REFLECTIONS ON TASK 2

Whenever I say "essay writing is easy", I get a lot of cynical, unappeased stares from my students. Indeed, essay writing has evolved as one of the biggest fears of most people; which, in my own opinion, is completely unnecessary. I mean, I would rather write an essay than memorize history, or mathematical equations, or worse, the conversion values of English to metric systems.  However, I also understand the quandary. In a world where pretty much everything is "dumbed down", hardly anyone ever appreciates the simple joy of writing. Upon checking hundreds of essays throughout my career, I have noticed chronic and common challenges among my dearest "essayists".


There is ALWAYS a lack of confidence among my students whenever I check their tasks. Most would recite their own version of  a "my work is not good enough" spiel--and that's when the problem arises. What a lot of people don't understand is that they DO NOT NEED TO BE PERFECT-- they just need to see to it that they are understood. I think that they try to compare their works to my examples or the examples from our orange book. Of course these would never be the same! But it doesn't mean that these essays are bad. However,  the fact that they are trying extremely hard to copy the styles makes them mindless drones bound by "ideals". So instead of using their brilliant ideas, they often end up parroting other ideas in a "not-so-good-enough-way".  Here's a secret: there is no ideal way of making an essay. There isn't. So don't stress yourself out, it's like copying the clothes of a movie star and saying that the piece of clothing does not look good on you. Don't copy their clothing, get inspired. Show your individuality. In the same way, don't mindlessly copy model essays, get inspired by them so that you could come up with your own idea. Trust yourself, all ideas are great only when you get to build them.

Another common faux pas is NOT ANSWERING the question. This is sad. There are times when I have to explain the question before my student understands it. The questions are painfully simple, but the poor student was not able to evaluate correctly. Again, it is the lack of thought (or too much of it) that leads them to destruction. So before you even scribble on your papers, take time to understand the question. Breathe. Don't rush. Try to rephrase the question. Make it simple. No one wants you to fail. If you can't understand the question, you can't write about it.

If you don't edit your work, you will never get it done. A lot of my students fail to proofread. This is a crucial part of writing essays (and writing for that matter) as we are not native English speakers. We make errors.  We have to recognize them and correct them. Silly spelling mistakes, subject verb agreement, tense, capitalization and punctuations are just among what you need to double check. Leave time for editing.

Sure, not everybody can be Shakespeare. I understand that very clearly. But this is not creative writing. It is INFORMATIVE writing. Explain your thoughts clearly and cohesively. Remember: make every thought count. :)

PS
(On my next blogs, I will be sharing practical tips to write better essays)