Writing
Features of an essay
The following are features of an essay:
content
organisation
expression and
mechanical
accuracy (mechanics). Your teacher bears these in mind when marking your essay.
Study each of them very well to have a clear focus whenever you are writing an essay Content
This includes the points or ideas developed in the paragraphs.
If your essay is filled with relevant points, it means that it contains
more information than one with few points.
You should therefore ensure that your essay contains relevant points on the issue you are writing about.
Organisation.
This means how your essay is presented.
The major feature here is the paragraph.
A paragraph has these features
All paragraphs after the first one should be indented from the margin.
A paragraph must start on a new line.
it must develop or contain just one main idea.
There must be unity and coherence. Your paragraph shows unity when it develops one idea or point. It shows coherence when one sentence leads to another in explaining or referring to the only idea in the paragraph. Your sentences should not be disjointed.
Expression
Your choice of words is very important for effective writing. So is the correct observation of syntactic rules, which govern the way words are arranged to make sentences.
You should also use a variety of different types of sentences. Do not always use one type, but vary your writing to include simple, compound and complex sentences to please your reader.
Look at the following sentences. below.
Examination malpractice is a can-
kerworm.
Examination malpractice has eaten deep into our education system.
Examination malpractice is practised mainly in special centres.
The use of only simple sentences make the above expressions jerky and uninteresting. We can recast them thus.
Examination malpractice, which is a
cankerworm that has eaten deep into the tabrics of our education system, is practised mainly in
special centres.
Correct tense usage is also very important here.
You should use past tenses for past actions and present tenses for habitual action.
Proper use of concord, i.e. subject-verb agreement, is also necessary.
Mechanics
Here you should observe the use of
good handwriting, correct spelling, correct punctuation and correct use of capital letters.
You should avoid using capital letters in the middle of a sentence or small letters where you should use capital letters.
Below is a visual representation of the features of an essay. Study it carefully, taking note of the major points.
Remember Sentence varieties add spices to your writing.