10 Ways to Improve Essay Writing

Before telling you the ways to improve essay writing, I want to let you know, what is an Essay? 

• David Green defines an Essay, as a piece of prose composition, generally short, on any chosen subject. The word ‘Essay’ literally means an ‘attempt’, 
• In other words, the essay is a long piece of writing on a specific theme or subject. It has a beginning, middle and end or conclusion. The beginning introduces the subject, and the middle develops the theme and presents the writer’s thoughts. The conclusion naturally emerges out of the discussion. 
• Now, we should know the types of essays to have the clarity to attempt an essay. Otherwise, we fail to write an essay effectively. 

They are six main types of essays, namely:

Descriptive Essay:

It describes a place or person or thing. Eg: A village fair, Salarjung Museum

Narrative Essay: 

describes an event [a biography], incident [a natural calamity], or accident. Eg: A visit to Kulumanali, An Aeroplane crash, The Childhood of Abdul Kalam.

Reflective Essay:

An essay that expresses writer’s thoughts or reflections on themes like, Courage, patience, truth
Friendship, marriage, poverty
Democracy, elections, war
Meaning of living, Life after death etc..

Imaginative Essay:

These essays present imaginary situations. Eg: If I were a Prime Minister………..,
If I were a Bill gates……..etc.

Expository Essay:

These are highly impersonal and objective. They talk about a theory or doctrine. Eg: Evolution, Karma and Rebirth, Literature and Life…..

Argumentative Essay:

It tries to convince the reader that the position taken by the writer on any particular issue is right. Eg: 

• Home is the best place for women 
• God is undoubtedly real, 
• Friend is more important than family, 
• Private education is better than govt. education. 
• Arranged marriage is better than love marriage. 

Now I will explain you, the ways to improve Essay Writing:

Collecting Material

• A good essay is the result of careful research. Therefore before writing an essay on some topic, we need to collect the relevant material required to be studied. Without proper data, we cannot compose a good essay. 

Defining the Scope:

• While defining the scope, we need to look carefully at the title of the essay. 
• For Eg: when we have to write on ‘The Problem of Terrorism in Modern World’, we need to give a worldwide view of the perspective and while discussing,‘ The Problem of Terrorism in India ‘ we need to restrict our scope and limit it to India alone. 

Making an outline

• An outline of an essay relates to its skeletal form. A good outline helps us express ourselves in a coherent way. 

Comprehensive:

• A good essay should be comprehensive in its approach and vision. A well-written essay has to highlight all the aspects related to the issue. 

Balance

A well-crafted essay strikes a balance in its different parts.

Coherence

• The ideas or details must be arranged in a logical order in one of the devices such as time, space, deductive or inductive order. This will ensure coherence. 

Cohesion

• consists of using the right word in right place and linking sentences with connectives using pronouns and repeating key words or ideas. 

Length

• The length of the sentence depends upon the purpose what we want to write. 

Emphasis

• consists in presenting the most important points either in the introduction or in the conclusion. 

Appropriate Style:

• In the essay, every sentence must be complete. The language must be clear, simple and direct. 

Now I want to conclude that, following these ways one can succeed in one’s competitive examinations.
Thank you.