At some level, all forms of writing are persuasive. As writers, we want our readers to come to believe that what we are saying is understandable and reasonable. The goal of an essay is no different. The word “essay,” is from the French “essayer” meaning to try. An essay is exactly that. It is a “trial, attempt, endeavour” to have the reader understand and accept what the writer is saying as accurate, acceptable, viable or true (Online Etymology Dictionary, n.d.).

There are many different kinds of essays, including process, description, classification, cause and effect, and argument. Regardless of the mode, writers still want readers to agree with a position by the time they reach the conclusion. For example, in a process paper, we want the reader to understand and value the process that is conveyed. Similarly, for description, we want the reader to be able to visualize the described topic clearly and to understand its meaning deeply. Lastly, for argument, we want the reader to develop a strong appreciation for our position on an issue and possibly agree wholeheartedly. But how do writers create the desired effect?

• 4.7.1 The Introductory Paragraph
• 4.7.2 The Body Paragraphs
• 4.7.3 The Conclusion
• 4.7.4 Essay Writing Tips
• 4.7.5 The Thesis
• 4.7.6 Model Student Essays

4.7.1 The Introductory Paragraph

 First, to achieve the goal of writing an effective essay, we need a strong introductory paragraph. Even if the audience is familiar with the topic, you must ease them into your way of looking at it.  That’s what an essay’s introduction does. The introduction provides some context for the essay’s specific topic. It needs to place this specific topic into a recognizable subject area, so the reader understands its meaning more fully. There are, in fact, three clear goals for an introduction:

1. It needs to create interest.
2. It needs to provide a context for the topic and to establish its relevance and importance (possibly preview the main ideas to come).
3. It needs to state its thesis—a clear and arguable position on its topic.

Several possible ways to engage your reader and to establish interest in your topic exist. According to Essay Essentials with Readings (7th ed.), the following possible approaches to the introduction can help to create interest:

1. Explain the significance of the subject.
2. Use an interesting quotation.
3. Make a generalization about your subject.
4. Introduce a question.
5. Make a thought-provoking statement (possibly a statistic).
6. Challenge a widely held opinion or social norm.
7. Introduce a definition of a term.
8. Describe an event or convey an anecdote. (Dynes, Norton, and Green pp. 102-106)

Any one or even a combination of these methods can help to gain your readers’ interest and establish the relevance of your topic. Once the reader is engaged and focused on your specific thesis, it’s time to offer evidence, examples, and explanations for your position on the topic.

4.7.2 The Body Paragraphs

 For the essay’s body paragraphs to be effective, they need to provide clear evidence in support of the thesis. To accomplish this end, the body paragraphs should follow this simple structure:

• Topic sentence
• Examples and evidence (quotes, description, anecdote, etc.)
• Explanation
• Conclusion and transition to the next idea

Each sentence in the body paragraph has a function. The topic sentence must focus and limit the material in the paragraph to come.  It must clearly state what the paragraph will be about. The examples that follow must relate specifically to the topic sentence. Examples can make an abstract idea feel more solid by showing how the idea has a real connection to the world. The explanation needs to connect the material provided to the essay’s thesis position or main point. The concluding sentence needs to sum up the paragraph and provide a link to the next idea.

This basic pattern can be repeated for each of the body paragraphs. Each of them needs to be clearly connected to the essay’s focus and must explain and clarify the writer’s precise meaning. One practical way to do this is to consider the strength of each of the body paragraph points as you organize the essay into its final edited shape. For example, in a five-paragraph persuasive essay, writers often prefer to place the second strongest point in the first paragraph, the third strongest point in the second paragraph, and the strongest point in the final body paragraph.  This structure assures that the body paragraphs begin and end with the strongest material, thereby first capturing, then keeping, and finally convincing your reader of the essay’s message.

When writing other kinds of essays, the writer must remember to let the essay’s purpose shape its style. In the case of a process essay, for example, the purpose is to explain a series of steps that happen in a specific sequence. Because of that purpose, the essay’s structure should follow the steps in order from start to finish. Likewise, for a description, the writer will follow the order dictated by the physical structure of the described object (for example, from left to right, or from head to toe, from inside out etc.).

