Essay Outline

In my college English class, the final writing assignment is to write an essay about how to write an essay. In other words, we are to show that we have learned exactly how to write an essay by teaching someone else.

Every essay needs an introduction, and so that is how I began mine. An introduction consists of a hook, or in other words, something to grab the audience’s attention. I begin with a an old saying that makes a statement – “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” I then proceed to compare the statement to essay writing. A good introduction will also provide a road map for the audience to be able to follow through the body of the essay, as well as a thesis statement. My essay provides both of these elements.

Following the introduction is the body of the essay. This portion consists of all of the information necessary for the audience to come to an understanding of how the thesis statement is true. The body of my essay includes definitions of several rhetorical tools that aid in the writing process and an explanation of why they are important in an essay.

The next part of the body of my essay is a guideline for what order in which to write the essay – body first, conclusion second, and introduction third, and why this is important. Instructions on how to write each section and what to include are also discussed in this section. The last part of the body of my essay, is directions given to polish the essay through peer review and why it is important.

Every essay needs to have a conclusion, and my essay is no different.  A good conclusion will restate what has been discussed in the body of the essay, helping the audience to understand exactly how the thesis was concluded.  My conclusion gives a summation of what was discussed in the body and a call to action. After having gone through all of the steps of how to write an essay, I encourage the audience to go ahead and try the process on their own.

Elements of Writing

Learning how to write an essay has been quite an interesting journey for me. Looking back at the pathway from day one to this point helps me to understand that using and applying rhetorical tools gives me the ability to create a higher quality essay, paper, or story. Utilizing rhetorical tools allows me to be more effective in reaching and communicating well with my desired audience. 

Some of the tools that have helped me the most throughout this process are: the order of the essay writing process, narrative, description, compare and contrast, cause and effect, and peer review. Each of these elements plays a specific part in the writing process, giving me the ability to be clear in what I am trying to convey to the audience. The process of getting everything out of my head and onto paper has always been a struggle for me. I haven’t had the ability to say exactly what I thought or felt. These four tools literally give me a better voice as I apply them in the writing process. The following is a brief explanation of what they are and why they are important.

Writing an essay is easier when the body is written first, the conclusion second, and the introduction last. It seems backwards, but this process allows you to get all of the important information together first. Next, the conclusion will sum up everything you have already stated. Finally, the introduction will point the way through the essay to the conclusion. The introduction can be done this way because the body and conclusion are already written. Your introduction will simply capture the attention of the audience and provide a pathway through the rest of the essay.

Narratives are used in the writing process to grab attention, prove a point, or better explain something. Description gives the audience a clear picture of what is being referred to. Compare and Contrast gives the audience a greater understanding of details and what something is, or is not. Cause and Effect shows how or why something happened. Description, Compare and Contrast, Cause and Effect can all be used in a narrative to give greater detail and understanding to the audience – giving the author a better voice.

Before any paper is complete, a great way to polish it is to have a peer read over it. Any author can easily miss the punctuation and spelling errors in their writing. Another benefit to a peer review is that the peer can point out any details that may be missing, which would cause confusion to an audience. A fresh set of eyes can make all of the difference in any writing project.

For more details on these topics, please refer to my previous blogs.

Methodology in essay writing.

 How would you define the word - method?  One definition is: orderliness of thought or behavior. Methods help us to maintain order, which is a very important aspect of essay writing. An essay without order is like a recipe with no direction. All of the information is there, but the cook is left to wonder what order to add the ingredients together to be able to achieve the desired result. Many different methods, or methodology, can be applied when writing an essay, which help to create order and understanding for the audience.

For example, gazes and narratives give the author the ability to connect with and grab the attention of their target audience. These tools help to create a desire for the audience to continue reading into the body of the essay. This is like the name or image of a recipe. If the image is enticing, it will lure the audience into reading the ingredients to gain more information about the recipe. 

