How to write an Essay
*1. Introduction
There are many essay writing principles. The speaker will explain the principles and their application. The speaker explains differences between high-school level essays and university essays:
- High school essays require you to talk about specific points
- University essays are much more about coming up with a logical argument that exposes your point of view that answers the question.
2. Answering the question
The most important part of writing an essay is answering the question. This means giving your perspective on a question. When you answer "maybe" or "it depends" without explaining what the subject depends on, you aren't doing this.
- Question: Are cats cute?
[X]It depends on how much fur they have and how small they are. I prefer larger hairy cats.[ ]It depends on your preferences. Some people enjoy cats, and some don't[X]Yes, cats are appealing to humans.[X]No, cats are grotesque monsters.
But, you cannot just give your own opinion. Most of the essay will not be your opinion, but an explanation of the question and justification for your opinion. When given very general questions like "what is it to be a woman," you will present multiple analyses of womanhood and critically assess them, then offer your opinion on which theory is best.
It is important that our arguments follow logically. For example: If the argument that "cats are cute because of their fur" is false, that does not mean cats aren't cute(this is a Logical Fallacy: denying the antecedent). Our arguments must support our conclusions.
3. Essay Structure
Structure is one of the most important parts of an essay. "Intro ->Middle-> Conclusion" is commonly repeated, but it doesn't offer much insight. Most thinking happens in that 'Middle' → It is important to structure that part. You should put bullets under every heading.
3.1. Introduce topic
- In this essay, I will argue
- In section 1… i will … In section 2…
3.2. Approach OPTIONAL
- Explain your interpretation of the question
- Explain your approach to the argument Lay out your argument's logic, but do not go into depth.
3.3. Consider arguments on the contrary
- Explain their argument in premise-conclusion form1. List each premise and how they reached their conclusion.
- Evaluate it Move on from describing it to evaluating it. Explore the justification/truth of each premise and explore the argument's logic.
- Interim Conclusion Briefly state whether the arguments against your statement work, and what conclusion that leads you to.
3.4. Positive arguments
- Set them out in premise-conclusion form. Defend each premise and evaluate logic
- Evaluate your argument and demonstrate how it leads to your conclusion.
3.5. Conclusion
- Brief summary of what you have done.
- State conclusion "Cats are cute"
4. Writing From an Essay Plan
(Attic Philosophy 2021e) Writing from a plan makes the writing process much easier. You already know what to write. Simply explore each bullet point in text. After each point, link your paragraph to the next one by signaling the logical form of the argument.
5. Writing Clearly
(Attic Philosophy 2021f)
Just like we do when programming, it is important to communicate ideas as simply and clearly as possible.
Using short sentences is one of the easiest ways of increasing clarity. Long sentences do not read well on paper because you do not have access to inflections or pauses. ∴ Breaking down long sentences into shorter ones increases clarity and makes checking easier. Keep one idea in each sentence.
(Attic Philosophy 2021g) While short sentences can improve clarity, they do not ensure clarity. For example, Wittgenstein wrote short sentences in his Tractatus:
The world is everything that is the case. The world is the totality of facts, not of things. The world is determined by the facts, and by these being all the facts. For the totality of facts determines both what is the case, and also all that is not the case. The facts in logical space are the world. The world divides into facts.
But, we still have no idea what is going on. The goal is to communicate your ideas as clear as you can, not appear as clever as possible. Only use very complex words precisely and sparingly. Moreover, it is important to remain concise. Say what you want to say once; as clear as possible.
(Attic Philosophy 2021h)
It is important to be able to locate your sentence in a paragraph, and each paragraph into the flow of the argument. We can achieve this by precisely structuring our essay before we begin writing. ∴ The start of each paragraph will state the main idea, and the end will sum up and signal our movement to the next point.
(Attic Philosophy 2021i)
Being more concise with your essay allows us to fit more content into less words. We can increase conciseness by identifying redundant/orphan phrases, just like how we purge unused functions/modules and make functions for reused snippets when refactoring code. Reading your work from a third-person perspective or bringing a peer is beneficial. With the freed word count, we can include more content that reinforces our points.
6. Elsewhere
6.1. References
6.2. In my garden
Notes that link to this note (AKA backlinks).
Footnotes:
Premise-Conclusion: Premises are supporting facts/reasons, and the conclusion is the statement/claim these are trying to prove.