What is an essay

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1、WHATISANESSAY?Oneofthemostcommonwrittenassignmentsyouwillbeaskedtoprepareatuniversityisanessay.Anacademicessayisadocumentortextwritteninorderto:§analyseatopicclosely§developapointofviewinrelationtothattopicthroughresearchandthought§persuadeyourreaderthatthepointofviewyouhave

2、developediswellsupportedbytheideasandinformationyoupresentEssayshavethreemainpartsorstages:1.theinitialstatementofthepointofviewthatyouhavedevelopedinresponsetothetopic(sometimescalledthethesisstatement).Thispartoftheessayistheintroduction.2.theargumentorargumentswhicharepre

3、sentedtosupportthispointofview.Thispartisthebodyoftheessay3.thesummaryoftheargumentsandtherestatementoftheoverallpointofviewthathasbeendeveloped.Thispartoftheessayistheconclusion.WRITINGTHEESSAYWhenpreparinganessayyouundertakeanumberofdifferentactivities:§choosingaquestion§a

4、nalysingthequestion§makinganinitialplan§locatingresources§readingandnoting§writingthefirstdraft§revisingandredrafting.Youmayfindthatyoumovebackwardsandforwardsamongtheseactivities.Forexample,whenyouarewritingyourfirstdraftyoumayconstantlyreferbacktoyouranalysisofthequestiont

5、omakesureyouareansweringthequestion.Sometimesasyoureadyoudiscoverideasthatyouhadn’tthoughtoforcomeacrosspreviously,andsoyoumayneedtolocatefurtherresources.ChoosingaquestionIfyouhaveachoiceofessayquestionsyoumightconsiderthefollowingfactorswhendecidingwhichessaytodo:§whichtop

6、icsinterestyoumost?§whichtopicshavegoodresourcematerialsavailable?§whichtopicsaremostrelevanttoyoupersonallyorprofessionally?§whichtopicsmightbeeasiestforyoutowriteabout?AnalysingthequestionAnalysingthequestionenablesyoutokeepyouressayonthetopicbyidentifyingtheimportantparts

7、oftheessayquestion.Therearethreemainpartstoanessayquestionwhichyouneedtoidentify:§Taskordirectivewordssuchas‘analyse’,‘discuss’,‘compare’.Alistofcommonlyusedtaskwordsandaninterpretationofwhattheymeanhasbeenincludedattheendofthistopic.§Informationwords.Thispartofthequestionde

8、scribeswhatcontentyouwillfocusonintheessay§Limitswords.Therearetwokindsofli