Essay

An essay is an opinion writing with which we analyse a topic, a

situation or an issue from different points of view, providing
different arguments and expressing our opinion about it. For
this reason, an essay must have the following features:
 Purpose: What we usually do with an essay is to analyse
and assess a topic, situation or issue which, in some way,
is interesting or controversial. It is normally set as a writing
task after a class debate. In the exam, you have to
imagine the debate, obviously.
 Tone and style: Given that you’re writing about a serious
or controversial issue, an essay is written in a formal
style, so we must stick to an objective tone and style.
Our language must be formal, thus avoiding words that
are simply too common or generic (E.g.: things, stuff,
get, etc.) and contractions (E.g.: can’t, don’t, won’t, etc.).
 Structure: Like every piece of writing, an essay must
present a defined structure. For starters, we can choose
either to give it a title or not. Personally, I would say that it
is more appropriate to have an essay with title. Then, the
body must be divided into introduction, idea 1, idea 2, idea
3 and conclusion. This means that, in general, essays
must have 5 paragraphs, although it is not entirely
necessary.
 Opinion: There are countless ways of expressing your
opinion in an essay, so you must choose the one that suits
you best. However, it is advisable to remain impartial
throughout your writing and give your opinion only in
the last paragraph, as a conclusion. But, as I say, it is
optional. The most important thing is that you justify
everything you say in your essay.
 Coherence: Coherence is essential in every type of
writing, but especially in an essay. As it tends to be an
argumentative text, you must avoid writing incoherent
paragraphs that have nothing to do with one another. Your
ideas must follow a logical order and be well
connected with appropriate linkers.
Essay Sample Answer
Given the model task above, each paragraph will correspond to
a different idea, apart from the introduction and conclusion.
Again, it is only natural to have 5 paragraphs. So, the best way
to know how to write an essay for FCE Writing is to take a
look at an example of an actual essay for FCE Writing: