Essential Elements of an Essay
 

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="6"][COLOR="DarkRed"][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Essential Elements of an Essay[/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]


[B][CENTER]" True ease in writing comes from art nor chance
As those move easiest who have learned to dance"
[/CENTER][/B]

[B][RIGHT]-- Pope......[/RIGHT][/B]


It has been found that Essay Writing is an art. You have been writing essays for several years, and probably there is nothing more distasteful to you than the thought of sitting down to write one. There is no reason why this should be so, because the writing of an essay is really, and can be made, a fascinating occupation.

Now the question arises; How then is one to become a good essayist ? How is one to acquire the necessary skill, imagination, feeling, and taste ?.

The answer is not far to seek, No one is born into the world a ready-made essayist, any more than he is born a ready-made painter or a ready-made musician. These accomplishments are the result of careful study and patient practice, and the would-be essayist is in a similar position. He must study the best models, follow the best guides. "Whoever" wrote Johnson "Wishes to attain an English Style, familiar but not coarse and elegant but not ostentatious mut give his days and nights to the volumes o Addison". Add the names of those mentioned already as being in the tradition and this piece of advice is brought up to date.

For being a good essayist, One must attain the mastery on the following grounds :

01. Choice of Subjects
02. Information
03. Reading
04. Observation
05. Thinking
06. Practice
07. Coherence
08. Structures
09. The Tone of the Essay
10. Sense of discrimination



By applying the above essentials, You may become a successful essayist. You may hold the robust grip by passing painstaking time and attention on it. In order to adorn an essay, You must be aware of few essential elements of an essay. In another words, A good essay must contain these elements. These elements are illustriously known as Principles of Communication. They provide guidelines for choice of contents and style of presentation. They are given in detail as under :






[B]01. [/B] [B][U][SIZE="4"]Completeness [/SIZE][/U][/B]

Completeness is basic factor of an essay. An essay is complete when it contains all the facts regarding the subject. For a complete essay the following guidelines must be kept in mind.

1. Answering all facts related to a topic
2. Giving extra information, if desirable
3. Checking whether the essay contains all the essential facts.


It should be ensured that the essay clarifies all the essentials -- what, who, when, whom, where and why. Omission of any part may implies the deficiency of knowledge which create doubt in the reader`s mind.






[B]02. [/B] [B][U][SIZE="4"]Conciseness[/SIZE][/U][/B]

Conciseness means saying something in the fewest possible words without sacrificing the other qualities. It is the opposite of wordiness. It saves time and makes important ideas clear. Conciseness may be achieved by observing the following suggestions.

1. Omitting wordy expressions.
2. Including only relevant statements
3. Avoiding unnecesary repetition.


[B][U]Wordy Expression :[/U][/B]

Wordy expression may be avoided by :

a. Using single - word substitutes instead of phrases. For example "because" is concise and "due to the fact that" is wordy.

b. Eliminating "which" and "that" , etc. For example, For example, "executive-chairs" is concise and "the chairs which are of executive type" is wordy.

c. Avoiding "it is", "there is", "there are", etc. For example, "Four rules must be observed" is concise and "There are four rules which must be observed" is wordy.


[B][U]Relevant Statements :[/U][/B]

An essay should contain relevant facts only. This can be done by :

a. Sticking the purpose / subject of writing
b. Discarding irrelevant words and sentences


[B][U]Unnecessary Repetition :[/U][/B]

Unnecessary repetition makes an essay boring. It may be avoided by :

a. Using abbreviation rather than repeating long names simualtaneously. For instance "PIA" instead of "Pakistan International Airlines"

b. Using pronouns rather than repeating long names. e.g. "He" instead of "Sir syed ahmed khan"

c. Cutting out needless repetition of phrases, sentences and even paragraphs.





[B]3.[/B] [B][U][SIZE="4"]Concreteness[/SIZE][/U][/B]

Communicating concretely means being specific, definite and vivid rather than vague and general. The following guidelines are helpful in composing a concrete statement.

1. Using specific facts and figures
2. Choosing vavid image -- building words.


To make essay vavid and specific, the devices of comparison, figurative language and well-chosen adjectives and adverbs may be used.






[B]4. [/B] [B][U][SIZE="4"]Clarity[/SIZE][/U][/B]

An essay is said to be clear when it is interpreted by the reader with the same meaning the writer has in mind. Following are some specific ways helpful in making sentences clear :

a. Choosing short, familiar, conversational words
b. Constructing effective sentences and paragraphs
c. Attaining appropriate readablility
d. Including examples, illustrations etc.


[B][U]Short, Familiar, Conversational words :[/U][/B]

Short, familiar, conversational words should be used when there is a choice. For example, use "home" instead of "domicile" and "big" instead of "substantial". Unfamiliar Latin words and technical terms should be avoided.


[B][U]Effective Sentences and Paragraphs :[/U][/B]

Sentences and paragraphs should be posses the qualities of unity, coherence, emphasis and reasonable length. Unity means that there is a central idea and any other ideas in the sentence and paragraph must be closely related to it. "I love Pakistan" and "She is a good girl" obviously should not be in the same sentence.


Coherence means establishing relationships within a sentence and between sentences in such a way that the intended meaning becomes clear. Emphasis is a quality that imparts force to important parts of the essay. An important idea may be emphasized by proper placement, spacing, underlining, repeating, writing in capital letters etc.



[B][U]Appropriate Readability :[/U][/B]

The word and sentence level should be approapriate to the receiver`s level. Robert Gunning` well known Fog Index is a suitable guide to measure readability. Three steps are included in this index.

1. Average sentence length should be computed by dividing total number of words by the number of sentences.

2. Percentage of hard words should be computed by dividing the number of hardwords by total number off words multiplied with 100.

3. The product of Average sentence length + percentage of hard words x 4 should be computed. This is the reading level required for the same number of years of education.

This three-step index is helpful in improving clarity, but it is subject to some limitations. Firstly, too simplicity makes the expressions ineffective. Secondly, all long words are not always difficult. Finally, An expression with insulting words may also secure the desired Fog Index.



[B][U]Examples, Illustrations , etc.... [/U][/B]

Complicated and lengthy explanations are better clarified with the help of examples and illustrations etc.




[B]5. [/B] [B][U][SIZE="4"]Consideration[/SIZE][/U][/B]

Consideration means preparation of paragraphs keeping in mind the desires, problems, circumstances, emotions and possible reactions. It must be prepared to agree the reader. Consequently, It must match to the checker`s expectation (How he expect you to write). This thoughtful consideration is also called "You attitude".

Since, Essay is adopted to the reader`s approach, It must be complete, concise, concrete, clear, courteous and correct. Every matter should be viewed from reader`s stand point.












[COLOR="blue"]to be continued[/COLOR]