Essay

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Essay
- Definition
- Parts of an Essay
- Kinds of Essays
Definition
An essay is a group of paragraphs that develop/support a main idea.
It is also considered as a multi-paragraph composition.
Parts of an Essay
A well-written essay generally has three parts and a minimum of
three paragraphs. It runs form 250 - 500 words on average. The parts
are the introduction, body and Conclusion.
I) Introduction
This part states about the topic /subject in a general form followed
by a thesis statement. The thesis statement expresses the point and
purpose of the essay in one concise sentence. It also suggests/tells
the reader '' What the essay is all about'' like the topic sentence
which suggests ''What the paragraph will be about''.
Example:
Eating is an activity that we as humans do at least two times a day. We live in a
world where the variety of food is immense, and we are responsible for what we
eat. We decide what we are about to eat and how it will affect our bodies. The
purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the differences between eating
fresh foods instead of canned foods. The three main differences are flavor, health
benefits, and cost.

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How to begin an introductory paragraph?
A) Begin with some thing general in relation to your topic and then
narrow it down to your thesis statement. On the example given
below the sentences printed in bold refer to a beginning with
something general in relation to the topic given.
Example:
Eating is an activity that we as humans do at least two times a day.
We live in a world where the variety of food is immense, and we
are responsible for what we eat. We decide what we are about to eat
and how it will affect our bodies. The purpose of this essay is to
compare and contrast the differences between eating fresh foods
instead of canned foods. The three main differences are flavor, health
benefits, and cost.
Well here as you can see the essay began with eating which is
somehow related to food. After mentioning few things about eating
the writer moved to his/her point or focus area. Though the writer's
purpose is to compare and contrast the differences between eating
fresh foods instead of canned foods, he/she began with some thing
general in relation to the topic. This is one way of writing an
introductory paragraph of an essay.
This part also includes the main idea of the essay (i.e.) the thesis
statement. From the above example, one can clearly see that the
author has narrowed his topic to three specific differences namely
flavor, health benefits and cost. Thus, the sentence which holds this
statement is the thesis statement.

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B) Begin with an attention 'grabber', some thing which can attract
the attention of readers. For instance, one can begin with :
 A Quotation, a popular saying or a proverb, some thing
that you have read or heard etc.
''A dog is a man's best friend ''. That common saying may
contain some truth, but dogs are not the only animal friend
whose companion ship people enjoy. For many people, a
cat is their best friend. Despite what dog lovers may
believe, cats make excellent house pets. Because cats are
civilized members of the house hold, easy to be taken care
of, they do not have to be walked etc.
If your topic is 'Health' you can begin with a popular
saying '' An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure''.
 A Question:
For example:
What is love? How do we know that we are really in love?
When we meet that special person, how can we tell that our
feelings are genuine and not merely infatuation? And, if they
are genuine, will these feelings last? Love, as we all know, is
difficult to define. But most people agree that true and lasting
love involves far more than mere physical attraction. It
involves mutual respect, the desire to give rather than take,
and the feeling of being wholly at ease.
.

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N: B - If you start with abstract ideas such as this one 'love' people
are attracted towards the writing because they are curios to
know what it really is?
 An Unusual Fact: When you use this it might sound strange
at the beginning but there is truth and reality in it.
For example, if your introductory paragraph starts with a
sentence like this ''Gay marriage should be given legal
recognition in order to curb the rapid increase in
population''. This sentence may seem awkward but it has
truth and credibility.
C) One can also begin by defining the topic that he is to write an
essay on. This is to say, one can begin with a literal definition of
the term which he/she is assigned to write followed by a thesis
statement.
II) Body
This part is composed of paragraphs that support the thesis statement
by presenting details, explaining causes, offering reasons and citing
examples. One easy way is to write one paragraph for each of the
points stated as a thesis statement. The more sentences you add to a
paragraph, the more your ideas are developed.

