Do’s and Don’ts
One must consider the title carefully—its meaning and its scope. Whether it asks one to generalise, establish a particular view, or take one’s own stand? One should not attempt the essay unless one agrees with what the title states categorically, as generally one is not expected to argue against the title. (It requires flair and selfconfidence for a writer to do it.) In this context, one may compare these two titles— ‘India is not fit to be a democracy’ and ‘Is India fit to be a democracy?’ One need to support the statement in the first title, while in the second title choice of one’s own view is provided.
• One must select a perspective and a pattern for developing one’s thesis. One should jot down one’s points and arrange them in the pattern with focus on one’s perspective.
• One should use words effectively. However, difficult words or ‘flowery’ language should not be used. Each word should contribute to the development or explanation of the idea. Archaic and obsolete usage must be avoided, for examples, albeit, ere, methink and trow. It is better to leave out the foreign words, unless they have achieved currency in English. Usage of slang should also be avoided, oven what is known as journalese, i.e. words coined by journalists and newspapers for effect. One must keep a recent edition of a standard dictionary which will help one identify such slang expressions. Effective usage of words also requires one to know which word to use and where. Though, there are numerous synonymous words, but they are not always interchangeable.
• The usages of clichés or time-worn idioms should be avoided, for example, ‘keeping the wolf from the door’, ‘from the frying spice of life’, ‘there is no time to stand and stare’ have been over used and are thus hackneyed.
• One should firmly resist the temptation to strew one’s essay with quotations to emphasise one’s point of view even if one has a good memory. Quotations act as dangerous props the presence of which indicates the writer’s lack of ideas or inability to express what he or she feels. Quotations should be used rarely and only in context where they give depth to an idea.
• Unnecessary repetition in writing should be avoided. Few examples of avoidable repetitions are Ramesh is never late for work; he is always either early or on time. Mrs. Sharma kept her house spotless, and it was perfectly clean. The butcher was very thin. This thinness was commented on by many of his customers. His customers commented on it because it seemed so inappropriate in a butcher. What would be more appropriate in a butcher, they felt, was a sort of jovial chubbiness.
In all these cases, the effectiveness of statements can be improved by writing it only once.
The following passage exemplifies the kind of mindless word usage one should avoid. Mistaken for argumentation, it merely epitomises the art of saying nothing in so many words.
This paper will attempt to document the way in which the Industrial Revolution changed the lives of so many people. The great technological upheaval known to us as the Industrial Revolution altered the way in which almost all levels of the society of the time functioned. Without this extraordinary Revolution, none of the changes that have made our lives what they are today would have occurred. Probably this period left untouched the life of no one who lived through it. What we are confronted with here is a staggering volcanic eruption in technology, science and manufacturing techniques of every kind that caused the most far-reaching reversals in the life, the existence, the day-to-day habits and the most profound beliefs of almost every soul on this planet. Yes, our society in all its ramifications was destined never to be the same again. No life, however high or however humble, passed through the Industrial Revolution unscathed. In the whole previous history of the world, nothing had wrought such an unforeseen, such a revolutionary effect. Let’s take some examples. How many cities and villages, how many families large and small saw the familiar old way of life that they loved and knew so well slipping away from them as the new ways took over? No subject has attracted more research or more detailed scholarly comment than this: we know more about this period than perhaps about any period before or since. In conclusion, what this mass of evidence points to is the extent to which the Industrial Revolution did indeed inexpressibly affect the hard but rewarding lives of so many of our American forebears.
• One should check one’s writing for correctness. Ungrammatical sentences have no place in an essay. The words, phrases, expressions about whose meaning or correctness one is not sure should not be used. Long and rambling sentences which are difficult to comprehend should not be used.
• An essay reflects the views and personality of the writer. Thus, from the point of view of an examination, keeping extreme opinions to oneself and not express idiosyncrasies would be considered pragmatic to.
• One should be clear, lucid and simple so that one cannot go far wrong.
• Starting essay with brief introduction preferably with a small relevant anecdote/ story/incident is a better way to create some genuine interest in the examiner’s mind.
• It is not very pragmatic to start an essay with definitions of the terms in the essay topic, because most of the times it is difficult for us to define the terms precisely. Moreover, the essay topics in recent times are highly subjective in nature that requires our personal opinions and views. Therefore, it will put constraint on our creative ability of writing to start the essay with objective definitions of terms and problem may arise in flow of essay and lucidity of expression from one idea to other etc.
• It is a nice option to start with a popular quotation. However, it is very important to write quotation relevant to the topic and thus one should know numerous quotations. A quotation however good it is if not 100 per cent relevant to the topic, it becomes a liability rather than asset, because it needs to be substantiated in line with given topic in our essay. Quotes of various scholars should be added wherever required and should be linked with recent happenings, events, etc. Enriching the essay with several quotes and examples has a lot of potential to fetch good marks.
• In an essay, the best option to start with is writing about the most relevant recent news item or a small anecdote with 100 per cent relevance to the given topic. We need not prepare specially for this.
• Do not provide lengthy introduction prior to actual topic to test the patience of the examiner who have little patience to go through supposedly irrelevant matter.
• Indicate the salient points of the essay in bulleted form to give the examiner an idea of what has been written in the entire essay without going through it.
• It will also help in ensuring that any major topic covered by the writer is not missed by the examiner due to a casual glance at the papers. But, make certain to introduce it in second or third page of the essay. Moreover, incorporate it in the regular flow of the essay rather than making it appearing like an index.
• The writer should write as many examples and case studies as possible to logically substantiate his/her arguments.
• The grammatical errors and interpretation problems in an essay could be reduced by writing simple sentences.
• Conclusion is another important part of an essay. One should has a fair idea about how to conclude the essay during the brainstorming session itself. For the writers having clear introduction and conclusion in their minds, streamlining the thought between these two objectives becomes easier.
• It is better to write about introduction and conclusion in their full length while forming the essay structure itself. The writers will have enough time to refine it during this stage. Especially with conclusion, it works very well as conclusion may not be a best piece of writing just before the closure of the prescribed time.
• One can overcome the language barrier by concentrating on content and smooth transition between various ideas with interesting introduction and conclusion. One should not worry about flowery language and adhere to use of simple meaningful sentences logically linked to maintain the flow of the essay.
Taking care of all these things results in good writing, and if time permits, you can highlight key assumptions, analysis and conclusion by simply underlining them. There is no doubt that essay writing is challenging, but if one thinks of it as a way to teach oneself about the important issues and ideas, it could be a possibility that one of these ideas turn out to be the rank-deciding factor for the writer