HOW TO HANDLE ESSAY PAPER? How To Handel CSS Essay Paper Well, many of you are quite worried about essay paper. We have here for you...
HOW TO HANDLE ESSAY PAPER?
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| How To Handel CSS Essay Paper |
Well, many of you are quite worried about essay paper. We have here for you the technique of handling an Essay. Before we start I would like you to take a deep breath and read this slowly and carefully so as to understand everything clearly. I would want you to put all the worries of your life behind. Everything‘s gonna be all right, okay?
Anyways, there you go.
GENERAL TIPS FOR ESSAY WRITING:
Generally, essay depicts two things i.e. Knowledge and Mode of Expression. Now, by the end of your preparation you would have studied 12 subjects, so you would have enough knowledge to write in an essay. What really matters in an essay is its ―Structure‖. Aspirants, FPSC Examiners want to see if you have followed the basics‘ and given them what they expect, this is what is known as discipline. Discipline is a prerequisite of essay writing. Discipline is, basically, when you see the right person at the right place at the right time. Discipline is depicted in your structure. Well, we‘ll get back to part that later.
TECHNIQUE OF STARTING WITH AN ESSAY
STEP 1: TOPIC SELECTION IN THE ESSAY PAPER
The technique to select a topic is to read it, firstly, from up to down while grading the topic according to your interest and knowledge e.g. A*, A, B etc. Secondly, you need to start reading the topics from down to up, again doing the same thing. The reason behind doing this is as you start with the first topic your concentration level is 100%. As you move along, your concentration level decreases. So not to do injustice to your topic selection, you need to repeat the process from downwards this time. Doing this will help you choose the right topic. Cool?
STEP 2: BRAINSTORMING
Once you have selected the topic, it is prime time for you to start brainstorming your topic. Now, I would like to tell you that there are broadly two types of people in this world. The first type is known as left–brained who has a calculated approach. That person goes by the rule in everything s/he does. The Second type is the right–brained who is quite creative and innovative in his approach. You‘d be wondering why I would be telling you this regarding essay writing. Well, there are two ways of brainstorming. If you‘re the left– brained person you‘d restrict your thoughts and categorize them as they come in your mind. For example, if your essay is related to terrorism you may start thinking firstly the causes, then the effects, and so and so forth. You would try to limit your thoughts. Whereas, if you‘re a right–brained person, you‘d let your ideas flow in a meaningless and category–less approach. This way, a meaningless point may lead you to a very strong point if you put no limits to your thoughts. Once you have scribbled all your ideas, then you may categorize them or code them. You may choose the approach that suits you, but personally, I would go with the latter.
STRUCTURE OF AN ESSAY
In this section we will be looking into the structure of an essay. This is how you need to attempt your essay in your CSS Exam. This is what discipline is all about that I mentioned earlier. To begin with, there are three parts of an essay that are as follows:
a. Introduction: Will (what we will discuss.)
b. Body: Am (what I am discussing.)
c. Conclusion: Was (what I was discussing.)
RELATION BETWEEN INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION
The introduction is a mirror to a conclusion i.e. the conclusion is a mere restatement of an introduction. Whatever your stance was in the introduction part, it must be the same in your conclusion with a mere reshuffling of the words or sequence.
THE FIRST PART OF THE ESSAY: INTRODUCTION
The introduction has three parts.
1) MOTIVATORS OR BRAINWASHING
a. This is to be your background where you indirectly come to your topic should be general in nature, not specific.
b. You may use a quotation, anecdote, Hadith, Ayat, recent news or historical event.
c. Attract the examiners attention (emotional trapping) in 4 to 5 lines.
2) THESIS STATEMENT
a. Thesis Statement is particular and precise; it contains the main theme of your essay. It is a pivot around which your essay revolves. In simple words, thesis statement is: one sentence opinion explaining your stance/ point of view.
b. You cannot waver from your stance, stick to it till the end and defend it at all times.
c. It is the simplest and clearest sentence (no ambiguities).
d. It may be a risk for a few but you may use a blue marker to write down your thesis statement.
3) SKETCH/PLAN
a. Telling the sequence you‘d be following.
b. It must depict connectivity and coherence.
c. It must be simply and clearly stated
d. For instance, if you‘re writing an essay on ―My favorite Politician‖ Your introduction structure may be as follows:
Motivators: The significance of politics and politicians
Thesis Statement: Mr. ABC is my favorite politician.
Plan: I will be discussing Mr. ABC‘s sincerity, devotion, higher qualification, and courage.
e. Your plan tells the sequence of your body paragraphs.
f. The examiner may pick one random point from the list e.g. devotion and see if your second body paragraph is about devotion or not. (Sequence matters a lot)
THE SECOND PART OF AN ESSAY: BODY
The second part of your essay includes as your body Paragraphs. They may be 15 to 20 in number. It is imperative to understand the technique of paragraph writing. All your paragraphs must be according to this technique. The examiner may pick any paragraph to see if you‘ve followed the technique or if you know what it is.
PARAGRAPH WRITING:
A group letters is a word. A group of words (having complete sense) is sentence. A group of sentence (supporting one idea) is a paragraph.
Paragraph Writing just like essay writing has three parts. Paragraph writing is nothing but solid evidence. Paragraph writing is an art. Like other arts, it can also be learnt and mastered by learning some principles and acting upon them. You will have here the most important techniques and principles for writing paragraphs and later essays. They are as follows:
1. Topic Sentence (Will):
It is advisable to state your point in very first sentence. The point or an idea of a paragraph is called a topic sentence. Whole the paragraph relates to topic sentence. Make sure all the details are directly relevant to topic sentence? If you add irrelevant details your paragraph is going to be weaker, and weak paragraph does not capture the attention of the examiner. If you fail to catch your examiner‘s heed, he/she will not read your paragraph with interest and finally he/she may put it a side. In paragraph, first and last places are very important. Induce your examiner in first sentence to read more and have interest so that he/she likes your writing skills.
