How to write an essay

The procedures for knowing how to write an essay are simple. After all, it is an organized way of expressing your own ideas on a topic. Usually, it is done from a critical perspective. Therefore, essays represent a powerful pedagogical tool due to the possibility of provoking controversy or well-argued debates.

Likewise, the essay It is considered a literary genre written in prose that contains a thesis based on personal experiences and the opinions of the writer. Likewise, in this type of texts the use of literary figures and ornamental resources is totally valid. For this reason - in the specific case of the literary essay - it is often described as poetic or artistic.

Test types

Apart from the literary, There are other essay modalities to consider before deciding to write one. Below, they are described briefly:

Argumentative essay

It's a kind of rehearsal very frequent in political articles or in discussions related to economics. Although all the essays are argumentative, this class is specifically mentioned because the explanations are more objective (compared to the literary essay). Well, the essayist must rely on the accepted theories of other specialists to defend his point of view. In this area, he notably stood out José Martí.

Scientific essay

It is distinguished by its academic rigor and structure based on a scientific methodology. Accordingly, leads to a greater argumentative depth and an indexed support at the moment of supporting each idea presented. The purpose of the scientific essay is to study a topic or circumstance and then present a synthesis.

Expository essay

It is a very suitable test modality for the scrutiny of difficult to understand questions and explanations of didactic intent. Then, the essayist prepares a fairly descriptive, meticulous text, capable of revealing all the details regarding a subject and leaving it explained in detail.

Philosophical essay

As the name implies, it reflects on different philosophical deliberations. Consequently, it covers topics of existential speculation such as love, the meaning of life, faith, death or loneliness, among others. For these reasons, it is a type of essay with a more subjective position and transcendental exaltation.

Critical essay

Despite presenting many similarities with the argumentative essay, critical testing is stricter with respect to handling evidence. Accordingly, the previous studies and the collection of antecedents imply a rigor comparable to that of the scientific essay.

Sociological essay

They are texts in which the essayist delves into considerations related to social problems and / or cultural manifestations. Although in the sociological essay there is room for reasoning with the author's particular thoughts, they must be supported by serious academic studies. For this reason, this type of essay is seen as a branch of the scientific essay. Terenci moix excelled in these types of trials.

Historical essay

In this type of essay the author expresses his opinion about some historical event of interest. Usually the text contains a comparison between two or more historical sources. Based on them, the essayist explains which one seems more correct. The only immovable rule in argumentation is not to comment on events that do not have verifiable support (but, you can clarify when you are assuming).

Trial characteristics

• It is a versatile and flexible text, without thematic limitations. Thus, you can combine different styles of composition — as long as consistency is maintained — as well as various rhetorical, scathing, satirical, critical, or even melodic and lyrical tones.
• It serves to show the personal opinion of the author on the subject discussed. Usually with a persuasive, informative, or entertaining objective.
• Mandatory, the author has to master the topic discussed before expressing his conclusions to capture correct descriptions.
• Each idea must have a sustenance based on an investigation.
• The author reserves the way in which he addresses the subject (irony, seriousness, unfinished content, individual or collective expectations, in order to produce controversy) ...
• The essays are not very long texts, consequently, the ideas expressed are as clear and concise as possible.

Structure to develop to develop an essay

Introduction

In this section the author provides the reader with a short summary on the subject analyzed with its respective hypothesis. The latter can be posed in the form of a question or as a statement pending confirmation. In any case, they are decisions that reflect the originality and style of the writer.

Development

Statement of reasons, ideas and perspectives. Here should be placed as much (relevant) data and information as possible. Also, the author must make clear what are his most relevant reasons to support or contradict the hypothesis embodied in the introduction. Unfailingly, each opinion is duly supported.

Conclusion

The last part of the essay is a brief review of everything explained in the development in order to present a solution as a closing. Also, a conclusion can raise new unknowns or - in the case of literary or critical essays - reflect a sarcastic tone about a work. On the other hand, the bibliographic references appear at the end of the text (when it is necessary).

Steps to write an essay

Prior to writing

Interest and research

First of all, the topic addressed must be of great interest to the author. Evidently, good documentation is essential. At this point, there are no media limitations: academic texts, newspaper articles, printed brochures, audiovisual material and, of course, the internet.

How to go online

The enormous volume of information available on the internet represents an extremely valuable and megadiverse source in the midst of the dizzying digital present. However, The inherent difficulty in using data obtained on the Internet is - due to false news - to properly verify the veracity of the same.

Establish a point of view and put together an outline

Once the topic has been selected and investigated, the essayist must establish a position just before presenting the thesis (to be confirmed or refuted). Then, the writer goes on to develop a writing scheme, which will be useful to order the sequence of his argumentation. That is, what ideas will be discussed in the introduction, development and conclusion, with their respective quotes from the sources consulted.

During essay writing

Constant review

Is the prepared text understandable to the reader? Have all the writing and spelling rules been followed correctly? Is the writing style consistent with the topic addressed? The resolution of these questions is unavoidable when creating an essay. In this sense, the opinion of third parties (a friend, for example) can be useful.

In addition, the author must understand that proofreading involves careful analysis of the vocabulary and punctuation marks used. Because a comma or a word placed in the wrong place can completely change the original intention of the author in expressing an opinion. For this reason, the essay should be rewritten as many times as necessary.

Publication

Obviously unknown writers do not have immediate access to mass editorial media. Nevertheless, digitization has facilitated the dissemination of writings through social networks and resources such as Blogs, podcast or specialized forums. Sure, making the post visible in the vastness of cyberspace is something else (but there is plenty of information about it too).