1. essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a
number of elements, including: literary criticism, politicalmanifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life,
recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition of an essay is vague, overlapping with those of an article and
a short story. Almost all modern essays are written inprose, but works in verse have been dubbed essays (e.g.Alexander
Pope's An Essay on Criticism and An Essay on Man). While brevity usually defines an essay, voluminous works like John
Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Thomas Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population are
counterexamples.
In some countries (e.g., in the United States), essays have become a major part of formal education. Secondary students
are taught structured essay formats to improve their writing skills, and admission essays are often used byuniversities in
selecting applicants and, in the humanities and social sciences, as a way of assessing the performance of students during
final exams. The concept of an "essay" has been extended to other mediums beyond writing. A film essay is a movie that
often incorporates documentary film making styles and which focuses more on the evolution of a theme or an idea.
A photographic essay is an attempt to cover a topic with a linked series of photographs; it may or may not have an
accompanying text or captions.
Parts of an essay
Introductory Paragraph:
The introductory paragraph is the first paragraph of your essay. It brings in the main idea
of your essay. A good opening paragraph captures the interest of your reader and notify
why your topic is important.
Supporting Paragraphs:
The supporting paragraphs are the main body of your essay. In these paragraphs you
discuss your main idea. You should list the points that develop the main idea of your
essay. Each supporting point should be placed in seperate paragraph with its supporting
sentences and those sentences should based on facts, details and examples.
Summary Paragraph:
The final part of your essay is the summary paragraph which comes at the end of the
essay. You explain all the ideas in the supporting paragraph and make a conclusion of
supporting paragraphs in the summary paragraph. By reading only the summary
paragraph reader should understand the whole idea of your essay.

2. Importance of an essay?
Thinking Outside the Box
• An essay challenges your awareness of the world and invites you to learn about
new things, entertain alternative viewpoints, and explore differences and
similarities you might previously have taken for granted.
Developing Research Skills
• To write a solid essay, you not only need to know where to go for information--be
it a library, a website or a human expert--but also how to interpret the material
and identify which portions of it are relevant to the thesis you're advancing.
Managing Your Time
• An essay that's thrown together the night before it's due isn't going to be as good
as one that's written over the course of several days, weeks or months. Essay
writing teaches you how to create time lines and deadlines for collecting
research, organizing notes and doing the actual writing.
Developing Writing Skills
• Composing an essay requires you to not only get your points and opinions
across in a creative, clear and concise way but also to pay sharp attention to
spelling, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, syntax and structure.
Honing Analytical Skills
• Essays are an exercise in assessing data, making informed choices and
defending conclusions--all of which are used on a daily basis in the business
world. In addition, essays often explore hypothetical scenarios that encourage
creative thinking and problem solving.
Demonstrating Knowledge
• An essay reflects how well you know the subject matter as well as how
passionate you are about persuading readers to accept--or at least respect--your
unique point of view.

3. Name at least 3 essayist
Example of an ESSAY
Here is a sample of a descriptive essay about an owl:
"Like his twisted feathers, his many scars, the reliable old owl chose
the gnarled, weather-beaten, but solid branch often—it being a
companion to the wise alone with the night and the last branch to
creak in the heaviest wind. He often came to survey the fields and the
clouds before his hunt, to listen to the steady sound of the stream
passing through reeds under the bridge, while combing his feathers for
the unwanted—whatever they might be."
This is an excerpt from an exposition essay:
This family was a victim of a problem they could have avoided-a
problem that, according to Florida park rangers, hundreds of visitors
suffer each year."Several times a month," ranger Rod Torres of O'Leno
State Park said, "people get scared and leave the park in the middle of
the night." Those people picked the wrong kind of park to visit. Not
that there was anything wrong with the park: The hikers camped next
to them loved the wild isolation of it. But it just wasn't the kind of
place the couple from New Jersey had in mind when they decided to
camp out on this trip through Florida."
Finally, here is part of an argumentative essay about gun control:
"Gun control has been a controversial issue for years. A vast majority
of citizens believe that if gun control is strictly enforced it would
quickly reduce the threat of crime. Many innocent people feel they
have the right to bear arms for protection, or even for the pleasure of
hunting. These people are penalized for protecting their lives, or even
for enjoying a common, innocent sport. To enforce gun control
throughout the nation means violating a person’s Constitutional rights.
Although some people feel that the issue of gun control will limit crime,
the issue should not exist due to the fact that guns are necessary for
self defense against crime, and by enforcing gun control is violating a
citizen’s second amendment right to bear arms."