4.7.3 The Conclusion

 The conclusion to an essay has three specific goals and generally follows the inverse structure of the introduction. Thus, it begins with a restatement of the central point of the paper: the thesis. Remember to vary the language with synonyms to ensure some variety. This will allow you to clearly reinforce your central argument or observation while avoiding direct repetition of your previous language. Next, summarize the supporting points to re-establish the merits of your position on the topic. Finally, the conclusion should convey a memorable closing—something squarely on topic but thought provoking. This is the writer’s last chance to make an impression on the reader. Even though it’s the last sentence in the essay, the closing still has the potential to change a reader’s mind if it is written with confidence and style. While conclusions can also prove challenging to write, Essay Essentials offers these techniques for drawing your paper to a close in a meaningful and memorable way:

1. End with a strong quotation.
2. Offer a solution to the issue in the essay.
3. End with a question that provokes further reflection.
4. Sum up the value of the subject.
5. Revisit your initial remarks with the implications of your argument now highlighted.
6. Look ahead to the future in light of the implications of your argument. (Dynes, Norton, and Green p. 109-112)

4.7.4 Essay Writing Tips

 Undoubtedly, writing a well-focused and meaningful essay is always a challenge. Here are some tips that can make your task more manageable and lead you to a result you will be proud of.

1. Take the time to reflect on your topic. If you have a choice, then it’s best to select a topic that you have a great interest in but are still relatively open-mined about. That way, you are more likely to enjoy the reflective and/or research process because you will be discovering something new about yourself or your world.
2. Approach the writing process as a problem to be solved or as a challenge to be overcome. Remember, “essay” comes for the word for “try.” Try out different ideas before committing yourself to your thesis. As part of your problem-solving approach, don’t forget to test those attempts at argument or explanation. In this way, you are more likely to place yourself in the reader’s place. By doing so, you can better anticipate what information they need to know and what evidence they are likely to find convincing.
3. Next, anticipate objections to your position and think of the counterarguments to disprove them. Do they point out fair limitations to your point that need to be acknowledged? Or can you think of strong counterarguments? This way there will be a depth to your analysis or explanation and a completeness to the discussion that will add to the essay’s overall persuasiveness.
4. Balance your tone between confidence and humility. This can be a challenging task given that you want to appear confident in the essay’s stance and presentation. Nevertheless, there needs to be a measured tone showing that the writer recognizes that any essay (because of its length and scope) can rarely fully explore all the ideas associated with its topic.
5. Let the evidence (facts, quotations, experts, studies, reflections, observations, etc.) guide your conclusions. As you gather evidence, you may find that your understanding or opinion shifts. If the evidence begins to alter or even contradict your central point (thesis), don’t pretend it doesn’t exist. Simply rewrite your thesis to align with your discoveries. The easier and more sound academic strategy is to make the change to adjust the essay to a logical position based on the evidence. Like a good detective, follow the evidence to your conclusions around the crime.

4.7.5 The Thesis

But what makes a good thesis? Since it is the cornerstone of the essay, it must be solid.

1. First, a thesis must have a clear focus that is not too broad. For example, “Technology affected World War I” is too general. It is a good starting place for thinking, but as a thesis, it raises many questions instead of giving a solid answer. What kind of technology? How did it affect World War I? Whom did it affect? Consider this improvement as more focused and, therefore, more interesting as well: “Long-range shelling (bombing) had both profound physical and psychological effects on the combatants of World War 1.” This thesis statement stakes out a clear position that the writer can defend with evidence and explanation.
2. The thesis must present an argument, not state a fact. This thesis can lead to little development: “Air power began to be used in World War I.” (Fact). Consider this improvement: “While its effects were minimal at the start of World War I, by its conclusion air power had become a significant military weapon” (arguable point).
3. The thesis must also have an element of originality. Many students have the feeling that “everything has already been said.” The fact is, just as we each have our own fingerprints, your thesis will show a trace of your personal way of seeing the world. That is part of what makes it valuable. If a question was assigned, the thesis must clearly answer the question from your unique perspective as a writer. For example, for the novel The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway), the essay question could be as follows: “What statement does the novel make about aging?”

