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.