Definitions
An essay is a loose sally of the mind, an indigestive piece, not a regular and ordinary composition. Dr. Johnson
Essay is a literary composition, usually in prose and short. Oxford Dictionary
Literary essays are evaluation of a piece of work, an era of literature, a literary movement or any special aspect of it.
The definition of Dr. Johnson fits perfectly to the essays presented by Sir Francis Bacon. All other kind of "regular" essays follow the Oxfordian definition but without writing abort. A literary essay must be composed of 3,000 words at least.
Foundation of an Essay
An ideal essay has an introductory phase, body and conclusive phase. The introductory phase focuses on providing an introduction to a specific topic. The body is the main lengthy part of an essay in which a topic is discussed thoroughly. The conclusive phase gives an essay a conclusion of the particular topic. The introductory phase and the conclusive phase must be allocated 20 % of the entire essay while the other 80 % must be dedicated for its body.
Important Aspects behind Writing an Essay
- Reading: Firstly, one must read books to accumulate the baseline for one's essay.
- Observation: One must observe one's surroundings and ponder over one's findings in the context of one's essay.
- Thinking: It is the most important factor behind writing an essay. One must think about how one will tabulate and divide one's essays in solitude.
- Writing: When everything is thought up appropriately about an essay, one should start writing it.
Qualities of a Good Essay
- Unity: A good essay presents its content by keeping its unity. Unity in an essay means that the essay is only about a specific topic and does not include any other irrelevant details.
- Coherence: A well-written essay is presented in a logical manner. Its development of points is governed by the sequence.
- Balance: A good essay is a good blend of balanced introduction, body and conclusion.
Types of Essays
Narrative Essays: These kinds of essays deal with the narration of an incident or a personality in a chronological level.
Examples: A Trip to Lahore, My First Day in School or Quaid-e-Azam.
Descriptive Essays: These type of essays present an incident, place or country in a descriptive manner.
Example: Geography of Pakistan or The Himalayas
Reflective Essays: These kind of essays are written after being thought, observed and analyzed by our brain. It is rather difficult to compose such essays because of the mental labour they require.
Examples: Corruption, Terrorism
Argumentative Essays: This is the most difficult kind of essay to write as one has to present one's arguments and the arguments on the behalf of another person through one's brain.
Thankfully, most of the literary essays belong to the narrative side of the essay. 😇
