A good essay begins with an interesting introduction – ONE
THAT WILL OUTLINE THE CONTENT [appositive] in such a way that the reader is
hooked from the very first sentence.
Editors bore quickly, and when their interest flags, it can be
detrimental to the publication of an article. While reading an essay, an editor
or teacher looks for structure -- THREE SKELETAL ELEMENTS: [appositive] the
introduction, the body, and a conclusion. All the rest fleshes out the essay
and can leave a figure WASTED OR STRONG. [Adj out of order]
Students WRITING FRANTICALLY THE NIGHT BEFORE A DUE DATE,
[absolute] often leave out important descriptive essay elements: TRANSITIONS, SUPPORTING
POINTS, FINAL THOUGHTS. [appositive] OFTEN REPEATING THEMSELVES, [participle]
students try to pad a paragraph so that it fulfills the requirement of a
certain number of sentences. READING A
NUMBER OF HASTILY WRITTEN ESSAYS [participle] can make a grown teacher cry out
in frustration. Why grade something carefully that has been knocked out in an
hour? The essay WRITTEN IN LAST MINUTE ANXIETY [absolute] doesn’t deserve the
same treatment as one that has been thoughtfully produced.
This is not to say that teachers don’t care. Of course they
care, but when faced with 20 essays, some of them clearly lacking much
forethought, one doesn’t have to wonder which essays will receive the most
attention. That’s unfair someone might
claim because the essay was, in fact, handed in on time, but it all comes out
in the wash, doesn’t it? All essays are not equal, and even though a teacher
tries to read them with an unprejudiced eye, the researched ones are just plain
better, and usually those are the ones on which a student has spent the most
time.
All in all, a good essay leaves the reader with a feeling
that the person who has written it has some penchant for the topic. Sometimes,
when a subject is predetermined by the teacher that is hard to come by.
DRUMMING UP PASSION [participle] is difficult. It has to come from within and
cannot be manufactured. Perhaps that is why so many essays fail; the topic was
just unpalatable.