The following comments are relative to any academic essay.
Only in a creative writing class will you be able to write consistently about topics of your choice. You need to move beyond that fact. In other words, you need to approach each assignment, not as a burden, but as a challenge or, better, as an opportunity to express yourself creatively. Doing the latter will turn the most mundane assignment into an excitative exercise of creativity, of growth.
The essay is yours; it is a reflection of you. Just as you wear anything you want to wear, you can begin an essay any way you want to begin. It seems many of us have learned to create generic introductions. There is no one way, no one correct method to begin an essay. However, there are incorrect ways to begin an essay--one being to make generalizations, which many of us did. Furthermore, your thesis does not need to be in the first paragraph.
With respect to your thesis, it is an amalgamation (a combination or blend) of your topical sentences. Remember, a thesis is not necessarily a--that is, one--statement.
Toulmin's scheme, which we will discuss soon, forces us to not make generalizations ("all people," for example) because we must provide backing for such statements. So do not generalize unless you are able to support it with details. Furthermore, the essay is about you, your relationship with writing, so use I, not you. Always use the second person point of view carefully. Who enjoys commands, accusations or categorizations? Few people do. Readers instinctively resist works in second person. To include, rather than to exclude, use the pronoun we.
With respect to grammar, many of us need to create stronger verbal constructions. Rather than writing "I would like a job," write "I want a job." Rather than writing "My goals will be accomplished," write "I will accomplish my goals." Furthermore, get with the past participle of a transitive verb also creates a passive voice. Change, for example, "I have gotten better at getting my thoughts on paper" to "I am better at writing my thoughts." If you are relying too much on the verb get, you need to increase your vocabulary.
Some of us need to eliminate adverbial noun clauses. Rather than writing "The reason I dislike writing is because there are too many rules," write "The reason I dislike writing is that there are too many rules."
Do not use the adverbs really, very, even and so. They are simply fillers, and they detract from the force of the verbs or adjectives they modify.
What is the primary difference between that and this or those and these? That refers to something before it, and this refers to something after it. I work too much; that is the reason I am grumpy. This is the reason I am grumpy: I work too much.
You do not want to be too informal or too formal, so vary your sentential constructions (simple, compound, complex and compound-complex), and use diction appropriate to higher education--eliminating abbreviations, contractions and colloquialisms.
Conclusions are more than restatements or summaries. You want to ease the reader out of your essay, your world. Sometimes a writer will refer to something he/she states in the introduction, making the essay seem whole. (Think of the introduction and conclusion as the ends of a loaf of bread.)
The necessity of a five-paragraph essay is a myth. Certainly there are essays with five paragraphs, but the majority (a guess is 90%) of essays (arguments) are more than five or less than five paragraphs in length. You want as many paragraphs as necessary to develop completely your argument.
Finally, for those who naively think they will write little after college, for those who dream that everyone always has communicated and will communicate orally, remember this: if you are able to write well, you are able to speak well and vice versa. Writing and speaking are two forms of the same thing: verbal communication.
Only in a creative writing class will you be able to write consistently about topics of your choice. You need to move beyond that fact. In other words, you need to approach each assignment, not as a burden, but as a challenge or, better, as an opportunity to express yourself creatively. Doing the latter will turn the most mundane assignment into an excitative exercise of creativity, of growth.
The essay is yours; it is a reflection of you. Just as you wear anything you want to wear, you can begin an essay any way you want to begin. It seems many of us have learned to create generic introductions. There is no one way, no one correct method to begin an essay. However, there are incorrect ways to begin an essay--one being to make generalizations, which many of us did. Furthermore, your thesis does not need to be in the first paragraph.
With respect to your thesis, it is an amalgamation (a combination or blend) of your topical sentences. Remember, a thesis is not necessarily a--that is, one--statement.
Toulmin's scheme, which we will discuss soon, forces us to not make generalizations ("all people," for example) because we must provide backing for such statements. So do not generalize unless you are able to support it with details. Furthermore, the essay is about you, your relationship with writing, so use I, not you. Always use the second person point of view carefully. Who enjoys commands, accusations or categorizations? Few people do. Readers instinctively resist works in second person. To include, rather than to exclude, use the pronoun we.
With respect to grammar, many of us need to create stronger verbal constructions. Rather than writing "I would like a job," write "I want a job." Rather than writing "My goals will be accomplished," write "I will accomplish my goals." Furthermore, get with the past participle of a transitive verb also creates a passive voice. Change, for example, "I have gotten better at getting my thoughts on paper" to "I am better at writing my thoughts." If you are relying too much on the verb get, you need to increase your vocabulary.
Some of us need to eliminate adverbial noun clauses. Rather than writing "The reason I dislike writing is because there are too many rules," write "The reason I dislike writing is that there are too many rules."
Do not use the adverbs really, very, even and so. They are simply fillers, and they detract from the force of the verbs or adjectives they modify.
What is the primary difference between that and this or those and these? That refers to something before it, and this refers to something after it. I work too much; that is the reason I am grumpy. This is the reason I am grumpy: I work too much.
You do not want to be too informal or too formal, so vary your sentential constructions (simple, compound, complex and compound-complex), and use diction appropriate to higher education--eliminating abbreviations, contractions and colloquialisms.
Conclusions are more than restatements or summaries. You want to ease the reader out of your essay, your world. Sometimes a writer will refer to something he/she states in the introduction, making the essay seem whole. (Think of the introduction and conclusion as the ends of a loaf of bread.)
The necessity of a five-paragraph essay is a myth. Certainly there are essays with five paragraphs, but the majority (a guess is 90%) of essays (arguments) are more than five or less than five paragraphs in length. You want as many paragraphs as necessary to develop completely your argument.
Finally, for those who naively think they will write little after college, for those who dream that everyone always has communicated and will communicate orally, remember this: if you are able to write well, you are able to speak well and vice versa. Writing and speaking are two forms of the same thing: verbal communication.