Here is a possible answer (thesis) that is focused, arguable, and specific to the writer’s perspective (original): “While The Old Man and the Sea acknowledges the physical limitations and the social isolation often associated with aging, the novel’s central character shows us that doing what you love, belief in yourself, and sheer determination or will can still give profound meaning to life as we age.” Note how the thesis includes a preview of the central points. In this way, the reader will understand the paragraph structure of the essay to come.  What helps us to maintain “profound meaning” in our lives is specifically set out in the thesis. These points can then be developed into topic sentences that will begin each of the body paragraphs.  With this kind of thesis, the reader will understand both the argument and the main reasons that support it. Finally, this type of thesis with a preview should create more interest in the essay that follows.

4.7.6 Model Student Essays

Sample 1: Personal Essay Response to a Short Story

Bethany Elo, Short Essay, Speculative Fiction, April 2022

Lisa Tuttle’s eye-opening short story, Replacements (1992), details the progressive deterioration of a young couple’s marriage, after an alien-like creature is brought home and nurtured by the wife. Set within an alternative universe, Replacements (Tuttle, 1992) presents a new way of perceiving marital struggles which exist in the real world. This insightful allegory chronicles the fears and insecurities faced by a man who feels unneeded, when the woman he loves is consumed by her innate maternal desires.

Replacements begins with a disturbing description of Stuart Holder, the narrator, stumbling upon something horrible. “A leathery, hairless, spiky-limbed, frail creature, about the size of a cat” (Tuttle, 1992. p. 801). Stuart barbarically crushes the skull of this unidentifiable alien yet is quickly overwhelmed with shame and self-disgust. His true character is revealed to be that of an insecure man, striving to be supportive of his wife, Jenny. Stuart confesses his greatest fear is “that one day she would realize she didn’t need him anymore.” (Tuttle, 1992, p.799). This fear is magnified throughout the entire story. As he self-reflects, Stuart acknowledges that his insecurity is an issue in their relationship and how he projects that onto Jenny could ultimately drive them apart (Tuttle, 1992). Over the course of their five-year marriage, Stuart and Jenny have been a source of comfort to one another and have established healthy communication, no lies, no games. (Tuttle, 1992). However, their strong connection is challenged when Jenny brings home a new pet–a small creature identical to the one Stuart killed so mercilessly at the beginning of the story. To Stuart’s dismay, Jenny desires to nurture the creature and immediately steps into a protective maternal role.

Stuart contemplates how two people who were so close could see something so differently. Jenny has fallen in love with a creature that elicits fear within him. Valuing his relationship with his wife, Stuart presents the willingness to compromise with her, but Jenny is unyielding. “She had strong views…and so, her wishes usually prevailed.” (Tuttle, 1992, p.801). As though it had been born of her womb, Jenny devotes herself to mothering the mysterious alien. Stuart attempts to understand her femininity and sympathize with her feelings. He “struggles to see past his anger and fear, to see through his masculine emotions…imagining his intuition has been wrong and hers was right.” (Tuttle, 1992, p.802). Unfortunately, with each step Stuart takes toward acceptance, Jenny pushes him further away. She has withdrawn all affection for him and declared, “If you don’t like it, then, I’m sorry, but that’s how it is.” (Tuttle, 1992, p.803). All Stuart could do was “hang onto the hope that she still loved him, and this wouldn’t be forever.” (Tuttle, 1992, p.803). Jenny assures Stuart that she does still love him. He is still her husband. “But it was obvious to him that a husband was no longer something she particularly valued.” (Tuttle, 1992, p. 803).

The pinnacle of their marital conflict occurs when Stuart comes home to find Jenny allowing the creature to suck blood from a vein in her arm. Knowing Stuart is upset by this, Jenny explains that the creature needs blood, and this is an easy way to feed it. She admits both she and the creature find pleasure in this (Tuttle, 1992). This incidence has an uncanny similarity to a mother breastfeeding a child who is at an age at which society would deem it unacceptable to nurse. Stuart begs her to stop, for his sake. However, Jenny is again unwilling to compromise and tells him to leave. Their relationship is over, and Stuart moves out. Jenny’s need for significance is being met by the creature’s dependency upon her, while Stuart’s desire to feel needed by his wife is dismissed. His fear of losing Jenny has come to fruition. Loneliness overwhelms him as he struggles with the loss of the woman he loved, although undoubtedly, he did not want to live with the woman she had become (Tuttle, 1992).