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Example:
Eating is an activity that we as humans do at least two times a day.
We live in a world where the variety of food is immense, and we are
responsible for what we eat. We decide what we are about to eat and
how it will affect our bodies. The purpose of this essay is to compare
and contrast the differences between eating fresh foods instead of
canned foods. The three main differences are flavor, health benefits, and
cost.
If an essay has got such an introductory paragraph the body
paragraph will entertain each of the points stated in the thesis
statement.
The first body part will be a detailed discussion of Flavor. Thus the
above introductory paragraph will have a first body paragraph as
follows:
Body 1
The most notable difference between these two kinds of foods is their
flavor. Fresh foods have great flavor and taste because they keep all
their natural conditions. Canned foods, however, lack a lot of its
flavor characteristics because there are some other chemical products
added to the natural foods. It is logical that the fresh foods will have
a greater taste and flavor when consumed just because of the time in
which they have been prepared.

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Body 2
The second body part will be a detailed discussion of Health
benefits.
Comparing both types of foods we notice another difference. There is
a health factor that affects both of them. Canned foods lose some of
the original fresh food nutrients when stored, and also it has to be
tinned with many conservatives and chemical factors that prolong
the shelf life and apparent freshness of the food but could also
become toxic if consumed too often.
Body 3
The third body part will be a detailed discussion of Cost.
Yet another difference between these two types of foods is the cost.
Canned foods are much more expensive than fresh foods. Here the
benefit of buying tinned foods is that they are easier to find, for
example, in a supermarket instead of the market like the fresh foods,
and they require less work to prepare than fresh foods, just open and
serve.
III) Conclusion
In this part the writer:
a) May restate the main idea of his/her paragraph. In other words
he/she gives a brief summary of the essay's main points.
b) May call for some sort of action/recommendation
c) May end it with a warning
d) May ask provocative questions

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The conclusion of the above essay which is given as an example would
be:
These are the three main differences between buying fresh foods and
canned foods. As we can see it comes down to a personal choice, based
on the time each person has, the money and the importance he/she
gives to his/her nutrition and health. Therefore, it is important that
you consider your possibilities and choose the best type of foods for
your convenience and lifestyle.
Kinds of essays
There are different kinds of essays. The following are some of the
most common ones:
a) Descriptive Essay: provides details about how some thing looks
feels, tastes, smells or sounds so as to make the reader feel as if
he/she is part of the experience.
For example you can describe your boy friend/girl
friend/husband/wife, house that you own/a house you wish to
have and a car/cars that you have/wish to have.
b) Definition Essay: attempts to define the meaning of a specific
word or define an abstract concept like love.
For example you can define the word 'marriage' indicating how
strong and determined you have got to be. The other is how the
meaning of 'family' goes deeper than just your blood relatives.
c) Compare/Contrast Essay: discusses the similarities and
differences between two things, people, concepts, places, etc. It
could discuss both similarities and differences, or it could just
focus on one or the other. A comparison essay usually discusses
the similarities between two things, while the contrast essay

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discusses the differences. For example you can write about
similarities and differences between Addis Ababa University
and Unity University College.
d) Cause/Effect Essay: explains why or how? some events
happened, and what resulted from the event. This essay is a
study of the relationship between two or more events or
experiences.
A cause essay usually discusses the reasons why some thing
happened. You can write an essay on the main causes of car
accident in Addis Ababa.
An effect essay discusses what happens after a specific event or
circumstance. You can write an essay on the main effects of car
accident in Addis Ababa.
e) Narrative Essay: an essay which tells a real or an imaginary
story. An Autobiography or a biography in an essay form or a
short story could fit in to this category.
f) Argumentative Essay: is one that attempts to persuade the
reader to the writer's point of view. The writer can either be
serious or funny but always tries to convince the reader. The
essay may argue openly, or it may attempt to subtly/delicately
persuade the reader by using irony or sarcasm.

