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Essay

- Definition - Parts of an Essay - Kinds of Essays

Definition An essay is a group of paragraphs that develop/support a main idea. It is also considered as a multi-paragraph composition. Parts of an Essay A well-written essay generally has three parts and a minimum of three paragraphs. It runs form 250 - 500 words on average. The parts are the introduction, body and Conclusion. I) Introduction

This part states about the topic /subject in a general form followed by a thesis statement. The thesis statement expresses the point and purpose of the essay in one concise sentence. It also suggests/tells the reader '' What the essay is all about'' like the topic sentence which suggests ''What the paragraph will be about''.

Example: Eating is an activity that we as humans do at least two times a day. We live in a

world where the variety of food is immense, and we are responsible for what we

eat. We decide what we are about to eat and how it will affect our bodies. The

purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the differences between eating

fresh foods instead of canned foods. The three main differences are flavor, health

benefits, and cost.

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How to begin an introductory paragraph?

A) Begin with some thing general in relation to your topic and then narrow it down to your thesis statement. On the example given below the sentences printed in bold refer to a beginning with something general in relation to the topic given.

Example:

Eating is an activity that we as humans do at least two times a day.

We live in a world where the variety of food is immense, and we

are responsible for what we eat. We decide what we are about to eat

and how it will affect our bodies. The purpose of this essay is to

compare and contrast the differences between eating fresh foods

instead of canned foods. The three main differences are flavor, health

benefits, and cost.

Well here as you can see the essay began with eating which is

somehow related to food. After mentioning few things about eating

the writer moved to his/her point or focus area. Though the writer's

purpose is to compare and contrast the differences between eating

fresh foods instead of canned foods, he/she began with some thing

general in relation to the topic. This is one way of writing an

introductory paragraph of an essay.

This part also includes the main idea of the essay (i.e.) the thesis

statement. From the above example, one can clearly see that the

author has narrowed his topic to three specific differences namely

flavor, health benefits and cost. Thus, the sentence which holds this

statement is the thesis statement.

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B) Begin with an attention 'grabber', some thing which can attract

the attention of readers. For instance, one can begin with :

A Quotation, a popular saying or a proverb, some thing

that you have read or heard etc.

''A dog is a man's best friend ''. That common saying may

contain some truth, but dogs are not the only animal friend

whose companion ship people enjoy. For many people, a

cat is their best friend. Despite what dog lovers may

believe, cats make excellent house pets. Because cats are

civilized members of the house hold, easy to be taken care

of, they do not have to be walked etc.

If your topic is 'Health' you can begin with a popular

saying '' An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of

cure''.

A Question:

For example:

What is love? How do we know that we are really in love?

When we meet that special person, how can we tell that our

feelings are genuine and not merely infatuation? And, if they

are genuine, will these feelings last? Love, as we all know, is

difficult to define. But most people agree that true and lasting

love involves far more than mere physical attraction. It

involves mutual respect, the desire to give rather than take,

and the feeling of being wholly at ease.

.

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N: B - If you start with abstract ideas such as this one 'love' people

are attracted towards the writing because they are curios to

know what it really is?

An Unusual Fact: When you use this it might sound strange

at the beginning but there is truth and reality in it.

For example, if your introductory paragraph starts with a

sentence like this ''Gay marriage should be given legal

recognition in order to curb the rapid increase in

population''. This sentence may seem awkward but it has

truth and credibility.

C) One can also begin by defining the topic that he is to write an

essay on. This is to say, one can begin with a literal definition of

the term which he/she is assigned to write followed by a thesis

statement.

II) Body

This part is composed of paragraphs that support the thesis statement

by presenting details, explaining causes, offering reasons and citing

examples. One easy way is to write one paragraph for each of the

points stated as a thesis statement. The more sentences you add to a

paragraph, the more your ideas are developed.

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Example:

Eating is an activity that we as humans do at least two times a day.

