Essay writing images
Paragraphs: The main part of the essay - structure and linking. This section should be read in parallel with that which looks at the production of introductions and conclusions next module. Here the emphasis is on the writing which occurs between the two, the main body of the essay. It takes practice to manage the material you use in analysing and interpreting a work of literature.
641 Essay Writing stock pictures and images
Paragraphs: The main part of the essay - structure and linking. This section should be read in parallel with that which looks at the production of introductions and conclusions next module.
Here the emphasis is on the writing which occurs between the two, the main body of the essay. It takes practice to manage the material you use in analysing and interpreting a work of literature. With this in mind it should be stressed that it is important to plan the essay in advance. Even in timed conditions such as exams you must take the time to think about the structure of the essay.
Think about what points you want to make beforehand, and then think about the best way of arranging this material in sequence. The order in which you make the points will go a long way to determining how clear the arguments you put forward will be. You do not have to say everything there is to be said about a given subject and you should try to develop a feel for the most important elements. An essay should be the development of argument, interpretation and analysis through an extended and flowing sequence of points and illustrations.
This entails work at the level of the sentence, of course, but also, very importantly, you need to work at the level of the paragraph.
The paragraph is a coherent passage of logically connected sentences usually concentrating on no more than one or two ideas relevant to your argument. Do not use very short and unconnected staccato sentences, and develop your use of linking words by which the various sentences of a paragraph are bound together.
It takes experience and practice to develop a sense of when a new paragraph is needed and when it has run its course. Examine the general guide to essay writing to get some sense of how the paragraphs, or 'idea units' as they have also been called, have been constructed, and how their 'natural' beginnings and ends appear. The first sentence of the paragraph should generally be a ' strong ' one, used to signal or indicate the idea to be discussed within the paragraph.
Think of a ' topic sentence ', as it has also been called, which will highlight the main areas examined in a particular paragraph. Connecting and signposting words and phrases should be learnt, used, and practised examples are ' furthermore ', ' moreover ', ' in addition ', ' to qualify the above ', ' however ', ' in order to ', ' in this connection ', ' having established that ' etc.
The argument should develop through the language you use and therefore in a short essay sub-headings are unnecessary. Your essay will be the representation of an argument on a given subject or subjects. It will include only points which are relevant to the subject, so be careful to get rid of material that is not directly relevant. Although students sometimes complain that the lengths demanded of essays are too long, most of the essays you will write are really relatively short.
Part of the skill of writing is to write concisely and economically, without wasting material or 'padding' the work with irrelevant diversions and repetition. Once the points have been chosen they should be presented logically and coherently, so do not leap about from point to point. Each point generally will have some connection to the preceding one and the one which follows.
If you do leave one part of the essay to move onto another, but intend later to go back to the point you have left and show, for example, how the points may be connected or related, then it can be useful to say so by ' signposting ', e.
After each draft of the essay check that each point is presented in a logical and coherent order. Read each draft carefully and critically. Is there a significant idea you have not included in the essay? Do you need to expand some of the points you have chosen to write about? Are some of the points, after due consideration, not really relevant? Have you been too long-winded or repetitive? Does your argument need to be clearer, and do the links between some of the main points need more emphasis?
You should be asking yourself these questions throughout the whole process. Strong sentences are essential in terms of the flow of your essay. When signalling the fact that they now want to begin a discussion about the imagery of the text in question, students often begin paragraphs with a sentence such as the following: 'I will now go on to discuss the imagery, which plays an important role in this story. What is wrong with this particular sentence? To start with there is no real need to introduce the subject so mechanically: as you are writing about literature it will come as no great surprise to the reader that imagery is to be discussed at some point.
Secondly, as the student has chosen to write about the imagery there is no need to state that it is important. If it was not important then the student should not have chosen to write about it.
Please note that there would be no objection to a sentence such as 'I will now go on to discuss the imagery, which is fundamental to a full understanding of the story', although it would be even better if the type of imagery was identified.
This says something different. Do not repeat these phrases mechanically in your essays - the imagery will not always be absolutely key to understanding the story. Use your common sense. You can introduce the subject of imagery in a strong sentence, at the beginning of a paragraph, by simply starting to discuss it straightaway. If you have identified a number of images, metaphors, etc. As an example, here is a paragraph which starts to deal with the literary language in Graham Greene's ' The Destructors '.
This paragraph would ideally come about a third or half way into the essay, as it comes after the introduction and signals the fact that some analysis has already been carried out. A discussion of the imagery can reinforce the general points made above; broadly speaking there are two main sets of images and metaphors, dealing firstly with the tensions between the individual and the community, to which I will turn later, and secondly focusing on Christian symbolism.
A number of the images have religious connotations. It is significant that Old Misery's house was designed by Christopher Wren, who was the seventeenth century architect of St. Paul's cathedral. By mentioning Wren Greene is attempting to show the presence of the past in the present and how irrelevant it seems to the boys: 'Who's Wren? Their experience of massive destruction has eroded references and deprived them of values. Instead of the integration and shared common values illustrated by, among others, the fact that Wren designed both a public place of worship and a private home, the post-war period leaves them with fragmentation and mutual distrust: the gang are aware of rival gangs, there is distrust between the generations - shown by the gang's suspicion of Old Misery's gift of sweets - and T.
For him 'All this hate and love [is]soft, it's hooey. There's only things. Furthermore, the passage describing the destruction of the house is an ironic parody of the opening chapter of Genesis. The vocabulary is similar: Blackie notices that 'chaos had advanced', an ironic reversal of God's imposing of form on a void.