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Model Essays
My Job in an Apple Plant
In the course of working my way through school, I have taken many
jobs I would rather forget. I have spent nine hours a day lifting heavy
automobile and truck batteries off the end of an assembly belt. I have
risked the loss of eyes and fingers working a punch press in a textile
factory. I have served as a ward aide in a mental hospital, helping
care for brain-damaged men who would break into violent fits at
unexpected moments. But none of these jobs was as dreadful as my
job in an apple plant. The work was physically hard; the pay was
poor; and, most of all, the working conditions were dismal.
First of all, the job made enormous demands on my strength and
energy. For ten hours a night, I took cartons that rolled down a metal
track and stacked them onto wooden skids in a tractor-trailer. Each
carton contained twelve heavy cans or bottles of apple juice. A carton
shot down the track about every fifteen seconds. I once figured out
that I was lifting an average of twelve tons of apple juice every night.
When a truck was almost filled, I or my partner had to drag fourteen
bulky wooden skids into the empty trailer nearby and then set up
added sections of the heavy metal track so that we could start routing
cartons to the back of the empty van. While one of us did that, the
other performed the stacking work of two men.
I would not have minded the difficulty of the work so much if the
pay had not been so poor. I was paid the minimum wage of that time,
two dollars an hour, plus the minimum of a nickel extra for working
the night shift. Because of the low salary, I felt compelled to get as
much overtime pay as possible. Everything over eight hours a night
was time-and-a-half, so I typically worked twelve hours a night. On
Friday I would sometimes work straight through until Saturday at
noon -- eighteen hours. I averaged over sixty hours a week but did
not take home much more than one hundred dollars.

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But even more than the low pay, what upset me about my apple
plant job was the working conditions. Our humorless supervisor
cared only about his production record for each night and tried to
keep the assembly line moving at a breakneck pace. During work I
was limited to two ten-minute breaks and an unpaid half hour for
lunch. Most of my time was spent outside on the truck loading dock
in near-zero-degree temperatures. The steel floors of the trucks were
like ice; the quickly penetrating cold made my feet feel like stone. I
had no shared interests with the man I loaded cartons with, and so I
had to work without job companionship. And after the production
line shut down and most people left, I had to spend two hours alone
scrubbing clean the apple vats, which were coated with a sticky
residue.
I stayed on the job for five months, hating all the while the difficulty
of the work, the poor money, and the conditions under which I
worked. By the time I quit, I was determined never to do such
degrading work again.
The Hazards of Movie going
I am a movie fanatic. When friends want to know what picture won
the Oscar in 1980 or who played the police chief in Jaws, they ask me.
My friends, though, have stopped asking me if I want to go out to the
movies. The problems in getting to the theater, the theater itself, and
the behavior of some patrons are all reasons why I often wait for a
movie to show up on TV.
First of all, just getting to the theater presents difficulties. Leaving a
home equipped with a TV and a video recorder isn't an attractive
idea on a humid, cold, or rainy night. Even if the weather cooperates,
there is still a thirty-minute drive to the theater down a congested
highway, followed by the hassle of looking for a parking space. And
then there are the lines. After hooking yourself to the end of a human
chain, you worry about whether there will be enough tickets,
whether you will get seats together, and whether many people will
sneak into the line ahead of you.

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Once you have made it to the box office and gotten your tickets, you
are confronted with the problems of the theater itself. If you are in
one of the run-down older theaters, you must adjust to the musty
smell of seldom-cleaned carpets. Escaped springs lurk in the faded
plush or cracked leather seats, and half the seats you sit in seem loose
or tilted so that you sit at a strange angle. The newer twin and quad
theaters offer their own problems. Sitting in an area only one-quarter
the size of a regular theater, moviegoers often have to put up with the
sound of the movie next door. This is especially jarring when the
other movie involves racing cars or a karate war and you are trying
to enjoy a quiet love story. And whether the theater is old or new, it
will have floors that seem to be coated with rubber cement. By the
end of a movie, shoes almost have to be pried off the floor because
they have become sealed to a deadly compound of spilled soda,
hardening bubble gum, and crushed Jujubes.
Some of the patrons are even more of a problem than the theater
itself. Little kids race up and down the aisles, usually in giggling
packs. Teenagers try to impress their friends by talking back to the
screen, whistling, and making what they consider to be hilarious
noises. Adults act as if they were at home in their own living rooms
and comment loudly on the ages of the stars or why movies aren't as
good anymore. And people of all ages crinkle candy wrappers, stick
gum on their seats, and drop popcorn tubs or cups of crushed ice and
soda on the floor. They also cough and burp, squirm endlessly in
their seats, file out for repeated trips to the rest rooms or concession
stand, and elbow you out of the armrest on either side of your seat.
After arriving home from the movies one night, I decided that I was
not going to be a moviegoer anymore. I was tired of the problems
involved in getting to the movies and dealing with the theater itself
and some of the patrons. The next day I arranged to have cable TV
service installed in my home. I may now see movies a bit later than
other people, but I'll be more relaxed watching box office hits in the
comfort of my own living room.

