Art & Style of Essay Writing Essay writing is an art. Since essay writing is one of the most effective and surest tests of the personality, mental development and maturity of the candidates, much importance is attached to the Essay Paper in all the examinations held by the Union Public Service Commission, other Public Service Commissions and all other competitive examinations. As far as the writing of an essay for a competitive examination is concemed, what the examiner wants from the students is a clear expression of his personality and ideas in the brief essay that he writes during the limited time at his disposal. The examiner wants to find out a consciousness of approach and the precise nature of the subject matter which is covered in the essay. It is, therefore, advisable that a candidate should neither deviate too much from his topic nor beat about the bush just for the sake of the vicarious satisfaction of writing a lengthy essay. Rather, his approach should be exact and to the point. In a competitive examination the essay should be balanced, coherent and it should reflect a unified impression on the examiner. The essay should not give an impression that it is a disjointed and irregular composition of the poorly grasped ideas regarding the subject matter given in the examination. On the other hand, the essay should invariably be convincing and profound in the ideas. Guidel 1s for good, well balanced and scoring essay 1) Choose the title very carefully in which you are perfectly at home. Never choose a title about which you have only hazy and ambiguous ideas. The candidates are always offered a wide choice of subjects out of which he/she has to select only one, These topics usually cover a variety of subjects like Economics, Political Science, International Relations, Sociology, Public Administration, Education, Science, Current ‘Affairs Literature and other topies of general interests. 2) Since nobody would expect a candidate to write an essay like a specialist or an expert on any subject, he or she is required to show a good level of general awareness of the subject matter and lucid & effective expressions, Students must also be aware that grammatical errors mar the expressions badly. Verbose and superfluous language is also not desirable. The best and effective style of writing a good and scoring essay is the use of simple words & economy in expressions. Thus, one should use a simple, straightforward and convincing style, Now-a-days, terse, idiomatic and small sentences are preferred. In small sentences there is less possibility of committing any grammatical mistake. \s follows : In the light of what is stated above, proceed to write an ess: 1. Choose the title very carefully in which you are perfectly at home. Never choose a title about which you have only hazy and ambiguous ideas. ‘You must jot down your points or ideas before you start writing the essay. Arrange these points in a systematic order so that it makes a coherent and logical composition. Do not go against the title generally, ‘The introduction should be direct and relevant. Do not beat about the bush and deviate from the > title too much.6. Avoid burdening your essay with redundant quotations which mar the reading and show your lack of expression. 7. Do not use stale idioms and clichés too much like ‘leaving no stone unturned’ or Rome was not built in a day’ 8. Put each main idea in a separate paragraph. 9. You must not give numbers to the paragraphs nor is there any need of giving sub-headings. 10. Avoid the use of slang and colloquial terms and try to develop a graceful, dignified and literary style. 1. The essay should be written in a simple language. Sentences should be terse and short. 12. Let the tone of the essay be informal and suggestive. 13. Make your essay a well-balanced and well knit literary composition. 14, Avoid the use of those words about which you are not sure. 15. Adopt an analytical and logical approach. 16. Always remember that the beginning and the ending of an essay are very important, so give them the maximum attention, 17. Never give a categorical or one jed conclusion. The conclusion should always be a balanced one. 18. ‘There is no hard and fast rule regarding the length. The essay should neither be too short nor too lengthy. 19. Write in beautiful and legible handwriting. A pleasing hand ing is always an asset. 20, You must revise your essay after completion to correct the mistakes, if any.