Essay

Writing
M. Arsalan Siddiqui
MA, M Phil English
Arsalan.siddiki@hotmail.com
0333 3325991
 Academic Writing
• Refers to the text and composition that entertains
academic needs or utilized for in class writing

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 Types of Academic Writings
• Paragraphs
• Essays
• Dialogue writing
• Official Correspondence
• Directive Writing
• Non-Directive Writing
• Fiction
• Article
• Thesis
• Reports
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 The Essay
• The Word Essay literally means an attempt; and
hence essay is the name given to the form of
composition which is a short attempt on a given
subject, Usually it gives details of Narrative, a
description of some subject, and information on
some subject.
• The Essay is the most interesting exercise in English
composition.
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 Steps in Writing an Essay
 Pre-Writing

 Organizing

 Drafting

 Revising and Editing

Handing in a Final Copy

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 Pre-Writing
 Pre-writing literally means, “before writing.” Before you actually begin writing your essay, you
will need to do the following things:
 Choose a topic to write on or Comprehend the topic assigned.
 Brainstorming or generate ideas for topic
 Think hard about its facts, opinions and examples
 Collect and jot down the ideas
o Make cluster
o Prompts writing
o Fish bone analyses
o Ideas tree
 Mind mapping
o Number or entitle the ideas
o Bullet the ideas
o Tag them with I B C
 Focus in on central ideas
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 Organizing

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 Coherence
Relevant criticisms
and counter
criticisms

Conclusion should
never introduce any
new material
paragraph should be self contained

Each paragraph should have link with

reference of topic Essay shouldn’t give
examiner indigestion

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 Introduction
• PARAGRAPH SHOULD BE:
 Engaging, strong and creative.
 Open with a quotation or an ideological comment,
which reflects your chosen theme.
 Follow this with specific analysis and end the
paragraph with your thesis statement.
 A general strategy to build a paragraph
Action/ argument -> Reasons -> Effects -> Example

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 Thesis Statement

THESIS SHOULD BE
• Your thesis statement will have two parts.
 First part states the topic.
 Second part states the point of the essay.

• Uses specific language and avoids vague words.

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 Body Paragraph

• Introductory sentence (Topic Sentence)

• Point
• Example
• Analysis
• Concluding sentence

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 Conclusion

CONCLUSION SHOULD BE
List the main points you have argued (Summarized)
Gist
 Refer to something in your introductory paragraph.
Conclusive remarks.
 End creatively.

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 Drafting
Try to remember the following
It is time to start guidelines.`
writing the DRAFT essay.

Don’t worry Goal in writing

about writing a rough draft is
to develop and Don’t focus on
the perfect support the spelling and
Paper the first ideas listed in grammar
time. your outline
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 Revising and Editing

• REVISION • EDITING
Spelling
Content
Grammar
Organization
Punctuation
Ideas Relevance
words’ repetition
Example’s impact.
Sentence structure

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 The Final Copy
Word-Processed

All new paragraphs indented five spaces

8 ½ by 11 inch white paper

Double spaced, size 12 font

One inch margins on all sides

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 Types of Essay
• Argumentative Essay
• Persuasive Essay
• Narrative Essay
• Compare and Contrast Essay
• Descriptive Essay
• Cause and Effect Essay (Discursive)
• Expository Essay
• Critical
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 Argumentative Essay
Convince me!

• The argumentative essay is a genre of writing that

requires the student to investigate a topic, collect,
generate, and evaluate evidence, and establish a
position on the topic in a concise manner.
• Argumentative Essay Topics
 argumentative essay on gender issues
 argumentative essay on local produce and organic produce
 argumentative essay on feminism
 modern technology argumentative essay
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 Persuasive Essay
Agree with what I say!

• Writing a persuasive essay   requires the writer’s

ability to convince the audience and make it accept the
arguments of the essay as well as the conclusions. It is
important to learn how to write a persuasive essay in a
way that will catch the reader’s mind at once.
• Persuasive Essay Topics
 Keep Our Libraries Open essay
 Effects of alcohol on the human body Essay
* In many conditions argumentative and persuasive essays are same.

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 Argumentative vs Persuasive
• Argumentative essays are a genre of writing that attempts to convince the
readers to accept the writer’s idea as true, by using statistics, facts and
figures, etc. while persuasive essays are a genre of writing that attempts to
convince the readers to agree with the writer, by using emotions, personal
ideas, etc. In other words, an argumentative essay is based on logic and
reasons while a persuasive essay is based on emotions and personal
opinions. When it comes preparations, before writing an argumentative
essay, the writer needs to do a thorough research on the subject but does
not need to have the knowledge about the audience. On the other hand, the
writer can write a persuasive essay even without doing much research, but
he should have certain  knowledge about the audience.

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 Compare and Contrast Essay
find similarities and differences !

• This type of essay is basically a composition, which is

concentrated on two points. The compare and
contrast essay reveals the differences and the
similarities of these two points, things, situations, etc.
• Compare and Contrast Essay Topics
 Geriatric and pediatric patient pathology comparison essay
 Science and Art Essay
 Differences between men and women at their workplace

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 Narrative Essay
tell the story!
• Writing a narrative essay is basically writing a story
connected with personal experiences. The key element
of a narrative essay is a defined point of view presented
in the paper and delivered through sharing emotions
and sensory details with the reader.
• Narrative Essay Topics
 My autobiography. My life.
 My family is my strength.
 One Love
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 Descriptive Essay
Paint the Picture!

• A descriptive essay requires a strong accent on the

observation and the descriptions provided by the
author. The facts in this type of essay can be just the
background of the vivid experiences presented by the
writer. It is crucial to focus strictly on the subject of
description.
• Descriptive Essay Topics
 Islamabad: the Capital of Pakistan
 Islam and Pakistan
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 Discursive essay
Analyze it!

• The goal of a discursive essay is to present a balanced and objective

examination of a subject. Like an argumentative essay, the topic may be
controversial, but the discursive essay attempts to present a much more
balanced discussion of the issue. It does not, however, have to be expressly
neutral. The essay should present both sides of the discussion, supported by
facts and research. The author may draw tentative conclusions about the
subject and suggest them to the reader.
• Topics
 Experiments on animals are neither good nor bad
 2- Morality and ethics with the Euthanasia
Action > Cause > Effect > solution
Action > reasons > results > recommendation
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 Cause and Effect Essay

• This type of essay is concentrated on the ability of the

writer to connect the reasons the things happen and
the consequences they might have. In other words it is
the connection between the causes of events and the
effects this cause have on any analyzed aspect.
• Cause and Effect Essay Topics
 Energy Crisis
 Problem in Big cities
 Cancer
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 Expository Essay
Facts and Truths!

• This type of essay is aimed to explain some subject by

presenting a very clear and complete picture of other
people’s views on this certain situation or event. It
may also be in a form of a report. The main idea of
any expository essay is to present a certain event or
situation in detail to the reader. 
• Expository Essay Topics
 Xerox Business Systems 
 Religion in Education
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 Critical Essay
weaknesses and strength!

• An essay to critique on a work or a piece of arts.

• To pin point
• To appreciate
e.g. :
Reviews
Critique on RA
Comments on a book, poetry, painting or film.
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 Good Luck
Enjoy writing
Essays

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