We live in a world where the variety of food is immense, and we are

responsible for what we eat. We decide what we are about to eat and

how it will affect our bodies. The purpose of this essay is to compare

and contrast the differences between eating fresh foods instead of

canned foods. The three main differences are flavor, health benefits, and

cost.

If an essay has got such an introductory paragraph the body

paragraph will entertain each of the points stated in the thesis

statement.

The first body part will be a detailed discussion of Flavor. Thus the

above introductory paragraph will have a first body paragraph as

follows:

Body 1

The most notable difference between these two kinds of foods is their

flavor. Fresh foods have great flavor and taste because they keep all

their natural conditions. Canned foods, however, lack a lot of its

flavor characteristics because there are some other chemical products

added to the natural foods. It is logical that the fresh foods will have

a greater taste and flavor when consumed just because of the time in

which they have been prepared.

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Body 2

The second body part will be a detailed discussion of Health

benefits.

Comparing both types of foods we notice another difference. There is

a health factor that affects both of them. Canned foods lose some of

the original fresh food nutrients when stored, and also it has to be

tinned with many conservatives and chemical factors that prolong

the shelf life and apparent freshness of the food but could also

become toxic if consumed too often.

Body 3

The third body part will be a detailed discussion of Cost.

Yet another difference between these two types of foods is the cost.

Canned foods are much more expensive than fresh foods. Here the

benefit of buying tinned foods is that they are easier to find, for

example, in a supermarket instead of the market like the fresh foods,

and they require less work to prepare than fresh foods, just open and

serve.

III) Conclusion

In this part the writer:

a) May restate the main idea of his/her paragraph. In other words

he/she gives a brief summary of the essay's main points.

b) May call for some sort of action/recommendation

c) May end it with a warning

d) May ask provocative questions

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The conclusion of the above essay which is given as an example would

be:

These are the three main differences between buying fresh foods and

canned foods. As we can see it comes down to a personal choice, based

on the time each person has, the money and the importance he/she

gives to his/her nutrition and health. Therefore, it is important that

you consider your possibilities and choose the best type of foods for

your convenience and lifestyle.

Kinds of essays There are different kinds of essays. The following are some of the most common ones: a) Descriptive Essay: provides details about how some thing looks

feels, tastes, smells or sounds so as to make the reader feel as if he/she is part of the experience. For example you can describe your boy friend/girl friend/husband/wife, house that you own/a house you wish to have and a car/cars that you have/wish to have.

b) Definition Essay: attempts to define the meaning of a specific word or define an abstract concept like love. For example you can define the word 'marriage' indicating how strong and determined you have got to be. The other is how the meaning of 'family' goes deeper than just your blood relatives. c) Compare/Contrast Essay: discusses the similarities and differences between two things, people, concepts, places, etc. It could discuss both similarities and differences, or it could just focus on one or the other. A comparison essay usually discusses the similarities between two things, while the contrast essay

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discusses the differences. For example you can write about similarities and differences between Addis Ababa University and Unity University College. d) Cause/Effect Essay: explains why or how? some events happened, and what resulted from the event. This essay is a study of the relationship between two or more events or experiences. A cause essay usually discusses the reasons why some thing happened. You can write an essay on the main causes of car accident in Addis Ababa. An effect essay discusses what happens after a specific event or circumstance. You can write an essay on the main effects of car accident in Addis Ababa. e) Narrative Essay: an essay which tells a real or an imaginary story. An Autobiography or a biography in an essay form or a short story could fit in to this category. f) Argumentative Essay: is one that attempts to persuade the

reader to the writer's point of view. The writer can either be serious or funny but always tries to convince the reader. The essay may argue openly, or it may attempt to subtly/delicately persuade the reader by using irony or sarcasm.

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Model Essays

My Job in an Apple Plant

In the course of working my way through school, I have taken many jobs I would rather forget. I have spent nine hours a day lifting heavy automobile and truck batteries off the end of an assembly belt. I have risked the loss of eyes and fingers working a punch press in a textile factory. I have served as a ward aide in a mental hospital, helping care for brain-damaged men who would break into violent fits at unexpected moments. But none of these jobs was as dreadful as my job in an apple plant. The work was physically hard; the pay was poor; and, most of all, the working conditions were dismal.

