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POINTS & PITFALLS OF ESSAY WRITING. Grammar, Syntax & Style: Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Writing!. Keep these points in mind when writing your history essay. Write in the PAST tense!
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POINTS & PITFALLS OF ESSAY WRITING Grammar, Syntax & Style: Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Writing!
Keep these points in mind when writing your history essay • Write in the PAST tense! • Write in the 3rd person and do not address the reader. Never use the first person ( I, Me, My), unless instructed to do so. Never refer to yourself and the reader as “we”. • Your engagement of the reader should be based on a sound argument – vocabulary tends to be more academic and may contain some unfamiliar words. • Your essay should follow a fairly rigid structure, developing arguments, to support a clearly stated thesis.
Write in paragraphs. Avoid writing many very short or very long paragraphs. Many short paragraphsindicate an inability to develop thought. Many long paragraphs indicate an inability to discriminate, to see divisions, or progression in an argument. • Be precise, be certain that you use the correct word. Realize that most words have their own unique shade and meaning. Use a THESAURUS. • The intro and conclusion are the most important! Avoid using quotations in these paragraphs. • Do not overuse quotations. Quotations themselves are not an indication of superior work.
There must be a smooth and logical transition from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, and from the writer’s words to quoted material and back again. Good transitions hold an essay together. • Do not begin sentences with a conjunction : “And” , “Also”, “But”, “Because”, or “Or”. • Do not use contractions. They are a spoken form of communication and are only acceptable in direct quotations. • Watch your homophones! “Their”, “There” and “They’re”.
Avoid the use of transitive verbs such as: “to believe”, “to feel”, “to see”, “to think”. For example, “Winston Churchill believed that...” “Martin Luther King saw that...” “Henry VIII thought that...” These verbs invariably lead the writer into making statements that can rarely be proven. • AVOID SLANG! “guy” “ripped off” • AVOID CLICHES! “cool as a cucumber” “As cold as ice” • AVOID COLLOQUIALISMS! “jumped on the bandwagon” “put all of her eggs in one basket” • All of the above are not suitable for a formal paper.
INTRODUCTION: • Topic Sentence! Its function is to introduce topic of paper, but in an interesting way. Generally broad general statement, but grabs your attention! The hook! • The last sentence in your intro is the THESIS STATEMENT. One sentence which states the: Topic, Your position/argument regarding the topic and then goes on to name your major arguments. All elements must be present! • The thesis is vital! It is the guide for the rest of the paper!
THE BODY: • This is where the ‘grunt’ work of the essay begins. • The body paragraphs are the PROOF of your THESIS. • It is very important that you make sure that each of your paragraphs relate directly to your introductory paragraph. • Imagine that you are a defence lawyer, and the reader the jury. You have to convince them of the validity or truth of your position. • GIVE ME THE PROOF!
CONCLUSION: • The purpose of the conclusion is to wrap up the paper in a satisfying way. • Again, if we use the example of the defence lawyer, you want to review your main point (thesis) and the arguments that support it. You also want to give them something to think about. The jury must feel that yours is the ONLY believable choice! • This is not the time to introduce NEW MATERIAL. • Do the following: • 1. Provide a restatement of the thesis. • 2. List the major arguments • 3. Leave the reader with something to think about, some insight.
