Short Essay on How to Write an Essay

Writing a good essay calls for an ability of a high order. An essay is a test of the writer’s keenness of observation, range of experience, capacity for thinking, and power of expression. It is worthwhile learning how to write a really good essay. However, all students cannot aspire to write brilliant essays. One should learn, in the first instance, to write at least ordinary essays. Let us try to know what distinguishes an excellent essay from an ordinary one, and how to write this form of composition in as impressive a manner as possible.

An essay has two aspects – matter and manner, ideas and language; and it is judged from these two points of view. Of course, strictly speaking, ideas and language, matter and manner cannot be separated: they go together. But they may be considered separately for the sake of convenience and understanding. Let us first consider the matter or the ideas of an essay, ignoring for the moment the manner or the language. In the first place, the matter of an essay should be relevant and adequate.

Many an essay is unsatisfactory, because its ideas are not relevant. An essay on the ‘Romance of Science’, for example, which merely describes how science has benefited mankind, is irrelevant. One should, therefore, make it a point to avoid those themes the meaning of which is not clear. Again, the matter of an essay must be adequate that is; one should have sufficient ideas on the selected subject so as to be able to write the required number of lines on it without repeating oneself too much.

Now, how is one to have relevant and sufficient ideas on a given subject? Some writers suggest that, if you are short of ideas on a particular subject, you might ask and try to answer questions on it beginning with ‘What’,’ When ‘, ‘Why’, and ‘How.’ Suppose that you have to write an essay on ‘Student Indiscipline’ and that you do not know what to write. The question “What is student indiscipline?” suggests to you some ideas, which may help you to define indiscipline or discipline among students. “Where does student indiscipline occur?” will make you think of certain states or parts of the country where the trouble is rampant. “Why does it occur?” will direct your thoughts to the various causes of indiscipline among students.

Finally, if you ask the question “How should it be cured?” you are likely to get several ideas on the steps that have to be taken to solve the problem. Simple as this method may seem to be, it often helps us, and, in fact, we unconsciously adopt some such method when we are at a loss for ideas; but even if this simple method is to succeed, one must have a certain amount of general knowledge. Therefore, the only real solution to the problem of relevant and adequate ideas on various subjects is reading, thinking, and observing people and things around. In particular, one should cultivate the habit of reading newspapers, magazines, novels, and books of general interest.

What is said so far is applicable to a more or less ordinary essay. The ideas of a good essay should be not only relevant and adequate but original, humorous, or imaginative. The quality of the ideas counts. Read, for example, one of the essays in this book entitled ‘If I were a Dictator’. Is there not something original in the idea that if one were a dictator, one would use one’s powers to propagate the ideas of democracy and, when the people were ready for democracy, would relinquish the high office and merge with them?

Again, when students are asked to write an essay on ‘Reading Newspapers’, most of them will write on the types of newspapers, the pleasures and benefits derived from reading them, their influence on public opinion, and so forth. But if one dwells, among other things, on the style of newspapers, its tendency to exaggerate and heighten the colour of things, and its consequent disregard for truth, one will certainly create a very good impression. Some topics, in particular, call for humorous treatment.

It is disappointing to read dull, straightforward essays on themes like ‘On Being a Back-Bencher’, ‘On Standing in a Queue’, and ‘On Borrowing Money’. A touch of hum our or imagination is worth more than pages of commonplace ideas. But the qualities of hum our, imagination, originality, and keen observation are possessed by a few. Nor is it possible to teach how to acquire them. This explains why good essays are rare.

One more point before we part with the matter of an essay. Once you have gathered ideas, whether ordinary or impressive, on a particular subject, you should proceed to arrange them in a suitable order before you begin to write the essay. In this connection, it is desirable to think of a suitable introduction, and, an appropriate and, if possible, artistic ending. While actually writing the essay, you should devote different paragraphs to different ideas or related ideas on the subject.

So far we have considered only the ideas or matter of an essay. The language or manner is equally important. Indeed, so far as essays written in English are concerned, many of them are unsatisfactory from the point of view of language. Even good ideas lose their value if they are expressed in incorrect or clumsy language. One should, therefore, learn to express oneself in correct English. One should study and observe the elementary rules of grammar and know the meaning and use (apart from the spelling) of as many common words as possible.

Correct English, however, is not identical with good English. Fairly correct English would do for an ordinary essay. But a good essay demands much more than corrects English. It demands effective expression – good style. Good English implies so many qualities that it would be out of place to enumerate all of them here. A few of them, however, may be pointed out. The choice of words demands careful attention. One should learn to choose those words, which accurately express one’s meaning.

If several words express one’s meaning equally well, their sound and associations should be considered. In fact, judged by the tests of meaning, sound and associations, only one word is appropriate and fits right in a particular context, and a good writer should aim at choosing that choicest word. Secondly, the construction of sentences is equally important. Should the sentences be long or short, simple or complex, loose or periodic?

There are no hard and fast rules. Propriety is the only consideration. However, there should be variety in the construction of sentences. If all the sentences are of the same pattern (subject verb object, for example), the style will be monotonous. Again, a good writer will avoid hackneyed (over-used) phrases and quotations.

Phrases like ‘last but not least to leave no stone unturned’ are so often used by every Tom, Dick and Harry that there is no point in your using them, if you want to write with distinction. ‘A thing of beauty is a joy for ever’ is a beautiful line penned by Keats. But the trouble about the line is that it has been quoted so often that there is neither beauty nor joy in it. A good writer should seek rare phrases and less familiar quotations. Good style, it must be remembered, is not meant for all. The average student should be content with learning to write tolerably correct English, to begin with.