If you were wondering how to do an essay, keep reading because in this DoMyWork article we explain step by step with examples how to do one. Enjoy writing and transmitting your ideas and knowledge with our help and from your personal and unique point of view.
An essay is a literary genre derived from investigative journalism and is considered one more among the didactic genres.
Despite the subjectivity that reigns around what an essay is and what is not, if there is one thing that is clear, it is that in order to write an essay it is necessary to apply 3 steps:
- Documentary phase: Information – Critical Thinking – Formulation of Ideas
- Draft phase: Organization of Ideas – Statement of position – Definition of the Thesis or Main Idea on which the essay is concerned
- Review phase: Final writing – Style review – Corrections
Characteristics of the text to make an essay
In reality, essays have been around since before Journalism was defined as what it is today throughout the 20th century. Since its appearance at the end of the Middle Ages, it is one of the genres most linked to the free expression of thought. Its features include:
- prose text
- subjective and creative character
- Personal style (not so much in scientific essays)
- Structured in three main parts (although not always)
- Grounded: with arguments to give an opinion or explore a topic
- Synthetic (usually they are short texts)
- Preliminary (usually prior to a more exhaustive investigation)
How do you write an essay?
How to do an essay? First of all, you need to be clear about whether you are writing a literary essay, an opinion essay, a scientific essay… As writing essays has become a very recurring thing since the 20th century, you may need to write an experimental or creative essay.
This depends to a large extent on the subject on which the essay will be seen and on your area of research. Keep in mind that how a Medical student does an essay and how an Audiovisual Communication student does it will have nothing to do with it, although both will be required to be creative and contribute their personal point of view in approaching the topic.
What is and what is not an essay?
Many essayists build their texts from a previous structure that they model and adopt based on the topic. Before starting to explain how to write an essay, you should be clear about what an essay is and is not.
A YES essay is:
- A literary text on a subject on which there is no total unanimity.
- The expression of a personal position, supported by arguments
- An attempt to persuade, to bring the reader closer to your position.
An essay is NOT:
- A dogmatic discourse or one that deals systematically with a problem or idea
- An artistic resource of expression through literature
- A complex, ambiguous and unclear expression of the author’s emotions and psyche
Next, we analyze the main characteristics that define the main types of literary essays, with guidelines on how to write an essay framed within each of them:
Argumentative essay
How can I write an argumentative essay? Focusing on developing and giving prominence to the arguments (for and also against) on which you support your theses or ideas. Expose your reasons in a coherent way, describe with what specific data they are justified and keep the main objective of taking the reader to your field.
Scientific essay
Since writing a scientific essay is one of the most common tasks currently among higher education students, it is most likely that if you have been commissioned to write an essay, it will be of this type. You must describe very precisely what is the (scientific) topic on which you will express your position, providing the reader with objective information (data) when doing so.
Expository essay
What is needed to do an expository essay? Be very very clear. Although it is possible to use a form of personal expression, doing expository essays consists of explaining topics that are difficult to understand, and not so much in persuading our opinion on that topic.
How to do an essay? If your essay must be expository, the best way to know if you have done it well is to put it to the test: if the person who reads it manages to understand what you are explaining, you will have succeeded. Being close, pleasant and using clear and simple language is the best way to do expository essays.
Philosophical essay
In the general mentality, it is the quintessential way of doing essays. Since writing a good philosophical essay seems practically impossible without references, it is best to spend a few hours familiarizing ourselves with its style and structure. Doing a philosophical essay is a thought exercise at the highest level and requires a deep knowledge of the subject on which we are going to offer personal conclusions.
Critical essay
Doing a critical essay is actually like doing an argumentative essay. The terms are synonymous although they can vary depending on the topic. Argumentative is more frequent in topics of philosophy, sociology… while critical is used more in branches of science such as medicine or history.
Sociological essay
It is a type of essay focused on addressing social issues. It does not differ from the rest in its form, style or objectives: its only difference is that it is already predefined in terms of the area of knowledge it covers.
Historical essay
As with the previous one, the historical essay is predefined in its theme, but does not attend to a specific typology. Historical essays are especially relevant when trying to understand, from the present mentality, the events of the past.
One of the most important issues when it comes to addressing how to write a historical essay is to consider the limits (temporal, geographical, social…) in order to deepen or, on the contrary, provide the reader with an overview of our essay.