Replacements (Tuttle, 1992) uses the introduction of this alien creature into Stuart and Jenny’s relationship as though it were a biological child entering a marriage. Tuttle impressively connects with the heart and emotions of the husband grappling with the fear and insecurities that arise as his wife evolves into a mother. Stuart’s fear of losing his wife highlights the need to value and protect the marriage relationship, especially during the transition to parenthood. In a 2003 interview, Lisa Tuttle reveals her “first post-natal story dealing with motherhood in any way, was Replacements, written when her daughter was only seven months old. Make of that what you will.” (Hall, 2003).

References

 Hall, M. M. (February 20, 2003). “The Mysterious Q&A with Lisa Tuttle“. Fantastic Metropolis.

Tuttle, L. (1992). Replacements. In A. VanderMeer, & J. VanderMeer, J. (Eds.) The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories. New York: Tor Books.

Sample 2: Researched Academic Essay with Secondary Research Integrated

  How Resilience is Portrayed in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

 Violet Arenburg

Health and Community Services, Mohawk College

COMM: 10064: English for Pre-Health G.A.S.

Professor Grant Coleman

April 3, 2022

According to the American Psychological Association (2020), resilience is not only a person’s buoyancy to acclimatise to their circumstances, but also, a process in which they change and grow because of what they’ve underwent (American Psychological Association, 2020). In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou demonstrates this type of resilience by possessing a non-static, nonconformist approach to her life’s circumstances. Not only does she use imaginative and creative outlets to cope with the events in her life, but also, Angelou resists the constrictive and discriminatory conventions of her world, and by doing so shows the world that she will survive, that she will not be quiet but will choose, instead, to tell her story and claim her identity and voice.

Throughout Maya Angelou’s narrative, she processes the traumatic events in her life by finding solace in literature, as well as by using her imagination to recreate alternate endings to some of the events in her life. Maya is only four years old when she and her three-year-old brother, Bailey, are sent on a train from California, where they were living with their now divorced parents, to Arkansas to live with their parental grandmother and Uncle Willie. As a way of explaining this painful and confusing parental abandonment, Maya imagines her parents are dead in a heaven called California. “I could be confident they were both dead,” she says. “I could cry anytime I wanted by picturing my mother…lying in her coffin” (Angelou, 1969, pg. 52). By creating these fictional accounts in her mind, Maya is able to adapt to her new life with her grandmother. In the same way, later on in the book, when the White dentist in town refuses to treat Maya because of her skin colour, Maya imagines an alternate ending to this event by recreating a scene in her mind where her grandmother humiliates and threatens the dentist into treating Maya. These alternate narratives are a way in which Maya can cope with the many traumas and discriminations she faces.

Similarly, another way Maya copes is by retreating into the world of literature. According to an article by Cláudia Maria Fernandes Corrêa (2010), it is this love of literature which helps Maya make sense of herself and her world. For a time, Maya and Bailey are sent back to live with their mother and her boyfriend, Mr. Freeman. It is here Maya is sexually assaulted by Mr. Freeman at the age of eight. She says after her first assault that, “I read more than ever,” (Angelou, 1969, p. 75) and goes on to describe how she got her first library card and retreated into the library—finding a great comfort in the books she read. After her assault, Maya and her brother are sent back to Arkansas. Believing she is the cause of Mr. Freeman’s death (although not proven) at the hands of her uncles, Maya retreats into silence, speaking only to her brother, Bailey. However, back in Arkansas she encounters a woman named Mrs. Flowers who pays attention to her, and encourages her to read and discover her voice. “No one is going to make you talk,” Mrs. Flowers tells her, “but bear in mind, language is man’s way of communicating with his fellow man.” (Angelou, 1969, p. 98). As Corrêa (2010) points out, it is then that Maya discovers she can use words as an “act of resistance” to face off her adversaries.