- It is the first single sentence.
- It is the heading in a form of a sentence.
- It must contain one main idea.
An effective topic sentence does two things. First, it provides the topic of a paragraph. Second, it demonstrates the writer‘s point of view/idea/opinion about the topic. For example, if you‘re writing an essay related to crime, and your first portion of paragraphs is on ‗causes of crimes‘, then one of your paragraphs may be on unemployment as a cause of crime. Your topic sentence would be: ‗Unemployment is one of the causes behind crime’. So in this sentence ―Unemployment‖ is a topic and ―is one of the causes behind crime‖ is a writer‘s idea about topic.
Remember, your topic is a general idea. Supporting idea is specific one. This will be described below.
2. Supporting Arguments/ Supporting Details (Am): You have made a point and provided an effective topic sentence. Now it is time for supporting the point you have made. To support your point you may provide logical or specific reason, example or experience, etc. Even if you mention one example, that would be enough. Your supporting details should be concise so that your examiner can understand it. The more brief and specific your supporting details are, the better your examiner can make picture of your paragraph in his/her mind. This portion would have five to six lines while you‘re justifying your topic sentence.
Paragraph has main idea, which is general idea and the details which support the general idea (topic) are specific ones. To write an effective and impressive paragraph, you should understand the general and specific ideas.
Do you know that you use general and specific ideas on daily basis? Yes, you do, but you do not know about them. For example: you may say that
―Unemployment is one of the causes behind crime‖ and after that you go on telling how it causes crime. So in this example ―Unemployment is one of the causes behind crime‖ is general idea (topic sentence) and the ―causes‖ which you provide are the specific details and strong evidence about topic.
Guys, remember that the details in your paragraph clearly relate to and support your topic sentence. If details are irrelevant, your paragraph is going to lose unity. If unity is lost, nothing is in paragraph. For example: if your topic is,
―Economy of Pakistan is going down day by day‖ so in this topic you should discuss only the reasons of going down of economy with examples, experience, some study etc. You should not discuss political aspect of Pakistan because topic is economy not politics. If you mix relevant and irrelevant details in your paragraph your paragraph will not be read by anyone.
3. Concluding Sentence (Was): A mere reflection of your topic sentence. It means that it is the restatement of topic sentence.
COHERENCE: Writer should know the ways of organizing the support in a paragraph. Coherence is basically the flow that you have to maintain in your paragraphs as well as your whole essay. He/she should also learn signal words (transitional words), which increases effectiveness of a paragraph. Transitions are words or phrases which show relationships among ideas. They are like signposts which are installed on roads to show the direction to the travelers. The signposts are installed to facilitate travelers to tell them where to move now. Transitions are like a bridge which connects two roads. As bridges connect two roads so is the job of traditions. They connect two thoughts and direct the reader that writer is connecting another reason with the first or writer is introducing another idea to support the topic. You must use transitional words.
Coherence can be maintained with the help of transitional words/ connectors. Use transitions before you introduce any new idea. They‘ll help you organised and connect new idea, and they will help your readers follow the direction of your thoughts. Here are some transitions for you to use: therefore, however, firstly, secondly, furthermore etc. You can also use time order to arrange your supporting ideas in a way they occur or arrange them in a chronological order, for example: first this happened then this after that this finally, etc. This method is mainly followed in narration or direction.
Use transitions wherever they are required.
There are mainly two types of coherence that are as follows:
1) Inter–paragraph Coherence: Between the first and the next paragraph
2) Intra–paragraph Coherence: Coherence within the paragraph
THE THIRD PART OF AN ESSAY: CONCLUSION
While writing your conclusion, you must be very clear about your stance i.e. it must be the same as it was in your introduction paragraph. It can range from five to six sentences. You must be like What I was saying was right, I still believe that I was right, I have proved above that I was right, and I am stating it again what I believe in’. Furthermore, make sure that you finish your essay on a positive and optimistic note.
SUPPLEMENTARY TIPS
Writing is not an easy task, nor is it everybody's business. It needs a lot of practice. One has to start from scratch and continue writing until one gets mastery in art of composition. It can't be done randomly or accidentally. Don't entertain the motion that you know everything about the subject, nor ever claim that you have written the best of composition ever written. Bear in mind that your attempt is merely one of the creation on a given subject. There may be certain better attempts than yours and even best ones of all you can ever imagine or create. I think that with practice, patience and painstaking attention to standard writing skills, you can improve quality of your write–up to an acceptable and enviable level.‖ – Prof. Ghulam Hussain Manghar, IBA Sukkur
SOME MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ESSAY WRITING
1) Quantity doesn‘t matter but quality does.
2) The examiner needs to see your structure and knowledge i.e your own opinion expressed in clear and simple English in a convincing manner.
3) Avoid using idiomatic verbosity or technical diction, nothing else can irritate the examiner more than this so called stunt of yours.
4) The placement of your thesis statement and topic sentence must be correct. Give them what they want.
5) Try to improvise the knowledge you have gained from other subjects; relate your knowledge and extract convincing arguments. You may come up with points from Islamic Studies or even General Science. Let your creative juices flow.
6) Do not prepare pet essays. Essays are never asked on one topic, it is usually a relation between two or more concepts.
7) Keep things simple, clear, and follow the basics.
8) Essay never decides your allocation so don‘t try to impress the examiner, just try to pass. That‘ll be a great favor you‘d be doing for yourself.
