piece of writing outlining the writer’s perspective or story. It is often
considered synonymous with a story or a paper or an article. Essays can be both formal as well as informal.
Formal essays are generally academic in nature and tackle serious topics. We will be focusing on informal
essays which are more personal and often have humorous elements.

Types of Essays

The type of an essay will depend on what the writer wants to convey to his reader. There are broadly four
types of essays. Let us see.

Narrative Essays: This is when the writer is narrating an incident or story through the essay. So these are in
the first person. The aim when writing narrative essays is to involve the reader in them as if they were right
there when it was happening. SO make them as vivid and real as possible. One way to make this possible is
to follow the principle of ‘show, don’t tell’. So you must involve the reader in the story.

Descriptive Essays: Here the writer will describe a place, an object, an event or maybe even a memory. But
it is not just plainly describing things. The writer must paint a picture through his words. One clever way to
do that is to evoke the senses of the reader. Do not only rely on sight but also involve the other senses of
smell, touch, sound etc. A descriptive essay when done well will make the reader feel the emotions the
writer was feeling at the moment.

Expository Essays: In such an essay a writer presents a balanced study of a topic. To write such an essay,
the writer must have real and extensive knowledge about the subject. There is no scope for the writer’s
feelings or emotions in an expository essay. It is completely based on facts, statistics, examples etc. There
are sub-types here like contrast essays, cause and effect essays etc.

Persuasive Essays: Here the purpose of the essay is to get the reader to your side of the argument. A
persuasive essay is not just a presentation of facts but an attempt to convince the reader of the writer’s point
of view. Both sides of the argument have to be presented in these essays. But the ultimate aim is to persuade
the readers that the writer’s argument carries more weight.

Format of an Essay

Now there is no rigid format of an essay. It is a creative process so it should not be confined within
boundaries. However, there is a basic structure that is generally followed while writing essays. So let us take
a look at the general structure of an essay.

Introduction

This is the first paragraph of your essay. This is where the writer introduces his topic for the very first time.
You can give a very brief synopsis of your essay in the introductory paragraph. Generally, it is not very
long, about 4-6 lines.

There is plenty of scopes to get creative in the introduction of essays. This will ensure that you hook the
reader, i.e. draw and keep his attention. So to do so you can start with a quote or a proverb. Sometimes you
can even start with a definition. Another interesting strategy to engage with your reader is to start with a
question.

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Body

This is the main crux of your essays. The body is the meat of your essay sandwiched between the
introduction and the conclusion. So the most vital and important content of the essay will be here. This need
not be confined to one paragraph. It can extend to two or more paragraphs according to the content.

Usually, we have a lot of information to provide in the body. And the mistakes writers generally make is to
go about it in a haphazard manner which leaves the reader confused. So it is important to organize your
thoughts and content. Write the information in a systematic flow so that the reader can comprehend. So, for
example, you were narrating an incident. The best manner to do this would be to go in a chronological order.

Conclusion

This is the last paragraph of the essay. Sometimes a conclusion will just mirror the introductory paragraph
but make sure the words and syntax are different. A conclusion is also a great place to sum up a story or an
argument. You can round up your essay by providing some moral or wrapping up a story. Make sure you
complete your essays with the conclusion, leave no hanging threads.

Tips for Essay Writing

Give your essays an interesting and appropriate title. It will help draw the attention of the reader and pique
their curiosity

Keep it between 300-500 words. This is the ideal length, you can take creative license to increase or
decrease it

Keep your language simple and crisp. Unnecessary complicated and difficult words break the flow of the
sentence.

Do not make grammar mistakes, use correct punctuation and spellings. If this is not done it will distract the
reader from the content

Before beginning the essay organize your thought and plot a rough draft. This way you can ensure the story
will flow and not be an unorganized mess.

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Brief Overview of the 10 Essay Writing Steps
Below are brief summaries of each of the ten steps to writing an essay. Select the links for more info on any
particular step, or use the blue navigation bar on the left to proceed through the writing steps. How To Write
an Essay can be viewed sequentially, as if going through ten sequential steps in an essay writing process, or
can be explored by individual topic.
1. Research: Begin the essay writing process by researching your topic, making yourself an expert. Utilize
the internet, the academic databases, and the library. Take notes and immerse yourself in the words of great
thinkers.
2. Analysis: Now that you have a good knowledge base, start analyzing the arguments of the essays you're
reading. Clearly define the claims, write out the reasons, the evidence. Look for weaknesses of logic, and
also strengths. Learning how to write an essay begins by learning how to analyze essays written by others.
3. Brainstorming: Your essay will require insight of your own, genuine essay-writing brilliance. Ask
yourself a dozen questions and answer them. Meditate with a pen in your hand. Take walks and think and
think until you come up with original insights to write about.
4. Thesis: Pick your best idea and pin it down in a clear assertion that you can write your entire essay
around. Your thesis is your main point, summed up in a concise sentence that lets the reader know where
you're going, and why. It's practically impossible to write a good essay without a clear thesis.
5. Outline: Sketch out your essay before straightway writing it out. Use one-line sentences to describe
paragraphs, and bullet points to describe what each paragraph will contain. Play with the essay's order. Map
out the structure of your argument, and make sure each paragraph is unified.
6. Introduction: Now sit down and write the essay. The introduction should grab the reader's attention, set
up the issue, and lead in to your thesis. Your intro is merely a buildup of the issue, a stage of bringing your
reader into the essay's argument.
(Note: The title and first paragraph are probably the most important elements in your essay. This is an
essay-writing point that doesn't always sink in within the context of the classroom. In the first paragraph you
either hook the reader's interest or lose it. Of course your teacher, who's getting paid to teach you how to
write an essay, will read the essay you've written regardless, but in the real world, readers make up their
minds about whether or not to read your essay by glancing at the title alone.)
7. Paragraphs: Each individual paragraph should be focused on a single idea that supports your thesis.
Begin paragraphs with topic sentences, support assertions with evidence, and expound your ideas in the
clearest, most sensible way you can. Speak to your reader as if he or she were sitting in front of you. In other
words, instead of writing the essay, try talking the essay.

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8. Conclusion: Gracefully exit your essay by making a quick wrap-up sentence, and then end on some
memorable thought, perhaps a quotation, or an interesting twist of logic, or some call to action. Is there
something you want the reader to walk away and do? Let him or her know exactly what.
9. MLA Style: Format your essay according to the correct guidelines for citation. All borrowed ideas and
quotations should be correctly cited in the body of your text, followed up with a Works Cited (references)
page listing the details of your sources.
10. Language: You're not done writing your essay until you've polished your language by correcting the
grammar, making sentences flow, incoporating rhythm, emphasis, adjusting the formality, giving it a level-
headed tone, and making other intuitive edits. Proofread until it reads just how you want it to sound. Writing
an essay can be tedious, but you don't want to bungle the hours of conceptual work you've put into writing
your essay by leaving a few slippy misppallings and pourly wordedd phrazies..

Topics
1. Role of women/ women rights/ women education
2. Media, both print and electronic/ social media
3. Mobile phone
4. Water crisis/ energy crisis/ load shedding
5. Corruption
6. Co-education
7. National unity
8. Pollution
9. Islam is a religion of peace
10. Overpopulation/ population explosion
11. Democracy/ good governance
12. Terrorism/ extremism
13. Elections in Pakistan/ local bodies election
14. Value of science
15. Social evils in Pakistan
16. CPEC
17. Poverty
18. Drug addiction
19. Importance of Co-curricular activities
20. Unemployment

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