Certainly, Maya relies on resistance to battle the racial discrimination and prejudice she meets throughout this book. According to an article by Yolandam Manora (2005), Maya disrupts the social and racial expectations placed on her as a Black girl growing up in the segregated south, and instead, carves out her own self and her own identity. After Maya is sent back to her grandmother, and just before her encounter with Mrs. Flowers, Maya works as a maid for a White woman named Mrs. Cullinan. Mrs. Cullinan treats Maya as inferior, patronizing her, and even going as far as to change Maya’s name to suit her warped fancy. As an act of rebellion and protest against being robbed of her name, Maya smashes Mrs. Cullinan’s best dishes. According to Corrêa (2010), by participating in this act of defiance, Maya is forcing Mrs. Cullinan to say her name. When this happens, Maya is claiming her identity, and as Corrêa says, she “redefines herself from her own perspective” (p.85). Corrêa goes on to highlight that the breaking of the china could also symbolize Maya’s disengaging from her past (p. 85). Similarly, this moment of self-realization and actualization proves a turning point in Maya’s sense of her identity and pivots her towards a journey of finding her voice and being heard as she heals from her traumas.

Another way I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings portrays Maya’s resilience is by highlighting her relationship with the understanding of death, and the lengths she has to go to in order to survive circumstances and a world which is hostile to her very existence. According to Nidhiya Jacob (2013), Maya’s struggle with death is actually a vital part of Maya’s survival. Jacob (20l3) argues that it is because of these constant threats of death that Maya finally experiences self-realization and discovers what she wants in life (p.7). One such defining moment comes near the end of the book. Maya’s father has taken her on a mini vacation to Mexico, and subsequently passes out from too much alcohol. Being unfamiliar with her surroundings and not having the protection of her father, Maya decides to drive him back across the border.  In spite of never having driven a car before, she manages to manoeuvre the car along dangerous precipices to the border. In a way, this scene could be viewed as a metaphor for Maya’s life. By driving the car, she is taking control of her circumstances which, at times, seem to be spinning out of control. By taking control in this way, Maya is proving she can survive in the face of opposition.

According to the American Psychological Association (2020), the very act of becoming resilient can be compared to the ability to build muscle. Not only does it take time to build muscle, but also, it is often painful in the process of muscle expansion. This comparison of a person’s ability to grow physically also demonstrates how people are often non-static, and will morph and change over time according to what they encounter and experience. However, just because they have grown in one way, doesn’t mean they will stop there. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya undergoes transformation and enlightenment as she embraces her identity and becomes a woman. However, even in finding herself, she still admits to experiencing an awareness in which she was still confused as to what she held knowledge of (Angelou, 1969, p. 271).  Maya accentuates this complexity by ending her narrative with the birth of her son. In the closing chapter, Maya is terrified to bond with her newborn son in fear she will hurt him. Her youth (she is only sixteen), her newness to motherhood, and her strong sense of life’s instability contribute to this uneasiness. By ending with this scene, Maya Angelou leaves the door open to more growth and possibilities, and a future where she will continue to be stretched and transformed. In one of her later works entitled, Letters to My Daughter, Maya Angelou (2008) captures the essence of resilience so well when she says, “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.”

References

American Psychological Association. (2020, February 1). Resilience. https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience

Angelou, M. (1969). I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Ballantine Books.

Angelou, M. (2008). Letters to My Daughter. Random House.

Corrêa, C. M. (2010). Through their voices she found her voice: Women in Maya Angelou’s I know why the caged bird sings. Ariel, 41(1), 69-90. https://ezproxy.mohawkcollege.ca/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,cpid&custid=mohawk&db=hgh&AN=60301265&site=eds-live&scope=site

Jacobs, N. A. (2013). Death, disillusionment, and despair in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Language in India, 13(3), 553-560. http://www.languageinindia.com/march2013/nidhiyaangelou.pdf

Mandora, Y. (2005). “Why are you looking at me for? I didn’t come to stay.”: Displacement, disruption, and black female subjectivity in Maya Angelou’s I know why the caged bird sings. Women’s Studies, 34(5), 359-375. https://doi-org.ezproxy.mohawkcollege.ca/10.1080/00497870590964011. https://ezproxy.mohawkcollege.ca/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,cpid&custid=mohawk&db=aph&AN=17742410&site=eds-live&scope=site