chapter 7 page 4

THE AMERICAN ENGLISH EXPRESS Chapter 7 page 4

Writing Essays

At the freshman college level, the student is expected to be able to write an essay of approximately 500 words. However, I always ask my students to begin with 350 words and work up to 500. Each essay must have an introduction and a conclusion.

The introduction can be one paragraph of three or more sentences. As each sentence will be 7 to 12 words, the introduction should consist of 50 to 75 words.

There should generally be at least three or four paragraphs in your essay, in addition to the introduction and conclusion. Each paragraph should also be about 75 words.

The conclusion can be one paragraph, also approximately 50 to 75 words is fine.

Add this all up and you get:

Essay Section Approximate Number of Words

Introduction 75 words

Paragraph 1 75 words

Paragraph 2 75 words

Paragraph 3 75 words

Paragraph 4 75 words

Conclusion 75 words

Total: 450 words

Thinking about the task in this way can sometimes make it easier to complete. You can think about writing each section and then combining them all together to create the final essay.

Think Outline

how to write a college level essay

Chapter III discussed the fact that formal knowledge has a structure, which is ‘hierarchical’. A ‘hierarchy’ is a top to bottom organization, such as the ranking of academic degrees. Here are the four common levels of college degrees:

Doctoral Degree 4 more years

Master’s Degree 2 or 3 years more

Bachelor’s Degree 4 year degree

Associates Degree 2 year degree

One can see hierarchies in all walks of life. In a corporation, it is a hierarchy of authority or decision-making:

Chairperson of the Board

Board of Directors

Chief Executive Officer or President

Vice President

Department Manager

Supervisor

Staff

In the Army, the hierarchy of command is:

General

Colonel

Major

Captain

Sergeant

Corporal

Private

Each title has authority over those below. All those below are responsible to those above. One of the strong points of hierarchies is that all know their place. Along with one’s place, come roles and responsibilities that must be fulfilled.

These illustrations are ‘simple’ hierarchies, with a straight top to bottom flow of authority, power or decision-making responsibility. The ‘hierarchy’ of an essay unfolds in each paragraph: general statements are followed by (supported with) specific facts or proof. Each part of your essay has a specific role to play: the introduction tells the reader what the essay is about; the body of the essay presents explanations, questions, answers and proof (examples) and the conclusion provides a summary of what you have said and the final message you want to leave for your readers.

When creating an outline, we do not use Arabic numbers but customarily use Roman numerals for headings:

Roman Numeral Arabic Numeral

I 1

II 2

III 3

IV 4

V 5

VI 6

VII 7

VIII 8

IX 10

L 50

C 100

M 1000

At this point I usually ask my students why they think that the world uses the Arabic numerals and not the Roman ones. I give the following example to show why:

Can you perform this math?

1155 MCLVV

x 1036 x MXXXVI

1,196,580 ????????

We can do the math on the left because of the zero, the placeholder. We say to ourselves, 6 times 5 is 30, put the zero in the ‘ones’ column and ‘carry’ the 3 (tens). We cannot do this with the Roman numerals, because there is no symbol for zero and no ‘places’ to hold.

The world adopted Arabic numerals because of their facility with large quantities. When buying and selling or trading goods, it is necessary to have the ability to calculate and figure amounts and returns (profits). Using the Arabic numbers works much better!