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Essay writing skills
An essay is a short piece of writing on a specific subject . Writing essays is one of the most common forms of assessment. Essays can help learners to:
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understand a topic better |
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develop their creativity |
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develop the ability to express themselves in writing |
There are different types of essays:
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Descriptive essay - the task is to describe something - situation (familiar or unusual), person or a place (for example: " A day at the zoo", etc.) |
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Narrative essay - the task is to tell a story of a series of events, often from the point of view of someone (for example: "Raising money for charity", etc.) |
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Discursive essay - the task is to discuss an issue and to give opinions and feelings (for example: "Avoiding ethnic discrimination in education", etc.) |
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Personal experience essay - it is close to the descriptive essay. The task is to express personal experience in some event (for example: " The most exciting day of my life", etc.) |
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Factual essay - the task is to lay out facts about something (e.g. " The description of the ozone layer", etc.) |
For many people essay writing is a difficult and terrifying task. Good essay writing requires the learners to:
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clarify what is required - subject area, word length, assessment criteria, etc. |
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choose the essay topic/question (if it isn't already given) |
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identify what they want to achieve - to get a mark or grade, to find out more about something, to practise certain skills such as IT, etc. |
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make a work plan |
Every essay needs a plan which includes:
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title containing an actual or implied question or problem |
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introduction |
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paragraphs which present arguments in a logical consequence |
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conclusion (summary, important conclusions, final argument;) |
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references (list of books and articles that have been referred to) and/or bibliography (list of all books and relevant text, including those read, but not referred to in the essay) |
Discuss with your learners the steps in essay writing. Explain that they should:
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establish the title or task |
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plan a timeline for collecting, selecting, reading and understanding the required information |
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make an idea map |
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order their ideas into a logical structure |
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write a first draft |
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limit a paragraph to one central idea |
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start with an interesting introduction |
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link paragraphs to "bridge gaps" between one idea and the next |
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come to a good conclusion which is closely related to the title of the essay |
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come back to the first draft after a couple of days and read it again and edit it if necessary |
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ask for feedback from other people |
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write the final version keeping in mind the word limit |
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submit work by the required deadline |
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