First steps to essay writing

Test

A primer(初级读本;入门书) on essay format

Knowing essay format is simpler than writing essays. You can introduce essay writing even if you know no more than is on this page.

Of course, you'll have to learn howto use the essay format right along with your students, but you would have todo that no matter how much you knew starting out.

The essay doesn't get much respect,but it is a powerful and pervasive ([美][pɚˈvesɪv, -zɪv] 无处不在的;遍布的;充斥各处的) communications tool. It's also a tool thatlends(给予，提供（帮助、支持等）) itself to both teaching and learning.

The definition of essay

An essay is a type of short(less than book-length) expository(说明的,解释的) nonfiction built around a thesis statement, which is simply an assertion(声称；主张) or opinion about a topic. The topic could be anything at all.

Classifications of essays

Essays can be classified two ways:

• By degree of formality (formal or informal).
• By overall organizational pattern.
  

Essay format isn't used in all essays

What English teachers refer to asessay format or essay structure is actually the organizational pattern of the persuasive essay with its clearly defined thesis and supporting evidence for the thesis.

The organizational opposite of the persuasive essay(论说文) is the narrative essay(记叙文...expository essay-说明文 ...comparative essay-比较性文章). Between the two organziational patterns on the essay continuum([美] [kənˈtɪnjuəm], 连续统一体) are other types of essays that contain varying amounts of the two basic patterns.

The persuasive-pattern essay

In its purest form, the persuasive-pattern essay is developed in units of three:

• Three sections (beginning, middle, and ending or     introduction, body, and conclusion).
• Three points supporting the thesis statement.
• Three pieces of evidence supporting each point.
  

The shortest piece of writing that can display all the classical components of that pattern is five paragraphs long. That's where the term "five paragraph essay" comes from.

The narrative essay

Instead of nine supporting pieces of evidence, the narrative essay uses just a single, true story,told either in first-person or third person, to persuade readers to accept the thesis.

The writing process for essays

What is called the writing process is really a hodgepodge([美] [ˈhɑdʒˌpɑdʒ], 大杂烩) of processes for a variety of genres([美] [ˈʒɑnrə], 〈法〉(文学、艺术等的)类型, 体裁, 风格) of writing.You will find teaching essay writing easier if you teach a writing process for producing the the persuasive-pattern (thesis + support) essays.

Because the pattern of thesis and support is very mechanical, it is an ideal tool to use when teaching students how to write an essay. It provides structure and support novices( [美] [ˈnɑvɪs],新手, 初学者) need.

Skilled writers can use the same pattern in preparing to write, flexing the basic structure in various ways so that their essays don't look at all like the much maligned( [美] [məˈlaɪn],诽谤, 中伤) five-paragraph essay pattern.

You can teach students about how essays are put together in a single period, but teaching them to apply essay format in their work will take months.