Writing Great Essays - Some Useful Tips

Writing a good essay, whether in an exam or at any other time, is a task that many find difficult. Essays are required in most subjects, and your exam results may largely depend on your ability to write them so it is well worth tackling the problem energetically.

Why do we have to write essays any way?

Essays test more than your factual knowledge. They also test your ability to understand the significance of the knowledge you have; to apply it to the solving of particular problems; and to communicate this to someone else. So there are three things necessary to write a good essay, whatever the subject:

1. the necessary information;
2. the use of this information to solve the problem;
3. the ability to communicate in the most appropriate way.

But there is one essential point before you can even begin. You must be quite certain you know what the question means. Even if instinct urges you to start writing immediately, resist it. Make quite sure that you have read all of the question carefully, and 'all' means the instructions as well as the actual content of the question.

To summarize:
When you look at an essay question following are the points you should have in your mind:
Is there just one question or is it an Either ... Or?
How many things are you being asked to do? (Look out for the word 'and')
If more than one thing is required are they of the same kind? Or are they of different kinds (Describe and explain)?
Are you clear in your mind about the meaning of all the terms used?

Planning
Once you have got a clear idea of what the question is about, you must start planning your essay. There are two basic steps to planning: collecting and selecting the material and organizing it.

Starting and stopping
Once you have got the general structure of your essay clear, you can start writing. All you need now is a way of getting into it and a way of getting out. The first rule for starting an essay is 'don't put the reader off'. Your opening sentence can refer directly to the question. This is safe and can be helpful to the reader but take care that it is not also too dull. Never repeat the question word for word in your opening sentence. You may also start with an example that is relevant to one or other side of the argument or that simply underlines the question. Whatever style of opening you choose the important thing to remember is that it must lead you smoothly to your first point.

Endings
These are easier. Unless you are writing an imaginative essay, the best kind of conclusion is usually one that reminds the reader briefly of your arguments and states your opinions based on those arguments. The important thing is to leave the reader satisfied that the essay has indeed finished and not just stopped.

Writing
The style of your essay will vary to some extent depending on whether you are writing a factual or an imaginative piece, but two rules must apply no matter what the subject is:

1. What you want to say must first be clear in your mind or it will never be clear on paper.
2. The language you use must be as simple and direct as the subject allows.

The rule 1 does not mean that you must have every sentence complete in your mind before you start to write it down, but that you must have the thought clear. To achieve the aim of rule 2, you must use proper vocabulary, sentence structure, spellings and punctuation.

Visit http://www.perfectyourenglish.com for more articles on English writing.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Manjusha_Nambiar

Free Study Guide E-Book: Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Short Stories

Book Details:
Title: Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Short Stories
Author: Margaret Lucke
Published by: McGraw-Hill
ISBN: 0070390770
Published on: 1999
Format/File Type: PDF
Size: 0.5 MB
Number of Pages: 163 pages

Book Description:
This guide to writing compelling, memorable short stories gives you all the essentials without wasted words. It tells you how and where to get ideas, how to establish and sustain excitement, how to create live, colorful characters, and how to plot, develop and bring home your story. It even includes exercises to help you perfect your story-telling skills. Full of tips and techniques that work, it makes an indispensable, reliable collaborator. You’ll find it ideal whether you’re studying alone or supplementing a creative or fiction writing course, conference or workshop.

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Free Public Speaking Tips: 7 Secrets of Great Public Speakers

The major secret of great speakers is that they do not think about themselves during a talk. Great speakers prepare and practice before the big event and when the big event comes, they think about their audience.

At its core, public speaking is not about your image or ego. It is about communicating a message and that means connecting with an audience.

Here are seven ways of creating an experience that will wow audiences and make sure they come away with your message:

1. Respect Your Audience.This means you view your audience as your equals. You neither look down on them nor crawl before them in hopes of winning their approval. You make some effort to find out what information they already have. That way, you can offer a presentation that gives them something new and does not insult their intelligence.

2. Listen to the Audience. Communication is a two-way street. Even when you are the only one talking, your audience will communicate with you through facial expressions and body language. Listen to these communications, so that you can give the audience what they need. If you see a lot of confused looks, slow down, back up and repeat your last statement. If you see sleepy body language, speak up, use gestures and visual aids to inject energy into the room.

3. Maximize Learning. The most effective speeches cover enough material to be engaging, but not too much. Ideally, you should make three to five clear points, but never more than seven. Give an overview of the main points in your introduction and a recap of them in your conclusion. The rest of your material should be facts that accurately support those points. If you can state the main points concisely, your audience can learn them.

4. Speak Their Language.In most cases, the shortest, most direct words are the best. However, there are some situations that call for academic, technical or other jargon. Even in the most academic settings though, listeners appreciate easy to remember words and phrases. Unless you are a comedian with a very tolerant audience, absolutely avoid profane or crude language.

5. Make Them Comfortable.Make the audience stiff and unresponsive by memorizing your speech. As much as possible, speak as if you are having a conversation with a very comfortable friend about something you care about. That does not mean being loud and obnoxious: it means you capture the feeling of sharing something you are excited about. If you think your topic is not exciting, do some work to identify why it is important. This helps your audience feel comfortable with you and enthusiastic about your topic.

6. Show Them What You Are Talking About. Use high-quality visual aids to help drive your message home. It does not need to be complicated. For instance, a talk about the life of Benjamin Franklin would benefit from something as simple as his portrait. Other aids are PowerPoint slides with a minimum of text listing your main points or slides of art prints.

7. Be Honest. When you give a presentation, you are trying to change something about your audience like increase their knowledge, change their beliefs or habits and convince them to take a particular action. A great speaker does any or all of that by giving an ethical speech. That means you avoid plagiarism, falsehood or exaggeration. Even in a persuasive speech, you never try to force, coerce or deceive. What you want is to teach and convince with clean, logical argument and concrete evidence.