First of all, the job made enormous demands on my strength and energy. For ten hours a night, I took cartons that rolled down a metal track and stacked them onto wooden skids in a tractor-trailer. Each carton contained twelve heavy cans or bottles of apple juice. A carton shot down the track about every fifteen seconds. I once figured out that I was lifting an average of twelve tons of apple juice every night. When a truck was almost filled, I or my partner had to drag fourteen bulky wooden skids into the empty trailer nearby and then set up added sections of the heavy metal track so that we could start routing cartons to the back of the empty van. While one of us did that, the other performed the stacking work of two men.

I would not have minded the difficulty of the work so much if the pay had not been so poor. I was paid the minimum wage of that time, two dollars an hour, plus the minimum of a nickel extra for working the night shift. Because of the low salary, I felt compelled to get as much overtime pay as possible. Everything over eight hours a night was time-and-a-half, so I typically worked twelve hours a night. On Friday I would sometimes work straight through until Saturday at noon -- eighteen hours. I averaged over sixty hours a week but did not take home much more than one hundred dollars.

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But even more than the low pay, what upset me about my apple plant job was the working conditions. Our humorless supervisor cared only about his production record for each night and tried to keep the assembly line moving at a breakneck pace. During work I was limited to two ten-minute breaks and an unpaid half hour for lunch. Most of my time was spent outside on the truck loading dock in near-zero-degree temperatures. The steel floors of the trucks were like ice; the quickly penetrating cold made my feet feel like stone. I had no shared interests with the man I loaded cartons with, and so I had to work without job companionship. And after the production line shut down and most people left, I had to spend two hours alone scrubbing clean the apple vats, which were coated with a sticky residue. I stayed on the job for five months, hating all the while the difficulty of the work, the poor money, and the conditions under which I worked. By the time I quit, I was determined never to do such degrading work again.

The Hazards of Movie going

I am a movie fanatic. When friends want to know what picture won the Oscar in 1980 or who played the police chief in Jaws, they ask me. My friends, though, have stopped asking me if I want to go out to the movies. The problems in getting to the theater, the theater itself, and the behavior of some patrons are all reasons why I often wait for a movie to show up on TV. First of all, just getting to the theater presents difficulties. Leaving a home equipped with a TV and a video recorder isn't an attractive idea on a humid, cold, or rainy night. Even if the weather cooperates, there is still a thirty-minute drive to the theater down a congested highway, followed by the hassle of looking for a parking space. And then there are the lines. After hooking yourself to the end of a human chain, you worry about whether there will be enough tickets, whether you will get seats together, and whether many people will sneak into the line ahead of you.

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Once you have made it to the box office and gotten your tickets, you are confronted with the problems of the theater itself. If you are in one of the run-down older theaters, you must adjust to the musty smell of seldom-cleaned carpets. Escaped springs lurk in the faded plush or cracked leather seats, and half the seats you sit in seem loose or tilted so that you sit at a strange angle. The newer twin and quad theaters offer their own problems. Sitting in an area only one-quarter the size of a regular theater, moviegoers often have to put up with the sound of the movie next door. This is especially jarring when the other movie involves racing cars or a karate war and you are trying to enjoy a quiet love story. And whether the theater is old or new, it will have floors that seem to be coated with rubber cement. By the end of a movie, shoes almost have to be pried off the floor because they have become sealed to a deadly compound of spilled soda, hardening bubble gum, and crushed Jujubes. Some of the patrons are even more of a problem than the theater itself. Little kids race up and down the aisles, usually in giggling packs. Teenagers try to impress their friends by talking back to the screen, whistling, and making what they consider to be hilarious noises. Adults act as if they were at home in their own living rooms and comment loudly on the ages of the stars or why movies aren't as good anymore. And people of all ages crinkle candy wrappers, stick gum on their seats, and drop popcorn tubs or cups of crushed ice and soda on the floor. They also cough and burp, squirm endlessly in their seats, file out for repeated trips to the rest rooms or concession stand, and elbow you out of the armrest on either side of your seat.