Following the ingredients of a recipe, are the step-by-step directions. This is an example of an extended definition. This definition, step-by-step direction, creates a clear understanding for the audience of the process of cooking this particular recipe. Definitions are one rhetorical tool used in an essay to create understanding for the audience.  Two other rhetorical tools, which can be used in essay methodology to create understanding, are: Compare and Contrast and Cause and Effect.

Finally, every recipe is put in the same basic order: Name, ingredients, and process. This is the rhetorical tool known as Classification and Division. If some of the ingredients in a recipe are all mixed together with the cooking time, how to prepare one ingredient with how many the recipe served, etc., it would be very confusing to the audience. The audience may just give up and look for another recipe. Classifying each section of the recipe and dividing them into groups creates order and clarity. The same applies to an essay. Classifying each section into the introduction, body, and conclusion, as well as grouping the same information together in each section creates order and clarity for the audience.

Process Explanation

“How do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a time.” This statement means that when you are trying to do something that is overwhelming, just break it down into smaller manageable pieces, and deal with each piece one at a time. This allows you to “eat the elephant” in a way that can be managed. This same idea can be applied to many things, for example, writing an essay. How do you write an essay?  It can be daunting if you look at it as an entire process.  However, if you break it down into separate parts and gain information and understanding about each part, and then piece them together in the correct order, the process is not as difficult to undertake.

Rhetorical Tools

In order to write a good essay, you will need tools that give you the ability to give information to your audience in a way that they can understand it. These are called rhetorical tools and some of them include:

·      Narrative – writing in story form to connect with and grab the attention of the audience.

·      Cause and Effect – demonstrating the chain of events that lead up to a culminating event.

·      Compare and Contrast – creating a mental image for the audience by describing the similarities and differences of images etc.

·       Persuasive Theme – a theme or topic used to set a mood or create meaning.

·      Definitions – stating or describing words or terms used in the essay to create meaning for the audience.

Learning how to use and apply these tools gives you a process for getting the information to your audience and helps them to understand and follow what you are trying to say. Once you have the ability to use these tools, they can be applied in the process of writing your essay.

The Audience

Who exactly are you writing to? Knowing who your desired audience is helps you to be specific in the information you include. An understanding of their background is important in order to connect with them. Determine what they already know and what needs to be explained to them. What background information is needed to bring the audience up to speed and what isn’t? What level of information can the audience understand? These are all important things to consider as you write your essay.

The Topic

Decide on your topic, and gather all of the necessary information for that topic. Write down as much information as you can to just get it on paper and create a first draft. This will form the body of your essay.  Next, take all of the information needed and group them into categories that relate to each other. This helps the audience to understand each category as a whole, avoiding the confusion that can come from unrelated topics grouped together in the same paragraph. This process is called Classification and Division.

The Conclusion

Now that you have the body of the essay written and organized, it is time to write the conclusion. There is nothing worse than a riveting novel with the last page ripped out, leaving the reader to agonize and question, “How does it end?” The same can be said for your essay. The end of your paper should sum up the entire essay for the reader, explaining exactly how you came to your conclusion, leaving them with an ending to “your story,” and an understanding of how you got there.

The Introduction
 The purpose of the introduction is to grab the attention of your intended audience and give them and idea or “road map” to where the essay is going. One way to get the reader’s attention in the introduction is to begin with a short narrative that entices the reader into reading the rest of the essay. This is then followed by a brief explanation of what they will be reading throughout the body of the essay including your thesis statement.

Peer Review

At last, your essay is complete. You have spent hours researching, writing, and editing. There is one thing left. You need to borrow an “extra pair of eyes.” No, this doesn’t mean to grab your friend’s glasses and put them on.  This means that even the best author needs someone else to edit and give feedback on his or her work. It is important to have someone read through your essay to catch the small mistakes in your paper and point out what doesn’t quite make sense.

You have just learned the process of writing an essay! Taken one piece at a time, it doesn’t have to be the “elephant” you thought it was. Now go and give it a try, but remember – one bite at a time!