Essay question?

Question

I have a essay to write, and these are the guidelines I have that I need to follow.

When composing your essay, remember to

Choose a topic from your personal knowledge and experience

Write 3 to 10 pages (or between 750 to 2500 words)

Write in your own words from your perspective or point of view, using the pronoun I

Capture your reader’s attention with an interesting introductory paragraph

Use specific examples to show what you mean

Use concrete or vivid words

Use complete sentences as well as vary your sentence length and structure

Use fully developed paragraphs where each paragraph has only one main idea with enough
supporting details to develop that idea clearly and logically.


Would it be alright to write the essay almost as one was writing a blog entry / diary page? (But be careful of grammar and all that of course)
I would think it would, but I want to hear what other thinks as well.

Answer 1

Since the guidelines say "Write in your own words from your perspective or point of view, using the pronoun I" it sounds like a blog/diary format would be acceptable, as long as you remember the other part of the instructions: "Use complete sentences as well as vary your sentence length and structure. Use fully developed paragraphs where each paragraph has only one main idea with enough supporting details to develop that idea clearly and logically."
That is sometimes ignored in blogs/diaries.

Answer 2

An essay is a paper on one topic. You should have an introductory paragraph, explaining what your topic is with three ideas that back up your viewpoint. You can follow that with seperate paragraphs to further explain the three ideas. In those paragraphs use vivid words so the reader can clearly "see" your idea. Give examples to back up those ideas. Follow these by a conclusion paragraph.

Since your assignment is a topic from personal knowledge or experience and written in your view point, chose a topic that you are passionate about that you can debate and offer personal experience examples of. Such as...should a high school student be allowed to work after school...should there be a midnight curfew for teenagers...should drug testing be done as part of a college enterance requirement...

Answer 3

The essay from in English dates back to legal documents of 1500 years ago. In China traditional writing does not follow the form of an essay, and many chinese students have trouble learning to write a properly structured English essay, while those of us in Western countries have been doing it since we are children.

Blogs are generally free form and follow the flow of conciousness approach to writing, though of course individual blogs differ, but blog writing is not the same as essay writing.

Essays take the form of introduction body and conclusion.

The body is organised around your various ideas, balancing both for and against arguments.

Your conclusion or summary should follow on from your body and not introduce any new points, rather cement your final argument.

The introduction is the hardest part, and I would often get into trouble at school for refusing to use "school" type introductions. A school type introduction is fairly formal and should say what you are going to say, and even say your conclusion. I find this stupid because in the real world writers and speakers don't do this.

The poetic introduction makes a statement that wonderfully introduces the topic or issue that you will read about, it entices the reader with promises or more to come (like a women seducing a man with a smile, rather than standing naked before him).

However, when you master the formal methods of writing, you will find that all your documents also reflect the same skill.

My personal advice is write anything like a story. (I write business documents, magazine articles, and training notes using the same method). A story introduces a problem, takes you on a journey through various aspects of the problem where we confront the problem and finally the problem is solved (and the guy gets the girl in the end)

Answer 4

Just today I had English lesson and we were told that we should never ever use the pronoun "I" in whatever essay we write. Even if the opinions/experiences are ours, we should let our opinions and experiences speak for themselves. Things like "I believe", "In my opinion", "As far as I have investigated"...No, No, No.

This information is based on Cambridge exam requirememnts.

Also slang is not allowed. I was surprised when our teacher said that word "scary" is a slang word.

And hah, this is slang too of course.... "would of" should be "would've" or "would have" The last for of course, you know this...is preferable in essays.

So in one sentence. Everything should be formal written in fancy language.

Oh yeas..and one paragraph can be called a paragraph if it has minimum of THREE sentences. There is really no maximum limit, but be careful not to end up writing the whole essay in one paragraph. :)

Creative moments!


EDITING:
Oh sorry, if "I" is what you need to use, then I have nothing to say...

Answer 5

I think that would be fine, as long as you follow the guidelines, vary your sentence lengths and all that. It does almost sound like a blog entry or someone writing in their diary, as you have to use the "I" pronoun and make it personal.

Answer 6

It sounds like an interesting approach, but keep in mind that you must use paragraph form (from your list). Why not ask the teacher? He/she might like the change in format for a break for him/her.

Answer 7

You gotta write a story over atleast 5 pages