Connecting with an audience is an art with foundational rules like any other art. You have learned these seven methods in just a few minutes. You can devote a lifetime to mastering them and so become a truly great public speaker.

About the Author

Ranju is assistant editor at MindPower Marketing, which helps entrepreneurs and independent professionals to earn more by making their marketing and communication more persuasive. For tips on more persuasive communication, sign up for the free e-class mastering public speaking

Free Study Tips: How to Make an Oral Presentation

The very thought of making an oral presentation is enough to make many people -- old as well as young -- want to stay in bed on the day of the presentation. So daunting is the thought of standing up in front of a room full of people and speaking that most people will avoid this as far as possible. Unfortunately there are many situations in life, especially during school life, where you are required to make an oral presentation as part of your subject grade.

If you find yourself in the position of needing to speak in front of the class there are a few things that you can do to prepare yourself for this experience, and if you follow them, you won't find it nearly as traumatic as you think it 's going to be. You might even enjoy it!

Presentation Preparation: Know your stuff. Whatever it is you're going to be speaking about, make sure that you know it backwards, forwards, inside out. Practice what you're going to say, and if possible have someone time you so that you manage to get in all the important points within the time limit you're given for the presentation. Create a cheat sheet of all the questions -- with the appropriate responses -- that you think will come up if there 's to be a question and answer session after your presentation you're already prepared. Of course there 's always a possibility that someone will ask something that 's not on your list, but at least you'll have done some thinking about the questions and so be prepared about how to go about answering the ones that aren't on your cheat sheet.

Who 's the Audience? Know who you're going to be speaking to. This will help you to make your presentation interesting. If you're presenting to your classmates, keep it on their level. Make it interesting. Where possible, use examples that they can relate to. If you can, make it funny (within the context of your subject area) so that they don't start to chatter or switch off.

Involving the audience in some way is another way of actively engaging with them, perhaps asking them a question relevant to your presentation such as "how many of you know?" Or "how many of you have ever?" If no-one responds, ask again. If still no response, make a comment like it 's obviously a good thing that you're there then or they'd miss out on knowing about it! If some people respond, then indicate that this is great because they'll already have some idea about what you're talking about.

Audio Visual Aids: During your presentation preparation think about ways that you can use any audio or visual aids in your presentation. These could include music, speech, overhead projection sheets that show bullet points of your main presentation themes (only reveal each point as you start to speak about it so that you are keeping their interest going by not showing the entire list at once.

Speak -- Don't Read: A presentation isn't to show that you know how to read. You are presenting your subject, not reading about it. Make sure that you know your information, and you have a plan of what you're going to say but don't read word-for-word from a "script" that you've created. A presentation where the person at the front of the room is making eye contact with the audience, and has a tone that is varied, is going to hold the audience 's attention. Someone who looks down constantly at their papers and speaks in a monotone voice won't.

End with a Bang: Well not literally! But finish your presentation with some form of audience interaction such as "Do you feel you've learned anything?" "Hands up if you're still awake?" Or some other form of question that requires action from them will ensure that you've ended with them all still with you. You could also end with some form of humor related to your subject area which again will give interaction as they will laugh.

Oral presentations are rarely as bad as you think they're going to be. Make sure that you're prepared and you remember to look at your audience instead of reading a "script", and to interact a little with them, and you'll be just fine!

Jane Saeman runs an In-Home Tutoring service called Aim High Tutors. Find out about how to help your student reach their full potential at http://www.aimhightutors.com/blog

Article Writing: Great Tips On How To Write An Article.

Article Writing: Great Tips On How To Write An Article. by Lance Brown

So you have figured out that article writing will bring targeted visitors to your website but you are a little fearful of how to go about it. This is going to seem obvious but I know I didn't do it when I started article writing and I really wish I had.

" WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT IS SEARCHING OUT A GOOD ARTICLE WRITING MENTOR."

So before you say " I don't have unlimited cash flow to sign up with some expensive program at this point " let me say this. It won't cost you a dime if you do this.

I am going to recommend you start poking around a few of the big article directories to begin your search. Why? Because the mentor you are needing should be writing regularly in one or all of these directories. Ezine Articles, Article Dashboard, Article Base, and Article Blast in my opinion are the four big kahunas I would recommend at this point. They are the ones I have been getting the most exposure from with my articles. If you are not a free member of these go ahead and sign up because in the future you are going to want to submit your articles to them.

Of course now you are going to read articles on " how to write an article " or " article writing " for the next little while. Give yourself a week or so and don't commit to anyone financially. When you find a few good articles written by a potential mentor go ahead and do a search on him in Google. He should be well established and have his articles all over the internet. I am talking about millions of links to his websites. If he doesn't why would you want to be schooled by him. That's what you want isn't it? Lots of links back to your site.

Next thing is step out of the boat onto the water. Chances are he has a free newsletter he sends out or something along those lines. Go ahead and give him your email and sign up. At this point you still haven't committed a dime.

What you are going to do is glean as much teaching as you can for free from the newsletter or whatever it is you are now getting from him. Pay special attention to how your mentor writes his articles. You'll be surprised how much you can pick up about writing good titles, keywords, article templates, good topics..etc.

Lastly let me say that no good mentor who has your best intentions in mind demands money up front. He should be willing to build a genuine friendship with you before you ever buy anything from him. I think you should be able to talk with him too. If you can't kick him to the curb and find a better one. You still will have learned a few good things from him even if you ditch him.

So there is my first golden pointer on writing articles. If you embrace it you won't make all the mistakes I did when I started article writing.

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Article Source: ArticlesUniverse.com