After arriving home from the movies one night, I decided that I was not going to be a moviegoer anymore. I was tired of the problems involved in getting to the movies and dealing with the theater itself and some of the patrons. The next day I arranged to have cable TV service installed in my home. I may now see movies a bit later than other people, but I'll be more relaxed watching box office hits in the comfort of my own living room.

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Exercises

I) In the following essay, both the introduction and the conclusion parts are removed. Read

the essay and provide appropriate introduction and conclusion.

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The objective of the foot search is to come into the crime scene area unobserved by using all natural means of cover such as buildings, trees, or any other objects which will hide an officer and protect him from gunfire. The policeman will make frequent stops to look for any suspicious persons and to listen for any odd noises. After the officer realizes that the suspect is not around, he will then question anyone he sees who might have observed anything out of the ordinary. Residents or workers in the area may be able to help an officer find people or cars that are strange to the neighborhood. A foot search may be very effective when the officer is searching for evidence or witnesses at the scene of a crime. For example, a robber or burglar is usually looking for police cars and may be caught off guard by a policeman on foot. A spot search is the method of placing an officer at a vantage point overlooking a street or alley which might be a possible escape route. When a policeman is assigned to this type of search, he places his car where it is not readily seen, but where it can be easily moved to pursue the suspect. In a leapfrog search, two officers are needed. This type of search is most often used when the policemen enter a building. In leapfrog, as the name suggests, the officers will change leads. The officer in the lead covers the other officer when he takes the lead, and they slowly work their way through the building. There are many variations to this type of search. Some of the most commonly used are “ zig- zag,” “clover-leaf,” and “criss—cross.” In the quadrant search, the area to be searched is divided into four “pie-shaped” quarters, using the crime scene as the center of all action. There will be at least one police unit in each quarter, depending on the size of the quadrant. Each unit begins at the outermost point and works its way toward the crime scene. When the units get to the center, they overlap each other’s quarter and work their way back out. This is continued until the suspect is apprehended or the search is abandoned.

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II) The following essay has an introductory paragraph but both the body and the concluding paragraphs are missing.

An abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death. An abortion can occur spontaneously due to complications during pregnancy or can be induced.The purpose of this essay is to indicate the effects of abortion on the party who is to abort due to several reasons. The most notable effects are physical and psychological.

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III) Write an essay of about 500 w0rds on the title: "The challenges

of Barack Obama". You may use the following points and

include relevant points of your own to develop it fully.

Introductory Paragraph:

Background / Introduction

Thesis statement for the essay

Body Paragraph 1: Economic crisis

Job cuts

Bankruptcy

Foreclosures

Body Paragraph 2: Unfinished wars

Iraq

Afghanistan

Body Paragraph 3: Climate change

Depletion of Ozone layer

Melting of the polar Ice

Concluding Paragraph:

Important points to wrap-up your essay

Recommendations, if any

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IV) Write an essay of about 500 w0rds on the title: "Major problems

of Addis Ababa City Residents". You may use the following points

and include relevant points of your own to develop it fully.

Introductory Paragraph:

Background / Introduction

Thesis statement for the essay

Body Paragraph 1: Ever increasing cost of living

Sky-rocketing price of consumer goods, etc

Housing problems ( rental, space for building houses, etc)

Body Paragraph 2: Transportation problem

Mismatch between the ever increasing number of dwellers in the

city and number of public transport cars (taxis, buses, etc)

Problems with taxis (charging users more than the fair pay,

cutting long distances shorter, etc)

Carrying capacity of most of the roads (too narrow and over

crowded roads, some under constructions are unduly delayed,

some require urgent re-construction, etc)

Concluding Paragraph:

Important points to wrap-up your essay

Recommendations, if any

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V. Challenges in campus/ Life in campus

- Academic Challenges - Social Challenges - Economic Challenges