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Exercises
I) In the following essay, both the introduction and the conclusion parts are removed. Read
the essay and provide appropriate introduction and conclusion.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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The objective of the foot search is to come into the crime scene area unobserved by using
all natural means of cover such as buildings, trees, or any other objects which will hide
an officer and protect him from gunfire. The policeman will make frequent stops to look
for any suspicious persons and to listen for any odd noises. After the officer realizes that
the suspect is not around, he will then question anyone he sees who might have
observed anything out of the ordinary. Residents or workers in the area may be able to
help an officer find people or cars that are strange to the neighborhood. A foot search
may be very effective when the officer is searching for evidence or witnesses at the scene
of a crime. For example, a robber or burglar is usually looking for police cars and may be
caught off guard by a policeman on foot.
A spot search is the method of placing an officer at a vantage point overlooking a street
or alley which might be a possible escape route. When a policeman is assigned to this
type of search, he places his car where it is not readily seen, but where it can be easily
moved to pursue the suspect.
In a leapfrog search, two officers are needed. This type of search is most often used
when the policemen enter a building. In leapfrog, as the name suggests, the officers will
change leads. The officer in the lead covers the other officer when he takes the lead, and
they slowly work their way through the building. There are many variations to this type
of search. Some of the most commonly used are “ zig- zag,” “clover-leaf,” and “criss—
cross.”
In the quadrant search, the area to be searched is divided into four “pie-shaped”
quarters, using the crime scene as the center of all action. There will be at least one police
unit in each quarter, depending on the size of the quadrant. Each unit begins at the
outermost point and works its way toward the crime scene. When the units get to the
center, they overlap each other’s quarter and work their way back out. This is continued
until the suspect is apprehended or the search is abandoned.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________.

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II) The following essay has an introductory paragraph but both the body and
the concluding paragraphs are missing.
An abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion of an
embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death. An abortion
can occur spontaneously due to complications during pregnancy or can be
induced.The purpose of this essay is to indicate the effects of abortion on the
party who is to abort due to several reasons. The most notable effects are
physical and psychological.
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________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________.
________________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________.

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III) Write an essay of about 500 w0rds on the title: "The challenges
of Barack Obama". You may use the following points and
include relevant points of your own to develop it fully.
Introductory Paragraph:
 Background / Introduction
 Thesis statement for the essay
Body Paragraph 1: Economic crisis
 Job cuts
 Bankruptcy
 Foreclosures
Body Paragraph 2: Unfinished wars
 Iraq
 Afghanistan
Body Paragraph 3: Climate change
 Depletion of Ozone layer
 Melting of the polar Ice
Concluding Paragraph:
 Important points to wrap-up your essay
 Recommendations, if any

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IV) Write an essay of about 500 w0rds on the title: "Major problems
of Addis Ababa City Residents". You may use the following points
and include relevant points of your own to develop it fully.
Introductory Paragraph:
 Background / Introduction
 Thesis statement for the essay
Body Paragraph 1: Ever increasing cost of living
 Sky-rocketing price of consumer goods, etc
 Housing problems ( rental, space for building houses, etc)
Body Paragraph 2: Transportation problem
 Mismatch between the ever increasing number of dwellers in the
city and number of public transport cars (taxis, buses, etc)
 Problems with taxis (charging users more than the fair pay,
cutting long distances shorter, etc)
 Carrying capacity of most of the roads (too narrow and over
crowded roads, some under constructions are unduly delayed,
some require urgent re-construction, etc)
Concluding Paragraph:
 Important points to wrap-up your essay
 Recommendations, if any

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V. Challenges in campus/ Life in campus
- Academic Challenges
- Social Challenges
- Economic Challenges

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