Poor attempts at Writing Essays!

Remember essay means, literally, an attempt. The essays you write at school are trial exercises or “attempts” to express your thoughts in good English.
Next time you make an attempt, keep in mind what you read now:

An essay must focus on one theme and the subject must be clearly defined. What is not relevant should be omitted from the essay. There should be not only unity of subject but also unity of treatment.

The essay should follow a certain line of thought and come to a definite conclusion. It should not consist of haphazard reflections put down anyhow. Think what you want to write before you actually put pen to paper.

The essay should be dignified and literary. Slang, colloquial terms need to be avoided in an essay. At the same time it is a mistake to make an essay an exercise in fancy writing. The language and sentence construction should be simple, direct and natural. The secret of clear writing is definitely clear thinking.


An essay should have an element of individuality as it expresses the personal feelings or opinions of the writer. Strictly speaking, an essay is a written composition giving expression to one’s personal ideas or opinions on a subject. If this personal touch is lost, the essay would appear to be colorless and devoid of any individuality.

To check whether the above points have been kept in mind, look for the following 3 features: 1) suitable subject matter, 2) proper arrangement and 3) adequate power of expression. Point 3 is of course applicable to most forms of writing like writing short stories, reviews, and reports.

To sum up, an essay must be a) a unity, treating one single subject in an orderly manner, b)it should be concisely written c) style should be simple, direct and clear and d)it should have individuality, or in other words reflect the personal touch of the writer.

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Ishani Dutta is an educator who specializes in providing online tuition packages for Mathematics and English. For similar tips on different topics like pre-algebra, co-ordinate geometry, essay writing mailto:info@learningexpress.biz or mailto:learningexpress@getresponse.com or go to: www.learningexpress.biz for online help