Length of the essay
 

Aoa 2 every1!

I have done BE from NUST and plan to take CSS 2005 inshaAllah.
During Matric and f.sc., teachers always used to concentrate and emphasize on length of the topic.
What I want to know is that does the length of the essay really matter or if even a well-presented, short and concise essay can also earn good marks?
Anyone having previous years experience may please reply.

Nauman

I'll try to reply...
 

Dear Nauman,
Although I haven't qualified CSS and haven't either appeared in it. But the guidance I am receiving from people is that according to them the CSS Essay should be point to point and well-explained. Although the minimum size according to them was 3000 words. This was the suggestion of some technical and qualified people. And normally when you'll get to writing an essay, you'll realise that you'll cross that limit easily!

Further any book of CSS essays will give you a good idea.

Regards,
Adil Memon

[QUOTE=Nauman]Aoa 2 every1!
I have done BE from NUST and plan to take CSS 2005 inshaAllah.
During Matric and f.sc., teachers always used to concentrate and emphasize on length of the topic.
What I want to know is that does the length of the essay really matter or if even a well-presented, short and concise essay can also earn good marks?
Anyone having previous years experience may please reply.
Nauman
[email]chnaumanzafar@hotmail.com[/email]
0300-9544361[/QUOTE]

(One of the post by [b]Miss Mediha,2001 topper)[/b]

ASA
Since i took my O'levels, [b]we were trained to think out[/b] and [b]outline our essay[/b] [b]before writing..[/b] i think that is indeed a very healthy way of writing, and it makes the essay [b]coherent, flowing and well connected and very readable.[/b]
Also, another point on the essay that i would like to give out is that please, [b]dont write a 'run of the mill' essay[/b] and go on for pages and pages and pages with empty rhetoric.. that is NOT what is required.
I wrote my essay on[b] 'On tolerance'[/b] and believe me, my essay was [b]philosophical, factual and opinionated[/b] on what i felt. AND, it wasn't for [b]20 pages[/b].. I think it went the length of about [b]15 pages MAX..[/b]
think out the essay well, be careful in chosing a topic and write from the heart (but nothing that makes u sound like a rebel without a cause)

Plz tell me the way of getting these megazines
 

aoa, hope everyone is fine,

can anyone guide me the way of getting these megazines?

1- Strategic Studies Digest Quartely Digest(issued by Strategic studies
Centre, Islamabad)
2. National Development and Security Quartely Digest(issued by Friends
Association Of Mirza Aslam Baig, rawalpindi)
3. Economist Magazine.

Salam,

I also need to know that..... is there anyone who could tell us ?

Need Guidance
 

Well folks I appeared in CSS-2005 n flunked in essay paper with a shamefully low score .... any how i find it a good opportunity to discuss wt i did in the paper ... quite intrestingly i also found the paper easy at that tyme because the topics were all pretty topical ones ... i wrote my essay on the social prob of pak .. hmm i worte around 10 to 11 pages n wrote from all aspects ..but i dont know why i cudn't get thorugh ... any one senior here who can help me out for this paper n guide me abt how to attempt it ... well as far as the intellectual prop for essay is concerned i learnt abt it dat u shud know some major pointers abt the current affairs n u got to reproduce those pointers in a rather more elaborate way in the paper of essay .. so i didn't do any isspecial preption for this paper n thought i wud write on the spur of moment ... but dat exp kind of proved unsuccessful ... so guyz i'm askin u to guide me how to go abt this paper n wt to do dis tyme… besidez some one mentioned to me to adorn the paper with quotationz … hmm is dere any book to get these quotation n besidez what exactly quoting a quotation meanz …like abt poverty or population any literary quotation will sound a rather out of frame thing … any how I’m waiting for ur guidance …….

Salaam,

Please tell us the the points (as an outline) that you discussed in the essay along with your attained marks!

Regards,

Re
 

Well …I wont be able to exactly reproduce the outline here but broadly speaking it was like that I discussed following issues under social probz (I wrote the essay in one long protracted form but here I am writing the points under n social n economic headers) … illiteracy, poverty, corruption, extremism, unemployment, decaying civic sense among people, population n then coming to eco probz … agricultural decadence, industrial backwardness, lack of investment, inflation, NFC issue, water issue ….after highlighting the probz , I discussed the remedies to overcome these probz, I also discussed Islamic aspect in the sense how Islam can offer a salvation e.g. the system of zakat to counter concentration of wealth in the hands of few privileged ones…. by and large I wrote like this, apart from that I must tell you that I wrote around 10 to 11 sheets … dats all , plz lemme know if this much length is considered too brief for essay paper or not , hmm… as far as the score goes it was only 24 L .. the interesting part was that I had the satisfaction that I had done good enough but the result proved only the opposite !!

Salaam,

I am not the examiner myself, but I opine that you probably didn't attempt the paper they wanted you to.

1) I think you discussed useless things in your essay e.g. NFC, water, lack of investment etc. Either I or you have probably misunderstood the topic. I think by socio-economic problems, the examiner means the problems that emerge as a result of interaction between social and economic factors. Like, corruption, health, education, poverty etc. You do not need to discuss the social and economic problems separately.

2) You need not mention the role of Islam in salvation. They didn't ask for it. (This is what I think).

3) The ideal length of an essay is around 20 pages. This might be one of the factors that has entailed your low score.

Regards,

PS: In case of correction, do write back.

ms sara ,,,well my analysis might be brimfull of brazenly low-witted mistakes

but , despite all my shortcomings i would say 1 thing...... if you had

discussed all the abovementioned sub-heads as the major constituents of

your essay then how much did you endeavoured to strike a balance to justify

those constiuents in their proportional size.... you need not to be extra

rhetoric while pleading your points, it might digress one of the actual

course,,,i mean there have been people around who wrote "iraq-us " war

under the title "islam vs west"....ok if NFC is the major socio political issue of

pakistan then how much its impacting the holistic socio-ecocnomic

scene.....if i write two pages for NFC and one page over something of more

importance than NFC , just because i know about NFC more than wat i wrote

in the other issue, than i would definitley be inviting a trouble.......one more

thing ;i agree to adil that in this topic its the social turbulence emerging out

of economic set up....and we are to give importance to the social

degradation of our society,,,,,not to mention the technical intricacies

involved in all this mess,,,,,,there are five major social institions of paradigm

importance i.e 1)Family 2) religion 3) politics 4)economics 5)and

education....now i will have to write with a balanced approach as to which

institutional value has to be pursued on priority basis in order to create a

harmonious society living in peace and tranquility........well if i say political

stability is more important than economic prosperity than it would be true

w.r.t macro-economic scenario,,, but it will be wrong w.r.t micro-economic

one........another thing; bringing religion into this topic might not be wrong

(though you people may disagree with me to the fullest)............but we will

have to be cautious as to wat are the threshholds for the religious dogmas

which they shouldn't be transcended, well islam is not just a religion its a

complete code of life , ,,so on and so forth....there could be endless debate

over this socio-institutional conversation......but all you need to know is to

clearly and unequivocally mention the points in their proper proportion....and

last but not the least....writing an essay of 10/11 sheets might not be a bad

idea, its all wat you have written in that....i hope i will be corrected for all

wat i might have been overly judgemental........all the best