Furthermore, the phrase 'streaks of light came in through the closed shutters where they worked with the seriousness of creators', used in the context of destruction, also parodies the creation of light and darkness in the early passages of the Biblical book.
There might be another paragraph, or two, on religious metaphors, or the next paragraph might begin:. Images and metaphors concerning the individual and community are centred on Trevor, and are also linked to the theme of leadership.
What are the advantages of such a sequence of paragraphs? Notice that the opening sentence in each paragraph is a strong one. There are several strong points about the first paragraph:. The main extended images are mentioned in the first sentence, which is preferable to 'I am now going to discuss the imagery of Graham Greene's story.
Importantly, whilst it is obvious that there is to be some reference to ideas already mentioned, it is also clear that there is to be no repetition. Instead, the analysis is to be deepened and extended. The anxious reader, who might be wondering why the important theme of the individual and the community has not been mentioned, can relax and enjoy the analysis of the religious symbolism in the full knowledge that the former theme has not been neglected.
In other words the writer is actively engaging with Greene's story. What of the second paragraph? Firstly one might ask why a second paragraph is needed, given that the theme is still that of religion. True, but the first paragraph is becoming quite long, it is reaching the 'natural' length of a paragraph. There are no hard or fast rules and regulations here - no writing committee has decreed that a paragraph should contain an ideal number of words or sentences or run a certain length over a page.
Extended writing practice will give you a 'feel' and an instinct for realising that a paragraph is complete and it is time to start a new one. More importantly here there is a very strong sense that the first paragraph in the model is 'full'. The writer has identified a link between the house and the ideological vacuum in which the gang exist and has tried to interpret and explain it.
The theme is still religion, but the writer is now going to approach a different aspect of it. The third paragraph begins to produce what has been promised: an analysis of the theme of the individual and the community.
Note how this is done. There is no need to state mechanically that this is the theme that is now to be discussed. It has already been anticipated and the 'full' nature of the first sentence makes clear what is being discussed. Again, the reader is being clearly led through the arguments in a well structured and thought out manner. One further point, by way of providing another model. The analysis in the second paragraph could lead in the following direction. Greene's ironic use of the vocabulary of the Bible might be making the point that, for him, the Second World War signalled the end of a particular Christian era.
Now, it is perfectly arguable that the rise of fascism is linked to this, or that it is the cause. The cult of personality and secular leadership has, for Greene, taken over from the key role of the church in Western societies. In this way the two main themes identified above - the tension between individual and community, and religion - are linked.
In terms of essay writing this link could well be made after the discussion of the theme of the individual and the community, and its links with the theme of leadership.
This might be the general conclusion to the essay. After thoughtful consideration and interpretation a student may well decide that this is what ' The Destructors ' boils down to: Greene is making a clear link between the rise of fascism and the decline of the Church's influence.
Despite the fact that fascism has been recently defeated, Greene sees the lack of any contemporary values which could provide social cohesion as providing the potential for its reappearance. This is the climax to the essay, but the concluding paragraph should generally be a brief paraphrase or synthesis of the essay. This also adheres to the generally held view that the conclusion should not introduce new ideas. Paragraphs need to be coherent, which will be only achieved through the careful arrangement of the sentences within them.
Staying with an analysis of Graham Greene's ' The Destructors ', let us see how this can be achieved. This is by no means a terrible paragraph, but there are weaknesses within it, the chief of them being that whilst it demonstrates that the student is going beyond superficial summarising and interpreting the story, the ideas are struggling to make themselves heard.
Some of the sentences lack detail or are a little ambiguous, and at times there is a lack of tight connection between several of the sentences.
How To Write An Essay (+exercise).. This is an excellent site for english teachers!!! So many work sheets and activities for every grade level!!! If You Teach or Write 5-Paragraph Essays--Stop It! Thoughtful ways to teach essays (Kill the Five Paragraph Essay!!!!).
While you are studying at university you will most likely be asked to write a range of types of assignments. It is difficult to try to classify all the possible types of assignments. Even the words assignment, essay and report are often used to describe very different tasks. There is, therefore, no single thing that is a generic assignment or essay. Different types of task and different questions require different types of answers.
This annual essay contest is organized in an effort to harness the energy, creativity and initiative of the world's youth in promoting a culture of peace and sustainable development. It also aims to inspire society to learn from the young minds and to think about how each of us can make a difference in the world.
Introduction: Introductory Paragraph See, first, Writing Introductory Paragraphs for different ways of getting your reader involved in your essay. The introductory paragraph should also include the thesis statement, a kind of mini-outline for the paper: it tells the reader what the essay is about.
Writing an Essay
In all probability, you will be expected to write at least one essay during your degree. This is not surprising, as essays are a very effective way to demonstrate advanced cognitive skills. Reread the module handbook and learning outcomes and consider the marking criteria. These documents are like contracts between you and the marker. Fulfill those criteria and you shall earn a high mark!
How to Write a Descriptive Essay
When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use. The descriptive essay is a genre of essay that asks the student to describe something—object, person, place, experience, emotion, situation, etc. What is more, this genre allows for a great deal of artistic freedom the goal of which is to paint an image that is vivid and moving in the mind of the reader. One might benefit from keeping in mind this simple maxim: If the reader is unable to clearly form an impression of the thing that you are describing, try, try again! If your instructor asks you to describe your favorite food, make sure that you jot down some ideas before you begin describing it.
Home When to Use an Image in an Essay. Pages of text alone can look quite dull.
If you can do this, then your essay is a success, if not, then you have a lot of work to do. The first steps in writing a descriptive essay will lay the groundwork for the entire piece. A descriptive essay will usually focus on a single event, a person, a location or an item.
